Former Collingwood star Dane Swan has heaped praise on former premiership teammate Scott Pendlebury on the eve of his 300th game.
The Pies skipper will play his milestone match in next Friday night's qualifying final clash against Geelong at the MCG.
He becomes just the third Magpie to notch the triple ton games tally, joining former club greats Gordon Coventry and Tony Shaw.
It comes as Pendlebury was named an All Australian for the sixth time earlier this week and his first honour since 2014.
Swan said he would not have been the player he was if not for Pendlebury's influence.
“Scott made me a much better player than what I was,” Swan told SEN.com.au.
“He looked after me a lot.
“The thing about us is that we came to understand how each other plays.
“If Scott got the ball at a stoppage, we wouldn’t have to talk. I knew where he’d like to get out and give so I’d get in his vision before he was ready to give it. That’s just the rapport we had with each other.
“When I got it, he knew I couldn’t do much with it, so I’d give it to him. He made me look better.
“So without him I certainly wouldn’t have done what I had done in my career.”
While the star midfield duo had different approaches to their preparation, Swan believes they both knew how to get the best out of themselves.
“We had different methods to get the best out of ourselves,” he said.
“Scott found out what worked for him. Mine was probably a little different than his, but if I’d have trained and worked like him, who’s to say I would have done what I’d done.
“And if Scott had have trained the way I did, who knows? He might not be the player he is today.”
Despite being four years his senior, Swan revealed that he still took great learnings from the way Pendlebury went about it.
"I did learn plenty from him though," he said.
“I was a few years into my career when he was drafted so I already knew how I was going to go about it, I didn’t change too much.
“But I saw his work ethic and I probably saw more stuff from him game day around preparation. That and his work rate stood out.”
The 2011 Brownlow medallist joked: “I tried to take him under my wing, but he left me alone pretty quickly.
“He went and followed guys that he looked up to.”
Swan concluded that Pendlebury's application and commitment have been the driving force behind his successful career.
“His consistency and the fact he’s rarely hurt is credit to himself.
“Obviously he’s worked extremely hard, harder than anyone during my time at the club, and it’s no surprise that he’s achieved what he has.
“It started from day one. His passion, work ethic and training intensity have only improved as he’s gone on.
“He would have got a taste of how good he can be and just thought, ‘I want to be the best’.”
