West Coast coach Andrew McQualter has declared he wants the Eagles to be the team Scott Pendlebury and Collingwood face in his remarkable milestone match.

The Magpies have made it clear they want the former skipper to break the AFL’s games record in front of their fans at the MCG, with the game almost certain to be in round 11 against West Coast.

This means that Pendlebury — who will draw level with Brent Harvey on 432 games on Saturday night against Geelong — will likely be rested for their clash against Sydney at the SCG in round 10 before playing the Eagles the following weekend.

The milestone match could become a standalone game, while the Magpies have had approval from the league for their former skipper to wear a golden number 10 on his jumper to mark the occasion.

McQualter said his young team would embrace the game, which would likely draw close to 100,000 fans at the MCG on Saturday, May 23.

“I hope it’s against us, if I am being honest,” he said.

“It’s an incredible achievement for Scott. I’ve known Scott since he was a very young boy. We grew up near each other. He’s had such an amazing career, and I think it will be a special occasion to be a part of that day.

“And we should celebrate it, it’s something that should be celebrated. I hope our guys get an opportunity to play in that game because I reckon there will be a fair crowd to turn up.”

Collingwood’s celebrations have all drawn criticism from certain aspects of the AFL media, including former captain Tony Shaw, who had a problem with the gold number.

“I don’t like it. I know heaps of Collingwood people from my era who agree. To me, he deserves every accolade he can get, but I’d rather see something like a jumper designed for the occasion more than a gold number on the night,” Shaw told 3AW.

“It’s a team game. I broke the club record. I wouldn’t have wanted (something like that). As a leader and someone who bases everything on the team, which Pendlebury does, I’m not saying he’s making it about himself; this is being forced on him.

“I’d be quite surprised if he would be comfortable with it.

“I don’t like it. I’ve had heaps of people say to me they don’t like it.

“A gold number that says you’re different to everyone out on that field, I feel uncomfortable with it. It’s only an opinion.

“He deserves every accolade. A lot of my friends, ex-players and whatever, who are good football people, have said the same thing.

“There’s an awkwardness about it.”

Collingwood coach Craig McRae defended the club’s decision to go all-in to celebrate their champion.

“If we’re just considering that someone’s bigger than the team for that one day, can’t we celebrate one person?” McRae said.

“It doesn’t mean he’s going to play outside the rules, doesn’t mean he’s going to play differently from our game plan.

“It doesn’t mean the team’s going to just try to give him the ball all the time.

“If it’s a jumper with a different colour, we’re probably reading a bit too much into it.”

McRae said the dual premiership midfielder deserved all the attention he got ahead of the incredible achievement.

“He’s about to break the game’s record, that’s so significant in our game,” he said.

“We’ll continue to celebrate this incredible player within our building, and not walk past it.

“You don’t get to have legends, actually a living legend in your building.

“What he’s currently doing is quite remarkable.

“We’re all seeing that we don’t want to walk past that.”

McRae and Collingwood also drew criticism from Channel 7 expert Kane Cornes for playing the veteran for the majority of the last quarter in their Anzac Day clash against Essendon before he was rested for the draw against Hawthorn last weekend.

The premiership coach said Pendlebury “wasn’t in a position to play physically” after a five-day break.

“We’ve got a deliberate plan; Pendles hasn’t played too many five-day breaks in his history,” McRae said.

“That’s been reported around being selfish, I would have thought Pendles is probably the least selfish person in our team.

“But he wouldn’t have played last week; he wasn’t in a position to play physically.”