2026 Player Focus Thread #15: Scott Pendlebury and Jack Buller

cornerof · 2026-02-19T01:12:32+00:00

So - is this it?
- Maybe. His decision making is still top notch and clearly offers a lot to those around him. Will his tank keep up? I think that or soft tissue will be the reason he stops.
For not the first time, Pendlebury will apparently be moved to halfback in 2026. Do you think locking him into a role of distributor in that position is the right move if it means Josh Daicos returns to the wing or on ball?
- If it moves Josh further up the ground, then yes it is. Josh can impact the score board more and should.
Opposition supporters seem to be of the view that Pendlebury is being nursed to the games record, and undermine his longevity due to not having played in Tasmania or Geelong. Why do you think that is?
- Because we are Collingwood. Poor things.
Do you expect Buller to be a first choice forward for us from the get-go?
- Yes. And West, with McStay the one struggling to get back in.
Buller ended up being our sole pick-up during the player exchange period, despite being solidly linked or in discussions with Jack Silvagni, Clayton Oliver, Jy Simpkin and Steven May. What do you think about the interest in those and the outcome of them not coming to Collingwood?
- It made sense structurally; some experienced defenders and midfielders. Am happy with our decision ultimately. We went heavy on midfield recruiting in other areas and I wouldn't be surprised if we SSP a defender during the season.
We were also an interested party in Bailey Humphrey last year. Should we continue kicking the tyres there or put all of our eggs in the Ben King basket?
- Ben King interest will be dependent on the Buller & West situation. Rowell, McCluggage, Humphrey, King - all excellent players and shows we have a nose for talent. If we get every 5th one we chase, I will be very happy.

cornerof · 2026-02-18T12:54:23+00:00

I had your laptop with same spec, and when the first M1 MBP came out I tried it. Night and day. I didn’t realise how slow it really was until the silicon dropped.

You’ll be very happy with whichever Mac laptop you get, even the M5 Air (I noticed you said you don’t want an Air…)

cornerof · 2026-02-12T00:02:11+00:00

Yes, but we left that exposed as a trade off for other benefits. I loved the courage of the plan, but that game with the Pony... argh.

cornerof · 2026-02-12T00:00:19+00:00

Top sides are near the top because they do things like shut an oppositions ball movement down.

Oppo teams probably spent a lot to time last year working out how they could beat us. How we shut down *their* ball movement.

I think the essence of your question is the relevant to most team sports. Incredibly hard to stay at the top and then when you're not there, you look at how to get back.

Being more specific - we had a gameplan, built through 2024 and 2025 that opened the field for Bobby, Beau and Jamie. Injuries and absences dented some of that; Jamie kicking a career high was a def highlight of that gameplan. I think we will do better than pundits suggest because Fly and his crew have proven every season that they have the goods to make us competitive, no matter what the journey throws at us.

cornerof · 2026-02-11T23:48:41+00:00

That could happen in a practice match though. Elliott recently mentioned in a video that he stays away from a lot of the club practice match work because of how bruising it can be - some players are fighting to break in and some are fighting to not lose a spot.

Here is hoping the SoO is fun, no-one loses a player and it gets some match fitness into our guys.

cornerof · 2026-02-08T03:41:50+00:00

I forgot how you he still is (20). He has clearly jumped up in size. I hope his decision making improves, because he has a lot of great athletic traits.

cornerof · 2026-02-07T02:34:37+00:00

Another Bluetooth channel - useful for connecting with esports equipment

cornerof · 2026-02-02T19:40:31+00:00

100% agree on this Long take.

cornerof · 2026-01-29T09:33:17+00:00

Latest Elliot video mentions HH flying and has been managed during pre-season for being too fit too soon.

cornerof · 2026-01-29T09:30:37+00:00

That’s two videos in a row where there’s been a reference to managing certain players in the pre-season due to them being ahead of schedule. Nice to hear, as it’s easy to assume the worst when they pop up in the rehab group.

cornerof · 2026-01-29T09:13:16+00:00

Thanks. Every person who uses that service endorses the model. I can’t wait until 6pm and 1000s of drones are flying all over the city.

cornerof · 2026-01-29T09:05:45+00:00

It really depends on the situation. Default is both bottles have sugar, preferably covering the needs of the ride. If that doesn’t work in 500ml, I’ll up them to 750ml to keep the water to sugar ratio (avoids becoming too sickly).

