Love them or hate them, these famous on-field trends have been an influential part of modern football.

Until now.

Collingwood captain Scott Pendlebury believes neither tagging nor sledging are relevant in today’s fast-paced game.

A total of 35 possessions and two goals signalled one of Pendlebury’s most impressive statistical performances in round one. And there could be plenty more big individual games to come.

“Sides are backing their midfielders to get it done as a collective,” Pendlebury told co-host Jay Clark on Collingwood Media podcast ‘Jock and Journo’.

“Collingwood midfielders will (try) and beat the Western Bulldogs team as a collective… On the weekend we didn’t send anyone to (Marcus) Bontempelli. We just went head-to-head.

“Obviously every midfielder works hard both ways and if you’re one who doesn’t do that, you’ll get exposed.”

Pendlebury’s claim is backed up by a high number of impressive individual performances in round one.

11 players across the league totalled over 35 disposals across the nine opening games, led by a 40-touch game by Adelaide’s Rory Laird.



Pendlebury also used his fortnightly podcast to declare sledging dead amongst AFL players.

According to the 29-year-old, gone are the days of intimidating barbs from the likes of Barry Hall and Jonathon Brown.

“If you’re sledging now it’s at a centre bounce when you’ve got time to sledge. But if you’re sledging, it means you’re out of the game. It’s gone.”

Despite the lack of talk on the field now, Pendlebury has vivid memories of being on the end of plenty of chatter in his early days as a Magpie.

“When I first started there was heaps and heaps of sledging,” he recalled.

“As an 18 or 19-year-old, you’re absolutely shitting yourself.

“I remember when Barry Hall yelled at me, it was like my Dad yelling at me. It was so scary.

“There’s no one as intimidating now.”

Tune in to listen to that and a whole lot more in Jock and Journo below with other topics including:

- The Bulldogs’ vulnerabilities (1:45),
- The death of tagging (7:45),
- Sensationalising Cloke's return (15:45),
- A new rivalry is born (18:00),
- Exploiting the third-man up (21:00),
- 'Soft as butter' LeBron James (24:30), and more.