THIS is a match-up between the premier midfielders in each team. 

A Collingwood champion who is one of the AFL's really top-notch midfielders, especially in big games, and a Port Adelaide opponent who in the not too distant future will be regarded just as highly. And that's not to stay Travis Boak is not all class already. 

It's the established young midfield champion against the emerging young midfield champion, even though Pendlebury is only seven months older, and both will be critical to their team's prospects in Saturday night's elimination final.

Scott Pendlebury is the proven big-time performer. He's a glorious player to watch, and unashamedly he's one of my favourites. When I look at him I think of Simon Black. He's exquisite, and will be every bit as good as Blacky by the time he's finished.

He's a Rolls Royce in everything he does. Clearance work. Ball use. Decision making. Everything. But beyond that he brings other players into the game and makes other players better. A rare and special quality.

One goal he kicked against North last Sunday said it all. He won a contested ball at the centre bounce, grabbed it one-handed and smoothly took it in both hands, broke from the centre circle, ran towards 50 and kicked a beautiful long goal. Pure class!

As an outsider, what I also love about him is his humility. If things aren't working for him for whatever reason he'll go and take a match-up on an opposition gun and contribute to his team in other ways.

 

If Collingwood are successful in September they'll look back at the moment when Pendlebury put on the record his concerns about their “selfish” midfielders. That was courageous because being publicly critical of teammates is never easy, but to me it was extraordinary leadership in the right situation.

The only reason Travis Boak isn't held in the same regard as Pendlebury on the national football stage is that he hasn't had the chance to strut his stuff yet. 

This is his first big finals campaign as a senior player after he played as a teenager in the 2008 Grand Final in his 14th game. And if ever there's a player made for September, it is him.

The young leader who put massive offers aside to lead his team has significantly increased his work rate. That he is running through the lines and very active at clearances suggests he has improved his intensity for a sustained period of time and he is putting it to good use at critical stages.

 

Boak, like Pendlebury, is capable of identifying when momentum is running against his side, and good enough to do something about it. Regardless of whether he's working through the midfield, or playing at half forward as he does just as well, he is a game-changer.

 

So often this year we have seen Port finish over the top of their opposition, and Boak has always been in the thick of things, with a young and exciting Ollie Wines not far behind him.

 

I can't go past Pendlebury on past form – he's a proven big-time performer – but it's a luxury of the highest order having to choose between this pair. Pendlebury gets the nod just on his consistency and the fact he's played 16 finals to Boak's three.