Pendlebury or Selwood: Who gets the AFL's silver medal?

Gary Ablett Jr is so much in his own league that commentators and experts have given up on debating who the best player is.

Instead, debate is now continuing to rage on about who the second best player is. The debate is between two players – Collingwood captain Scott Pendlebury or Geelong captain Joel Selwood.

Last Saturday night, Selwood had the measure on his Collingwood counterpart. Selwood chalked up 30 disposals at 83 per cent efficiency and 11 tackles underlining his hard-at-it approach to the game. Pendlebury gathered an admirable 26 disposals but wasn’t as damaging as he was in Round 2.

Selwood and Pendlebury are very contrasting players, but yet have seemed to have similar career paths.

They were both Top-10 draft picks, Pendlebury landing at five (2005) while Selwood got to seven (2006).

Despite, Pendlebury debuting in 2006, both were heavy favourites for the 2007 NAB Rising Star. Selwood eventually won edging Pendlebury out by seven votes.

Later on that year, Selwood would go on to taste premiership success in just his first season of football. Pendlebury would go on to have individual accolades such as playing in the 150th year AFL tribute match between Victoria and the Dream Team at just the tender age of 20.

Both are now captains at their respective clubs at just the ages of 26. They are both very highly respected in the AFL community. But who is number two?

Selwood is undoubtedly one of the most courageous players in the AFL, if not the most, having won three Robert Rose Medals for most courageous player voted by his peers.

He has a kamikaze approach to the game, throwing his body and head on the line every game much to the disbelief of teammates and opponents.

Selwood is an elite inside midfielder with the ability to extract the ball and feed it out to the outside players. Averaging a phenomenal 25.3 disposals and five tackles a game throughout his whole career.

Since taking over the captaincy Selwood has excelled to a new level. Just when his game couldn’t get any better, Selwood became a goal-kicking midfielder, booting 30 goals last season. It resulted in him finishing second in the Brownlow count, behind Gary Ablett.

A competitive beast, fearless player, one thing that stands out is his leadership. Last year he was awarded the best captain award by the AFLPA. He inspires and lifts his teammates all around him and can almost single-handedly drag his team over the line by just sheer will.

There is no doubt he can lead the next generation of Geelong players to another premiership.

Ask any player that has ever played with or against Scott Pendlebury and they would swear that he has the ability to slow down time. That’s the effect that Pendlebury has when he gets his hands on the footy, and when he does no one can get near him or even predict what he can do.

Pendlebury’s previous Basketball background has helped him develop and excel in some aspects of his game. Pendlebury’s poise and balance in such a compact and pressurised environment is unbelievable while his decision-making and ball use is mindboggling.

Despite going in ‘slow-motion’, Pendlebury is deceptively fast and an elite endurance runner. According to his teammates, he is the ‘ultimate professional’. These qualities bear an uncanny resemblance to his former captain and current coach, Nathan Buckley.

He has been touted as a ‘big time player’ meaning he steps up on the bigger stage. A Norm Smith medal and two ANZAC day medals has proven that he steps up when he needs to.

Despite only three games as the club captain, Pendlebury showed in Round 2 how inspirational of a captain he can be by almost single-handedly dragging his team over in a slug fest. Not only did he gather 33 disposals and kick a vital goal, he managed to get his teammates back into the game.

It’s a tough decision about which player would be number two. The debate will continue to heat up especially as the season rolls on.

Based on pure football skills and ability, Pendlebury would be slightly ahead. Add leadership and presence and Selwood would hit the front. But once Pendlebury finds his groove as a captain, that could all change.