GREG Swann's wife, Leonie, sat down Dale Thomas and Scott Pendlebury when they arrived at the Collingwood chief executive's Williamstown home as fresh-faced teenagers, having just realised their AFL dream. She wanted to know something about them.

So, she asked the pair, what was the best thing about the other? Pendlebury started, waxing lyrical about his Gippsland Power teammate, who had just been recruited to the Magpies with the No.2 pick. 'Daisy' was a human highlights reel who could sit on heads, Pendlebury said. He could kick miraculous goals, and do just about everything in between.

When it came Thomas' time to return the favour in regard to Pendlebury, he pointed out the window of the Swann household and down the road. "Well," he said. "If we all walked down there to that phone booth at the end of the street and we all got in, you still couldn't tackle 'Pendles'."

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"That stuck with me from then on," Swann tells AFL.com.au, recalling the story.

"And, to be honest, it's pretty much been true for 433 games."

It's been over 20 years since Thomas and Pendlebury first bunked at the Swann household, having been premiership teammates at the Gippsland Power before joining forces again at Collingwood as the No.2 and No.5 picks at the 2005 draft. Together, 'Daisy' and 'Pendles' were tasked with turning around a club that was spiralling out of control, having just lost eight straight matches to finish the previous campaign, earning the side a priority pick at the top of the draft.

"It was pretty good fun," Thomas tells AFL.com.au. "We were just bright-eyed kids that had landed at the biggest club in Australia, trying to find our way and having a great deal of fun doing it.

"It was a pretty good setup out the back of 'Swanny's' pool house that we shared. 'Pendles' had a weird little thing where he always had to sleep with a fan on his face. We had the two king singles about a metre apart from each other and you'd hear the 'Brrrr…' of the fan all night. It would do me pill in. I don't know if he still does that, but it was always something I remember."

Both, in their own right, were surprise choices at Collingwood's picks. It had instead been Marc Murphy's future that had dominated the lead-up to the draft. Eligible to either head to Brisbane under father-son rules, or nominate for the open pool where Carlton would surely snap him up with the No.1 pick, the Oakleigh Chargers midfielder opted for the Blues. For Collingwood's first-year recruiting manager, Derek Hine, Murphy's decision meant he could breathe a sigh of relief.

Clubs had initially believed Hine would take Xavier Ellis with the No.2 pick. But he had a different plan. After claiming Thomas at No.2, he pounced on Pendlebury at No.5. Having not had much exposure to clubs after only opting to pursue football ahead of basketball in his draft year, the kid called 'Pendles' wasn't anticipating to hear his name read out until much deeper into proceedings. Some clubs thought it would be late inside the first round, others believed he might push into the second.

The 'Burgatron Phantom Draft', published by ex-AFL.com.au reporter Matt Burgan on the evening before the 2005 event, had Pendlebury heading to West Coast at the No.13 pick. But even that prediction was made with a caveat that Pendlebury's draft standing had "lifted dramatically in recent weeks" from where it had been.

"We actually ranked him a little bit higher than No.5 as well," Hine tells AFL.com.au.

"The draft was done in the function area at Rod Laver Arena. Clubs thought that we were going to take Xavier Ellis at No.2. Marc Murphy went at No.1 and clearly he'd knocked back Brisbane. We were trying to get him to knock back Brisbane. We did a lot of work on Marc to get him to stay in the draft, because that pushed things down. We probably wouldn't have been able to bring Dale in if Marc had gone to Brisbane, so that was all good from our perspective.

"We had Dale and Scott pretty close together. But we had a higher level of confidence that Scott was going to be there at No.5. All the projections and all of our research said that he was going to go late in the first round, maybe into the second round.

"We didn't take him four rounds earlier than anyone else, it wasn't that sort of thing, but it was maybe 10 or 15 picks higher than anyone else would have. In those days, that was probably considerable. I don't want to be flippant, but I just had a high level of confidence he would be there. As soon as Marc committed to going to Carlton and knocked back Brisbane, we had a really high level of confidence that we were going to be able to bring the two in."

Given the analogue nature of the 2005 draft, Swann vividly recalls hearing rival club recruiters situated around the Collingwood box at Rod Laver Arena shuffling papers and clipboards around when Pendlebury's name was called by the Pies, trying to locate exactly where they had placed the gangly 17-year-old in their orders to cross his name off their lists. It wasn't exactly a reassuring noise.

