Sydney coach Dean Cox has poured praise on Collingwood's Scott Pendlebury, who will be rested by the Pies for their Friday night clash with the Swans.
It will enable him to play his record breaking game at the MCG against West Coast, with Cox celebrating his impact.
“He's an unbelievable footballer and person and we should celebrate him being in the game. He's performed at the highest level for a long period of time and he's still doing that which is incredible to think about,” Cox said.
“Someone who's played that amount of footy to still be doing what he's doing is a credit to him and the way he prepares.”
Charlie Curnow, Jai Serong and Tom McCartin are all tests for Friday night and while Cox was unable to provide absolute assurance they would play, all have so far ticked the required boxes.
If Curnow returns from his abdominal injury, it would pose a selection squeeze for the Swans, with Hayden McLean kicking three goals in his first game of the season against North Melbourne, lining up alongside incumbents Joel Amartey and Logan McDonald.
“I won't say never play all four. At the minute we won't. We'll have to make a decision after training about what the best format looks like with three of those so we'll have a discussion,” Cox said.
Having conceded 97 and 114 points in the last fortnight, the Swans are coming up against a Magpies line-up that has had its scoring woes in the last 12 months, providing an important opportunity for them to rebound.
“We're challenging the playing group to getting back and playing the defensive brand of football we know we can play,” Cox said.
“It doesn't matter the opposition, we always look really closely at how they move the ball, what they do, how they set up but we need to make sure our defensive intent is right from the outset because in the last couple of weeks, it hasn't been at the level it should be.”
