The star Collingwood midfielder missed a month of football last year with a fractured leg after Josh Caddy, then of Gold Coast but now of Geelong, collected him with a sliding tackle.
Amid the disquiet following the interpretation of the new rule, Pendlebury offered it his quiet endorsement while speaking at the Westpac Centre on Thursday ahead of his 150th game on the weekend.
"I think it's going to take a while to sort itself out and get used to the new interpretation," Pendlebury said.
"When you watch the really good players like Gary Ablett, you always seem him keep his feet and never slide towards the ball.
He said that over time, the new rule would come to be seen as a positive for the game.
"You wont see any of those nasty Gary Rohan snapped legs from people sliding in," he said.
It was the badly broken leg suffered by the Sydney Swans youngster last year that is largely seen as the catalyst for the new rule being introduced.
