It would be nice to be able to say Steele Sidebottom doesn’t look like a 34-year-old on the football field, but strictly speaking that wouldn’t be true.
Unlike his retirement community buddy Scott Pendlebury — who through some combination of health, wellness and witchcraft appears to have another 400 games in him — you can tell just by looking at him that Sidebottom has been doing this a while.
The hair was sacrificed many years ago and if he ever hit anything approaching top speed, it was long before they had trackers to measure such a thing.
Sidebottom moves at his own leisurely pace and implores the game to join him on his stroll. He has been a sensational footballer for so long that his excellence is taken for granted.
Not so on Friday night in Adelaide, when in an often frenzied up-and-back game against Sydney he served as Collingwood’s compass.
That Collingwood is an old team is not news and in and of itself not particularly interesting. But what we are seeing on a weekly basis is the true value of experience, that if the body of certain players can be kept in passable condition, the brain alone can be enough to win games.
How Sydney could have used some of that guile and clear-headedness. The Swans could match the Magpies for intensity and speed, but when that sprinkle of composure and creativity was required to unlock the game they too often were lacking.
It seemed for long stretches that this was a game between two teams effectively trying to do the same thing. The ball moved quickly, often by hand and through the middle of the ground whenever possible.
Sydney’s James Rowbottom collects the ball ahead of Collingwood’s Steele Sidebottom. (Getty Images: Michael Willson)
In lieu of any really prominent lead-up options in the forward line both sides would look to suck the play in and sneak out the back for opportunities on the break.
These are two good teams after all — there hasn’t been a grand final played this side of the COVID years that hasn’t included one of them.
And even when Collingwood seemed to have a firm grasp on the game in the second quarter the threat of Sydney lingered.
Isaac Heeney spent a little more time in the midfield, Hayden McLean kicked one from the bar on the Adelaide Oval hill and somehow the lead was only 10 points at the long break.
At half-time, Sidebottom had been involved in more than half of his team’s scores.
Young Ned Long was in the midst of a breakout game in midfield, and Nick Daicos was having a say despite the James Jordon but there was no match for Sidebottom’s influence.
Which is not to understate the work of Long, who 194cm towered over the rest of the midfield with a performance that will make him awfully tough to omit even when some big names return to the fold.
Long is untidy at times, but there is room for that in a Collingwood engine room that otherwise contains so much polish. His size and endeavour around the ball proved a critical counterpoint on this night, and the Swans don’t go down so easily without his relentless graft.
The only other clear advantage Collingwood held on the night could be found in the air. Sydney’s talls were outmatched at either end, an issue exacerbated by Joel Amartey’s injury.
Joel Amartey limped off with a hamstring injury before half-time. (Getty Images: Michael Willson)
It’s a puzzle Dean Cox and his Swans haven’t yet solved in 2025, and if Amartey is to miss any time with his hamstring concern and the ill-fated Tom McCartin switch has to be made again, it could be enough to scupper the season.
The Magpies have targeted that very area through recent off-seasons and the acquisitions of Tim Membrey and Dan McStay, though low profile and relatively cheap, are proving significant. What Sydney wouldn’t give for such a plug-and-play target in its own forward line.
Collingwood, to the great dismay of its many foes around the country, is in a fine position to make good on its stated plans for immediate domination.
Every decision Craig McRae has made has been for the now, with anything beyond that a problem that can be solved on the, and by, Fly.
Who can blame him in wanting to eke every last drop out of players like Sidebottom while he still can?
The only wrinkle might be that, on current evidence anyway, the Magpies might be blessed by his serene influence for even longer than expected.
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