Nathan Buckley sets the scene before, as he describes it, sticking his flag in the ground.

He’s speaking about a player who’s not hard to guess – someone he both played with, and coached. Someone who he’s commentated, and spectated. Someone who he’s observed, judged, and reconsidered.

As Buckley remarks, they’re a six-time All-Australian, a five-time Copeland Trophy winner, a two-time Premiership player – one of which earned them a Norm Smith Medal – and a soon to be 400-gamer.

And as he comes to the end of his two minute spiel about this particular person, the ultimate closing line leaves his mouth.

“There hasn't been a player who’s contributed as much for as long as he has in my view, and that makes him the best Pie that's ever played the game.”

Of course, he’s talking about Scott Pendlebury – Buckley’s teammate of two years, lieutenant of 10 while Buckley was the Club’s coach, and close friend for now almost two decades.

It’s high praise from a man who himself holds a Brownlow Medal, a Norm Smith, and seven All-Australian blazers across a 260-game career in black and white.

But Buckley couldn’t be more certain of his view.

“It was the Adelaide game this year… I was sitting in the stands with my young fella, just watching him go about his business and it just dawned on me that we were witnessing a player who is one of the most consistent players that's ever played the game,” Buckley said.

“It’s an underrated trait, consistency, but he's also played at an elite level for nearly the entirety of that time.

“He jumped into his career really quickly. He very rarely had a lull, you look at the Copeland and Best & Fairest results which are an indication of where the coaches view you and his consistency, and he’s been unmatched for top three finishes, let alone wins.

“He's performed in big games and he's doing it in what would’ve been his 390th game I reckon, and he was the most impactful player on the field.

“Reflecting on that, there hasn't been a player who’s contributed as much for as long as he has in my view, and that makes him the best Pie that's ever played the game.”

That’s a view that’s formed over Pendlebury’s 19-year career.

But for Buckley, who was there at the very start when the basketball superstar, turned number five draft selection walked in the doors, it wasn’t as immediately evident as it might’ve been to others.

“As we all will, we’ll have time to reflect and try and bring back those memories and the ones that struck me was he was actually pretty quiet, very diligent, and just went about his business with a minimum of fuss,” Buckley recalled of his first interactions with Pendlebury.

“He really hasn't changed that much in that regard. He still achieves without a lot of fanfare, he takes steps daily, every session, every week.

“It was relatively evident early days that he had that he had that, but you never would have anticipated that he was going to be able to be as consistent and build momentum as he has over such a long period of time.”

 

Indeed, as they now joke about, while the adjectives Buckley now uses to describe Pendlebury are elite, consistent, and impressive, among many others, the first one he used back in the season of 2006 was “aloof”.

“Alan Richardson was the Head of Development at the time, and at one stage, he went around and asked the leaders and the coaches for a word to describe each of the first year players,” Buckley said.

“It was an exercise that Richo was running, and I do remember the word that I came up with for Pendles - and he’s goaded me a few times for it - but it was aloof.

“When I reflect on that, what I was witnessing was a young kid who seemed to be a little bit sort of one step back, and I probably confused that with not with not committing to the program or not committing to absolutely getting better, which when you put that in perspective now is just it's misplaced.

“What he was doing was assessing, as he always does, assessing and working it out before taking action.

“Maybe some feedback like that ends up lighting a bit of a fuse, but Pendles and I have spoken about it a few times and I think I’ve been able to talk my way out of it.”

By the time Buckley retired in 2007, after which he spent two years in the media, before returning to the Club as an Assistant Coach, Pendlebury was already a star of the competition.

And for the former star, it allowed him not only to see the type of player he was about to have at his disposal for a decade, but also the type of person he could rely upon whenever the situation called for it too, as Pendlebury went about his business in the way he knew how.

“Only knowing Pendles for two years as a player and then going in the media before coming back to the Club, the advantage there is you’re probably starting the relationship all over again,” he said.

“After sharing a couple of years as a teammate, it's probably not long enough to entrench the depth of the relationship that Pendles and I ended up developing.

“Pendles is he's his own man. He's more than confident to do it his own way and if he doesn't agree with a particular course of action or the way something's been done, he'll voice it.

“He’s always been a person who has absolutely committed himself to the things that they can control and made a habit of doing those consistently well, so his leadership has developed in quite a consistent and concerted manner.

“He's probably walked alongside players and coaches along like a big brother, just helping them to get the best out of themselves, teaching them by involving them in his own processes.”

Much has been made of Pendlebury’s ability to be an extension of the coaching group, especially in the back half of his storied career.

For the man that sat in the hot seat for over 50% of those games, there was a certain comfort with having Pendlebury on the field – knowing just how meticulous his eye for game plans and set ups were.

“I think coaches and off field staff are important to set the players up to succeed and they're important to be a part of developing the environment and the culture … but once you get to match day or even, a training session for that matter, you really do hand it over to the players,” he said.

‘When you know that you've got an individual as mature, as sure of himself, and as capable as a Scott Pendlebury, you do rest a little a lot easier knowing that you know the troops are in great hands when they're out there.

“It never felt like that wasn't looked after. It wasn't always perfect, it wasn't always the way you want to look and you wouldn't always win. But from an effort perspective, from a drive to succeed perspective, and from a pastoral care perspective, Pendles would always be setting up his teammates and thinking about what was best for the team.”

Bringing his teammates into his world has always been one of Pendlebury’s greatest strengths according to Buckley.

Showcasing a ‘mamba mentality’- a phrase coined by former NBA superstar Kobe Bryan, whose preparation and training outweighed any of his competitors’ – Pendlebury has been on an almost two-decade long pursuit of getting better, every single day.

“If no one else talks about it, if he doesn't, it’s the mamba mentality,” Buckley said of Pendlebury’s attitude to football.

“He has always loved NBA and Kobe Bryant was the poster boy for him. It wasn't just about his elite performance - although I'm sure when Pendles was a young up and coming football, he wasn't choosing someone that wasn't at the top of the tree, he was choosing the very top was.

“That was always his intent. That's what he wanted, and he believed it before anyone else did, and he's been able to work his way to it.

“But that mamba mentality was just all about consistency of performance and consistency of application. He loved Manny Pacquiao and used to grab his abdominal workouts and then brought them in to the boys and did the extra the extra core work.

“He would bring things in for himself, but then share them with everyone else and then everyone would get better. Hanging around Pendles was a was a good philosophy.”

“It's all that stuff that you don't see that has given him a chance to be as successful for as long as he has in the places that you do so, which is out on the field.”

And now, as he’s re-entered the media since leaving the Pies in 2021, Buckley has been able to witness Pendlebury’s greatness from yet another perspective.

No longer a teammate trying to work towards the same goal, or a coach trying to educate and guide his troops towards that goal, Buckley can now simply sit back and appreciate the player that is Scott Pendlebury.

“Watching him as a member of the media, it's probably it's a chance to take a step back,” he said.

“I'm not now part of the leadership that's trying to drive a certain outcome, so you step out of a football department into a spectator seat pretty much and you’re able to witness it in a whole different way.

“Part of the measure is how often has he looked vulnerable? How often has he lowered his colours? And you just look across that time and there’s probably one or two occasions where I thought, well, Pendles needs some more support here or I'm going to check in on him.

“And that’s legitimately one or two games out of the 400 that we're heading towards.

“It's been great to watch and witness that greatness and, and not have to do anything but sit back and enjoy the show. I've been blessed to be able to do that.”