Steele Sidebottom: a friggin' legend

[RudeBoy]

I just think some special acknowledgement and congratulations need to be sent Sidey's way, after his incredible performance across our entire finals campaign.

Arguably, he won us the Premiership with that amazing goal late in the GF, which put us 10 pts up, before the Lions pegged it back to 4 pts.

For some reason I can't really understand, Sidey has had his share of knockers on Nicks, but to me he has always been one of our most important players, with his silky foot skills, footy brains, his aerobic capacity, and his on-field leadership. To my mind, he is an absolute phucken legend, and hopefully has another 2 seasons to play.

[What'sinaname]

Well he did stink it up in the 2018 GF.

14 disposals. If he was half as effective as he was in any of the PF, we probably would have won.

[Mike]

[jonmac1954]

[RudeBoy]

[bally12]

Sidey's a ripper. Performs in big games and his skills on both sides are brilliant. How was that gather in the Brisbane goal square in the last few mins! Heart was in my mouth. Simply don't win the GF without him.

[jonmac1954]

[pietillidie]

The great man has has that old glint in his eye ever since Fly arrived. You could just see him get his energy back. To reach 300 games is amazing enough, but to become a dual Premiership winner, playing proper Sidey footy, icing a famous grand final victory? That's beyond legendary.

And to think, in parallel, Pendles becomes The Conductor.

[Magpietothemax]

I agree with everything here.
Fly and Sidey have fused and the result is Steel of a new calibre.
His goal in the last quarter will live in our memories forever as a legendary moment.
He and Fly have found a way to reverse the aging process. His performances in finals this year equalled those of his youth.
I am just so happy that he now possesses a second Premiership medallion, a record 13 years after his first.

[Clifton Hill-Billy]

Absolutely agree, he is a new player under Fly and his 2023 grand final performance, particularly his game winning goal from 55m is the stuff of legends. If you take out performance in 2018 grand final loss, a just consider 2010 draw and replay, 2011 and 2023 (and TAC GF where he kicked 10 as a kid) he is clearly a big game player that thrives on the biggest of occasions. Deadset Collingwood legend forever!

[think positive]

Nothin like seeing sidey with that huge grin, his confidence and enjoyment are back, he knew he would kick that goal!

[Pies4shaw]

Since the 75-page Steele Sidebottom thread has slipped off the first page, I'll re-post this, here:

[Ronnie McKeowns boots]

He has copped some crap on here indeed, mainly as noted for his less than stellar 2018 GF.

As others have noted, his short passing was strangely off for about 3-4 years....was good, went bad, came good again.

Injury related? perhaps.....but when rewatching the 2019 Prelim early this year, you could really tell the positioning of the players forward of the ball was, well, unusual.

Certainly different to this year.

Long story short, I feel that the player positioning forward of the ball allows him to demonstrate his skills better in the current set up.

[mightypies90]

I've always been a fan of Sidey, you only need to go to games to see the amount of ground he covers, it’s not just his skills, it’s the support he provides to the defence and the link he provides to the forwards.
He has been my favourite for a long time, and it will be a sad day when he retires from the club.

[K]