Big-game player: Steele Sidebottom gets a handball away against GWS this season. Photo: AAP Newswire
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Growing up as a boy at Tallygaroopna, Steele Sidebottom never thought he’d be one of just a handful of Collingwood 300-game players, and a premiership medallist in black and white.
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The former Congupna footballer will join a hallowed club when he runs out against North Melbourne on Sunday and notches his 300th game.
"I was a Bombers supporter growing up, but I'll be a Magpies man forever now,“ Sidebottom told collingwoodfc.com.au ahead of the milestone.
"I feel like I'm in debt to the footy club. I hope I've been able to repay the faith that they showed me.“
His ascent to one of the best midfielders in the competition came at a rapid rate after he was taken by the Pies at pick 11 in the 2008 draft.
Sidebottom formed a key part of a midfield including Dane Swan, Scott Pendlebury and Luke Ball which powered the club to its 16th flag in 2010 across two games, following the drawn grand final in the first week.
"I remember being told at an early age to really make the most of it because it doesn't happen that often — and I've found out since that was really the truth," Sidebottom said.
"I'm clearly a lot older now, so I just make sure that everything I'm involved in I really just sit back and embrace it and take it all in.
Jubilation: Steele Sidebottom celebrates after kicking a goal during the 2010 grand final. Photo: AAP Newswire
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"I'm clearly at the end of my career now and I'm running out of opportunities to play in big games.“
He’ll join Pendlebury and Magpies royalty Tony Shaw and Gordon Coventry as the only men to play 300 games for the club.
With the Pies flying towards a finals tilt — arguably as premiership favourites — there’s at least a few more big games on the 32-year-old’s horizon.
Sidebottom said he would love nothing more than to add a second premiership medal to his trophy cabinet
"I guess it was great to win one so young, but I would appreciate it a lot more if I was to win one before I was done,“ he said.
"What I went through in the first few years of thinking finals is going to happen all the time, whereas I'll just remember even things like the parade (in 2018) really just taking it all in and being grateful for the position that I was in.“
Collingwood plays North Melbourne at the MCG on Sunday afternoon.
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