But, as 'Pendles' prepares to break the V/AFL games record with his 433rd appearance on Saturday, the latest highlight in a career that’s also featured two premierships, a Norm Smith Medal, six All-Australian blazers, five Copeland Trophies, an AFL Coaches' Association Player of the Year Award and nine years spent as club captain, it's fair to say the pick – and the faith shown in Hine by Collingwood coach Mick Malthouse to ultimately execute the selection – was justified.

"Mick was amazing. Mick is the best coach I've ever worked with, in terms of the confidence he instilled in me to back myself. I could seriously bring in Humphrey B. Bear and he'd back me," Hine says.

"We got to a point very early where he knew that I'd do the work. Leading into a lot of these drafts, Collingwood used to go to Arizona. I'd always do a lot of work before those trips. I'd go and meet Mick at the airport and we'd have breakfast and I'd go through the whole thing with him.

"The very first time they were away, I spent months on this report. I said, 'These are the players and where they're ranked'. I got to about the third page and he said, 'Don't worry, 'Dekka', you know what you're doing so just go and do it'. Clearly, we'd talk about positional profile and the list and all of that sort of stuff. But he was amazing for me to work for, amazing."

For every recruiter, especially one who has just completed their first draft, the nervousness doesn't end when the event finishes. Then comes pre-season, then the campaign proper, and the real judgment around whether the talent scouts have nailed their selections begins. For Hine, though, such anxieties over whether Pendlebury would make the grade disappeared when he rocked up to his first training session.

"It was as soon as I watched him train … it was pretty evident," Hines laughs.

Thomas, though, has a more distinct memory of knowing when Pendlebury would succeed at Collingwood, one that made him realise his teammate was operating on a different playing field to most others. It came in just the third of his soon-to-be 433 appearances, at a crucial juncture of a game the pair would ultimately inspire the Pies to win.

"Stadium Australia, playing Sydney," Thomas says.

"It might have been Paul Williams who broke from the centre clearance. 'Pendles' was on him and he actually swatted the ball out of his hand. He didn't play for a tackle or try and do anything normal, he just purely played the ball. He just plays the game completely different to most and he sees it different.

"For what he's been blessed with in terms of speed and endurance – his endurance is solid without being amazing, I think we could all agree his speed is average at best – but how he's been able to be fast in the mind and use that to stop, prop, assess and put players into time and space himself … it's meant that he's played for so long and at such a high standard."

Hine had briefed Collingwood's senior figures over Pendlebury's external standing among rival recruiters in comparison to his. Ex-Magpies president Eddie McGuire has repeatedly told the famous story of being informed that his club was about to get "criticism" for the selection.

"It was Derek's first draft as the main guy," Swann says.

"Obviously, you've got two early picks so I would think he was pretty nervous. It was interesting because for me, just watching in those days, they give you the list of five or six that you like at the top end. Obviously, Gippsland Power had won the flag that season and those two guys – 'Daisy' and 'Pendles' – were the standouts in a premiership-winning team.

"We knew the story that he'd been playing basketball and came back to footy. Derek's big thing at the time was that he thought 'Pendles' had massive scope and massive upside. That was his thing. 'Daisy' was readymade and was taking hangers and doing all of the stuff that he did in his career. He was already doing that. 'Pendles' was playing well, but Derek just kept saying there was massive upside with this kid."

Not every club, though, had cottoned on to that upside. While it was Thomas that starred in Gippsland's premiership year, punctuating his season with 20 disposals and four goals in the TAC Cup Grand Final to win the best-on-ground medal and lift the Power to victory at the MCG, Pendlebury was deployed in a more defensive role on the wing. His potential was often masked by his position.

"When Scott played, it was really frustrating," Hine says.

"I think this may be why other clubs might have pushed him back a little bit … I forget who the coach was at the time, but they'd play two wingers. Scott played a lot of time on the wing and he'd run as the defensive winger. He'd roll back behind the play and whoever was on the offensive wing would clearly push forward. Scott would become the seventh defender and would play a lot of that role.

"It wasn't so much an offensive role. But, very quickly, he developed his craft, particularly given the lack of footy he'd had. At times, we forget how little footy he had. Because he was so basketball-dominated, all of his footy came from within the schoolyard."

Hine first laid eyes on Pendlebury when he wandered down alone to Monash University to watch Gippsland Power play the Sandringham Dragons in a pre-season scratch match on a warm February afternoon. It was his first game since informing officials at the Australian Institute of Sport that he would be pursuing a life in the AFL over a promising junior basketball career.

