Midway through the third quarter of the round 17 clash between the Magpies and Bulldogs, Scott Pendlebury made a quintessentially unassuming Scott Pendlebury possession.
He found some space, took an uncontested mark and then a short kick to a teammate.
But in actual fact, it was a historic moment in the game – the Collingwood legend surpassed St Kilda great and dual Brownlow Medallist Robert Harvey for most disposals in VFL/AFL history.
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And just to make sure of it, he immediately got the ball back and made another disposal seconds later.
The fans at the ground knew about it too. As soon as Pendlebury got the kick away, they lit up and gave him a standing ovation as a ground announcement was made, and an image displayed on the scoreboard.
The Pies would eventually go on to win 13. 11. (89) to 11. 11. (77) to stand clear on top of the AFL ladder – at least until Port Adelaide’s clash with the Suns on Saturday evening.
“It was pretty loud when I got the ball so I knew I must have been around the mark,” he told Channel 7 after the match.
“To be honest, it was nice to get it done and out the way. The boys looked after me, fed me a few little ones.
“But most importantly we got the win. It was a tough game – we didn’t start well but clawed our way back and managed to get over the top.”
Pendlebury said he wasn’t counting his possessions through the match, of which the historic moment was his 14th of the night.
“The crowd let me know. When I got closer they went off. It’s really humbling,” he said.
The rest of the top-five in career disposals is Brent Harvey, Kevin Bartlett and Gary Ablett junior.
Collingwood coach Craig McRae was on the bench instead of in the coaches box when Pendlebury broke the record.
“I got up off the bench and we all stood and applauded him,” McRae said post-game.
“We wanted to celebrate it before the game – we pre-empted he was going to get 14 disposals, hoping we didn’t moz him – but we wanted to honour him in the game and celebrate every touch he had and give him the ball.
“It’s an incredible achievement, the ability to accumulate all those numbers, but the longevity – the game’s never seen it, clearly.”
Pendlebury last month extended his contract with Collingwood for another year. 2024 will be his 19th season with the club, which has seen him play a club-record 373 games.
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