When he purred inside 50 and kicked the first goal of the new season, it seemed as if Scott Pendlebury was on track for a dream night at the office in his first official outing as captain.

Unfortunately, things went badly awry from there as Fremantle outscored Collingwood with 17 goals to four, consigning the Magpies to a 70-point loss.

Despite his team’s heavy defeat, Pendlebury's personal performance in his first outing as skipper compares favourably with other recent Collingwood captains.

Manned by Fremantle’s master tagger Ryan Crowley, Pendlebury managed 26 disposals (the third highest return of any Magpie), laid nine tackles (one of four teammates to do so) and won five clearances.

It has similar parallels with Tony Shaw’s first official match as skipper back in the first round of 1987.

Playing out at Victoria Park against Sydney, Shaw collected a team high 30 disposals and laid four tackles in a 91-point loss.

At the same ground seven years later, Gavin Brown began his five-year tenure as team leader.

Like Shaw, Brown was the most prolific Collingwood player in his first match as skipper.

He gathered 24 disposals, won seven free kicks and led his club to an 11-point win over Fitzroy.

In a quirk of Collingwood symmetry, Brown’s league debut had been in Shaw’s first match as skipper.

Seven years on, Nathan Buckley made his first appearance in the Black and White during Brown’s captaincy debut against Fitzroy.

Fast-forward to the first round of 1999, and it was Buckley’s turn to lead the team out for the first time as the club’s official captain.

In front of 48,620 at the MCG, Buckley was heavily tagged by Hawthorn’s Richie Vandenberg but still managed 26 disposals, eight inside 50s and a Brownlow vote.

Unfortunately, like many other recent Magpie leaders, the Buckley era began with a defeat. The Hawks got home by 15 points.

Buckley stayed on as captain until his retirement at the end of 2007. Thirty-three year old Scott Burns replaced him in his final 12 months as a player before he, too, called time on his career.

In his first match as captain, Burns (and Dane Swan) led the team with 28 disposals in the mud up at the Gabba.

Collingwood led by 16 points at three quarter time but a final quarter fadeout saw the Lions sneak home by two points.

Burns had done all in his power to earn the four points, laying nine tackles, winning seven clearances, six inside 50s and six rebound 50s to go with his 28 disposals.

Amazingly, it wasn’t enough to earn a Brownlow vote.

Twelve months down the track, Nick Maxwell took the reigns for the first time.

On a warm Saturday afternoon at the MCG, Maxwell’s Magpies slipped 23 points behind at quarter time and always looked to be a step off the pace from there on.

Swung into attack, the skipper sparked his side into action with two third quarter goals to level the scores at three quarter time.

A error-riddled last quarter saw the Crows fall over the line by four points.

Pendlebury’s performance compares favourably with recent history.

Five of Collingwood’s last six captains oversaw a defeat in their first match at the helm, and all bar Maxwell (who is not a midfielder) earned an average of 26.8 disposals.

Three of the past five captains notched a win in their second match in charge, though none fared worse than Buckley, who broke his jaw in a 29-point loss to Carlton and was forced to sit out the next five weeks.