"What was really clear to us at a really early stage of critiquing him were his standards. I really do believe that the time he spent at the AIS and the academy was hugely advantageous to him," Hine says.

"He almost came into the program and was our most professional player straightaway. Through their processes he was living professional standards day in, day out. That certainly gave him a bit of a headstart."

It was obvious to his new teammates, as well. While the No.2 pick in Thomas was raw in every sense of the word, the No.5 pick in Pendlebury was the ultra-professional. In hindsight, Thomas recalls, achieving a feat like the one 'Pendles' will this weekend really should have been something people saw coming.

"Just how much of a pro he was from the start," Thomas says of his first memories of Pendlebury. "The AIS background from basketball just meant he was a fair way ahead of most when it came to thinking about recovery and what that looked like.

"He obviously was newish to football, because he was coming from basketball. But he just had so much time. That was something that stood out immediately. When you're playing at Gippsland or you're trying out for these squads, you're pretty good at identifying if there's a point of difference in someone's game. There's no doubt that, for Scott, it translated pretty quickly over into how he's played the next 430-odd at AFL level.

"It's weird. Half of you goes, 'If there was going to be anyone doing this it was always going to be 'Pendles'.' But it's also ridiculous. I think back to how I was pulling up at 30 and that's only after 250-odd games. He's just ticked off 300, 350 and 400 for fun and he continues to roll. The scary thing is, he doesn't really look like stopping. It's credit to him, he deserves everything that comes his way because he's gone above and beyond to make sure that he's been able to continue to play. But as much as you say, 'Gee it's an amazing effort', it does makes sense."

Thomas hit the ground running at Collingwood, making his debut in round one and earning a Rising Star nomination in round two. Pendlebury, though, did not. Having been struck down by glandular fever over the Christmas break, he was forced to earn his opportunity at AFL level through the club's reserves affiliate at Williamstown. It wasn't until round 10 that 'Pendles' eventually broke through, with each passing week acting as yet another motivating factor for the young midfielder.

"Mick made him sing for his supper, I can tell you that," Hine says. "'Daisy' and Scott came in together and 'Daisy' played round one and was jumping on guys' heads and all of that. It almost drove Scott batty, he just wanted to get in.

"Back then, our aligned club was Williamstown and he was best on ground week in, week out until Mick finally gave in and gave him his first game. He's never been out of the side since."

The competitive juices flowed between Thomas and Pendlebury as they aimed to outdo each other on their way to the top. That type of environment was encouraged by the club's hard-nosed leaders like Nathan Buckley, Scott Burns and Nick Maxwell and was a catalyst in Collingwood's rise to the 2010 premiership.

"It wasn't so much in my eyes me versus Scott," Thomas says. "We were both just competitors. Especially when you go through with the draft group that we had, it didn't matter if it was table tennis or poker or if it was throwing a ball at a post, you wanted to win.

"They're attributes that Collingwood side – with the Shaws and the Didaks and the Buckleys – that competitive nature was something that was really encouraged. It's good to want to be better than the next person, as long as you're not doing it at the detriment of them or the group. That competitive edge is something that made us both better earlier on and made us strive for more."

Pendlebury has never stopped striving for more. While his list of career accolades stretches on for days, perhaps the most remarkable aspect of his soon-to-be 433-game career is the fact he's still producing now like he was back then. Having turned 38 in January, and well into his 21st season in the League, the appetite and the hunger – along with the natural talent that has always defined him – remains as strong as ever.

A month ago, his 431st AFL appearance brought with it a record fourth Anzac Medal and a career-high 43 disposals to go with two goals and 19 score involvements against Essendon. And while 433 will be ticked off this weekend, it's not hard to see 450 and an incredible 22nd season on the horizon in 2027. Pendlebury is, truly, a player like no other.

"To be honest, it's amazing," Swann says.

"I was there on Anzac Day. You used to get to a stage where by 33 or 34, you were cooked. No matter who you were, or how good you were. For him to have that longevity and still be the key piece of the team. Like, he's not getting carried. He's actually still in their best five or six players when he plays. That's unbelievable for a 38-year-old.

"But, again, it's testament to him and his longevity and his preparation and his professionalism. He's got the footy chip. He is a step ahead of everyone on the field. He knows where the ball is, he knows where it's going to be, he knows where all of his teammates are, he knows where his opposition is. It's quite amazing to watch him play.

"That's the best way to describe him, he's got the footy chip."