Collingwood icon and pending V/AFL games record holder Scott Pendlebury is open to continuing his career into 2027.
Pendlebury is preparing to break through as the most capped AFL player in history when he walks out onto the MCG against West Coast on Saturday for game 433, topping North Melbourne's Brent Harvey.
However, the smooth-moving Pie hasn't ruled out going around again.
“I still love it. I still enjoy it,” Pendlebury told the Herald Sun.
“I love going into the club every day and problem solving and I feel like as an industry – and I have a different view – but we can be extremely shortsighted with how we see the game.
“Geelong is an outlier in how they view a season and have probably been ahead for a long time.
“And at Collingwood Mick (Malthouse) has always said, and ‘Fly' (coach Craig McRae) has said ‘don't put limits or bring birth certificates into the equation'.
“So I think there is no reason why I can't play on into next season if my form holds.”
Pendlebury is still one of Collingwood's prime movers at the age of 38, and his Anzac Day performance gave a clear suggestion of just how valuable he is to Craig McRae's side.
He is averaging 24 disposals (83.9 percent effective), 5.6 marks, 3.4 clearances and 7.3 score involvements (fourth-highest career return).
He was rested for the trip to Sydney, which was a narrow loss as McRae went younger against the premiership fancies.
But against the Eagles, Pendlebury, along with Darcy Cameron (ankle), Darcy Moore (concussion) and Patrick Lipinski (concussion) are all tipped to return to get the season back on track.
McRae and his troops sit precariously just outside the top 10 with an important stretch of games against fellow Wildcard aspirants such as the Western Bulldogs, Melbourne and Port Adelaide.