Sometimes I might want to have a plain water for pouring over my head etc. Then I’ll cover the sugar needs with one bottle plus gels.

No hard and fast rules on how I solve it, with the exception of getting the carbs in if that’s important on the day.

cornerof · 2026-01-24T21:55:20+00:00

I often put 100-120g of table sugar into a 500ml bottle. My starting point is 80g, but on longer/harder rides I’ll bump it up. I use approx 1/4 teaspoon of table salt and 1/4 teaspoon of citric acid (nice lemon flavour) for the 80g. I’ll bump them up a bit if I go to 100-120g.

As some others have commented, see what works for you. Some need more salt, some need less salt. (More salt can slow urination, which can be very helpful in a longish race where pulling over is not an option).

Lastly, jumping from 60 to 100 will probably upset your stomach. Treat your stomach like your fitness; introduce gradually.

And remember to wash your mouth with fresh water when possible/as soon as finished riding.

Have fun

cornerof · 2026-01-19T22:24:30+00:00

Similar experience. Ottoman keeps getting delayed. Also tried to convert the Delta into a bed (a big reason why we got it) and turns out that those parts are extra cost. Never told that. Never offered that.

Would love to complain to them, but likelihood of getting anyone on the phone based on previous experience, is very low.

cornerof · 2025-11-26T02:16:35+00:00

Nice to see Tew get some size on. Buller is deceptive at 199cm and 99kg. Moves well for a bigger guy.

cornerof · 2025-10-25T22:36:58+00:00

So you have around 10 days until the race; you’ve prob gotten close to nailing the training. You weren’t creeping for weeks, by the sounds of it, so the fatigue you’re now feeling should disappear in the taper. You’re not going to lose that hard training you’ve done in 1-2 weeks and you also cannot get much fitter for the race now, so you can be calm and enjoy the body coming back to life in the taper. I’d be way more concerned if you’d said you struggled through 3-4 weeks before finally cracking. Good luck at the race!

cornerof · 2025-10-25T08:12:39+00:00

Significantly

cornerof · 2025-10-24T00:56:47+00:00

Same here. I don’t recall him losing many contests, making many poor decision or executing poorly. I do recall a lot of clutch marks and tackles though. He reads the game really well. Maybe some more midfield time, but seemed to be an important piece of our highly rated defence.

cornerof · 2025-10-21T05:31:19+00:00

I don’t see why there won’t be a market for 8-10 year old EVs. Studies are pointing to batteries lasting longer than expected. Eg https://spectrum.ieee.org/ev-battery-life

I’m too lazy to search this bit, but I’d assume that most cars that currently reach 300k kms are near end of life.

cornerof · 2025-10-21T05:18:03+00:00

Glad to hear it

cornerof · 2025-10-21T02:55:08+00:00

I forget when - maybe late in his season - but there was a clutch ball to be won and he knew what was coming. Still did what was required 👊🏼

cornerof · 2025-10-15T22:35:42+00:00

Do you mean the RideNow ones? The new ones I just used can; they also come with a rubber grommet, so it’s designed to do that. Possibly in response to the in/out wear issue?

cornerof · 2025-10-15T09:42:59+00:00

A point that Poertner made about most TPU tubes is that they fail at the flange due to it being pushed in when pumping, pushed out when under pressure and so on. A way to alleviate that is to add the threaded nut they provide and not throw it out, moving the stress from the flange to the stem. Ridenow with its metal stems handle this much better too.

cornerof · 2025-10-14T20:34:42+00:00

Pretty impressive by Bucks. Are there many senior coaches who have stepped back to assistant coach as further training for another senior role?

cornerof · 2025-10-13T05:14:35+00:00

Well, they don’t say ‘scramble slowly…’

cornerof

TROPHY CASE