He saidthe shock of Wednesday’s announcement remained to some extent but the coaches,including Buckley,had done a great job in focusing their minds on their huge assignment against top of the table Melbourne.
“We acknowledge that[the BigFreeze match] is going to be a big occasion and a bit of emotion in the game but we want to be able to go out there and play a good brand of footy on Monday and try to get the result,” Pendlebury said.
“There have been different conversations among the group as to how everyone is going because there will be a range of emotions and players will handle it differently.”
The Magpies included Chris Mayne and Beau McCreery to replace Brayden Sier,Jay Rantall and Callum Brown,with Mason Cox listed as an emergency. Jake Melksham made way for Ed Langdon,who returns for the Demons after missing a match with concussion.
While Collingwood premiership coach Leigh Matthews said on 3AW the person who succeeded Buckley could not have “training wheels” given the enormous focus on the Magpies,Pendlebury was open to it being the right person regardless.
“That[decision] will play out above my head. The club will do what they need to and be expansive in their search. I am not sure if we need a super senior guy that has been around before,or a young guy,” Pendlebury said.
He said no one could question the players’ effort in 2021 but he refused toblame the controversy that has plagued the club since the start of the last year’s trade period for where they sat on the ladder.
“All the stuff that has happened to us I don’t think is an excuse to be 3-9 ... we just haven’t performed the way we wanted to on-field and we are trying to fix that in the remaining part of the year,” Pendlebury said.
But he did concede the circumstances were not ideal for peak performance.
“You would love to have blue skies and no issues at your football club and you can just worry about the day to day,” Pendlebury said.
On Monday one chapter at the club will finish and on Tuesday another will begin with Pendlebury clear that he won’t change his approach.
“I am really looking forward to playing under ‘Bucks’ for the last time and going out there and trying to get the result ... whoever becomes the coach I will play as hard under them as I have for Bucks,” Pendlebury said.
“I probably see our list two or three years away but our job as players is to come in and perform and try to find confidence and then anything can happen.
“I am a firm believer that if we can play some good footy in the back half of the year and build some confidence then who knows for 2022.”
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