THE Leongatha Parrots had their own brush with 400-game Collingwood champion Scott Pendlebury on Saturday when they met Sale, where it all started, at Sale.

And with no sense of theatre, they completely outplayed the Sale team of today and likely put them out of the race for the finals.

But the truth of it is that, in between his first love, basketball, and a late commitment to football, Scott Pendlebury played only one senior game for the Sale Magpies before being taken as Pick 5 by Collingwood in the 2005 draft.

Not that he doesn’t have a long history with Sale, playing all his footy there from Under 10s onwards.

Locals standing in front of the Sale rooms watching the game on Saturday couldn’t have been prouder that one of their own has reached the absolute top of his game.

“Look it was always basketball for Scott. He had the keys to the local stadium and he used to take 200 shots every day. He played in rep sides and always looked like he’d get somewhere with his basketball,” said Trevor Fyfe, a former under-age coach at the club.

“But I was there that day, the day he played his only senior game, against Maffra, and I think we won that one.

“But yes, he played footy at that Catholic College and you could see he had the skills.

“He love all the sports, and was a real competitor, determined. He also ran cross country and loved to win.”

Another of the Sale supporters whose sons came through the younger ranks with Scott Pendlebury said that while the whole family were good sports, he likely got his skills from his father Bruce, who was an excellent half back for Sale, playing representative football for the Latrobe Valley.

“He was thicker set that Scott but he was quick too and had great hands and the poise as well.

“But Scott was a hard worker, loved his basketball before making the decision late to pursue the opportunities in football.”

So, where would he have been if he followed basketball instead of football?

“Well, he probably would have been in Paris last night, playing for the Boomers against Greece. And he might have made the difference.”

In fact, after Gippsland Power won the TAC Cup in 2005, Pendlebury relinquished his place in the AIS basketball squad, a position taken by Patty Mills who went on to win an NBA Championship in 2014 with the San Antonio Spurs.

And the rest, as they say, is history, Pendlebury going on to have one of the most decorated AFL careers of all time.

Incidentally, there were a liberal sprinkling of South Gippslanders in that 2005 TAC Cup-winning Gippsland Power team including Jaymie Youle, Beau Vernon, Trent West, Brent Macaffer and Tom Dowd.

Leongatha’s Jarryd Roughead, who shares the same passion for basketball as Pendlebury, and played on junior-age rep teams with him, also played with him at Gippsland Power before being drafted in 2004.

Of course, Wonthaggi's Jarryd Blair was a premiership teammate of Scott Pendlebury's in 2010.

So, it was all about Scott Pendlebury and Sale when he ran out for his 400th game against Carlton on Saturday night, but there are plenty of locals who were able to share his celebrations. And Pendlebury never forgets his roots.

“For a kid from Sale to have a billboard in Melbourne, you couldn’t believe it,” said Scott Pendlebury as he prepared to become only the sixth player in AFL history to reach 400 games.