Steele Sidebottom was supposed to be cooked and Collingwood too old – how wrong were the doubters?

Collingwood was supposed to be too old and too slow. Yet its sixth win on the trot was spearheaded by a 34-year-old enjoying the ultimate career renaissance.

Steele Sidebottom thought his goose might be cooked last season.

Whether it was the middle part of last year or his dud game in Opening Round, the Collingwood champion is always an easy target when it comes to the Magpies’ record-breaking age profile.

Except when the Sherrin turns into a cake of soap, like it did in his Anzac Day masterclass on Friday, and the pressure skyrockets in the biggest game of the season.

The balding 34-year-old pulled out one of the better games we have seen from him in recent years gathering 36 touches, four tackles and almost 600m gained, with the kind of quick and clean ball-handling which could catch a slippery salmon in the 41-point win over Essendon.

Sidebottom is one of the most remarkable stories of the season so far.

Seven rounds in, the man who has moved back into the engine room after thinking he could be shot at times last year, looks like he is having the time of his life again, playing back in his favourite onball position.

Sidebottom has stepped out of the square and on to a wing and out to a flank continually over the past decade because it’s what the team has asked from him.

He’s been the Mr Fix-It, and never complained about the never-ending positional switcheroo.

But in the last quarter on Friday, as Sidebottom racked up his 15th clearance, it looked like the veteran had indeed never left the onball brigade as he dished out yet another sublime handball to a freewheeling Nick Daicos on the run as the Magpies stamped a comfortable win at the MCG.

Steele Sidebottom escapes the clutches of Will Setterfield. Picture: Michael Klein

And on a day when so many other players were fumbling and slipping up, Collingwood’s Mr Miyagi was catching flies with chopsticks, such was his precision.

While the Daicos boys are always the main attraction in black and white, and racked up massive numbers again, Sidebottom looks the heart beat this year as he hunts a third premiership.

And when he received his second Anzac Day Medal on Friday, nine years after his first one in 2016, there could have barely been a more popular recipient.

If Anzac Day is about mateship, sacrifice and never-giving in, then the Sidebottom script in the wet was perfect for a man who has maintained hope at Collingwood like few others through some dark and turbulent times.

And there is no guarantee this will be his last season on this incredible form.

The man from Congupna would be top few in the best and fairest at Collingwood in 2025 alongside Nick Daicos and probably Darcy Cameron.

And we have seen the renaissance from the old boys across the league this season like Geelong’s Paddy Dangerfield, Brisbane’s Dayne Zorko and Melbourne’s Max Gawn over the past fortnight. List managers beware tipping them out.

Nick Daicos perhaps didn’t have his best day by foot on Friday, his brother Josh was electric early, but Sidebottom was the one who excelled across the entire game which kept Craig Macrae’s men at the top of the table.

Sidebottom enjoys Collingwood’s Anzac Day win with the fans.

The club has brushed aside Sydney and Brisbane on the road, knocked off the Bombers easily in the end, and face its biggest rival of the past decade, Geelong, on Saturday night.

Win that and these Magpies will deserve their premiership favourtism less than 18 months after their last flag.

The club copped plenty of criticism or cashing in all its draft chips for players again in last year’s trade period, but what if it gets them to the ultimate again.

34 YEARS YOUNG!

Steele Sidebottom is the 2025 Anzac Day Medallist. pic.twitter.com/wPF1ahmpov

— 7AFL (@7AFL) April 25, 2025

Essendon was brave fighting back from 27 points down in the first quarter and the same defensive unit which was pulverised to 160 points in round one has fought back impressively.

It showed how important Jordan Ridley is to Essendon when he’s out there and Zach Reid continues to grow, while Isaac Kako and Nate Caddy had bright moments in the second and third-term revival.

But the red and black still rely so heavily on superstar captain Zach Merrett and Sam Durham and without Jye Caldwell and Darcy Parish and their first-choice pair of ruckmen, the gap in class was the main difference.

Originally published as Steele Sidebottom was supposed to be cooked and Collingwood too old – how wrong were the doubters?