The remark raised eyebrows because it was unusual for a player to call out his team using such strong language and also because it came from the mild-mannered Pendlebury.
But the 25-year-old, a 2010 premiership player and Norm Smith medalist is now vice-captain of the Pies and is warming to his new leadership role at the Westpac Centre.
"I think I have enough credits in the bank with my performances. I'm 25, in the middle age group at the club that I'm comfortable to talk to any player in the team and have those discussions," he said in an interview to be published in this weekend's AFL Record.
"I'm definitely comfortable out on the ground telling guys what they need to do. As for that Anzac Day remark, I considered myself in that group. Our work rate dropped and that's something we needed to address.
"I need to keep improving and better myself," he added. "Most guys at football clubs, if they don't have that aspiration they'll find themselves out the door pretty quickly."
The Pies are sitting at 4-3 ahead of Saturday night's blockbuster with Geelong at the MCG. They host the Sydney Swans the following week, so this fortnight is critical with respect to staying in touch with the ladder leaders, perhaps even for the club's top-four aspirations.
"As a team we're a bit patchy," he said. "We have played some really good quarters and some poor quarters of footy so we have to iron that out.
"It's going to come back to hard work. The most encouraging thing is that the boys want to find out why and they're willing to work. They're not going to sit back and let someone go past us.
"We're willing to roll up our sleeves and put the overalls back on," he said.
He also said after the 2010 flag and the second-place finish the next year, the Magpies were now back in the position of the few years before then when they were among the pack chasing the very top teams.
"We've got to get that hunger back to that very high level because we're a bit patchy at the moment.
"It's like we expect to do it because that’s what we've always done but we have to get back to making it happen, not waiting for it to happen," he said.
Ashley Browne is an AFL Media senior writer. @afl_hashbrowne
