Magpies star Steele Sidebottom cops big suspension for boozy night in coronavirus rules breach

Steele Sidebottom, found half naked by police, has been hit with a heavy sanction by the AFL for breaking its COVID-19 rules. He has since contacted Gillon McLachlan to personally apologise.

Steele Sidebottom is facing possible suspension for a breach of the AFL’s COVID-19 rules.

Steele Sidebottom has been whacked with a four-week ban after it emerged he was picked up by police drunk and half-naked on the streets of Williamstown at 7.30am on Sunday.

The AFL has come down hard on the Magpies vice-captain as the competition reels from Victoria’s deepening COVID-19 crisis.

The league found Sidebottom broke three of its strict coronavirus protocols by staying longer than he should have at teammate Jeremy Howe’s house on Saturday, travelling in an Uber and visiting the home of Daniel Wells, who is not in the club’s COVID-compliant “bubble”.

Sidebottom’s marathon weekend bender followed his side’s narrow loss to Greater Western Sydney on Friday night.

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The Magpies and Sidebottom slammed the four-week ban as “excessive (and) inconsistent with recent protocol breaches and contestable” but said they had accepted the verdict “for the greater good of the game”.

A witness, who was with a friend outside the Williamstown housing lodge on Sunday morning, said they saw Sidebottom, 29, in a semi-dressed state.

“All he wanted to do was get in (the housing lodge) because he was cold and freezing,” the witness said.

“I was there, I was visiting my mate and he looked naked and the coppers knew him straight away.”

The temperature on Sunday morning dropped as low as 2C.

Steele Sidebottom was driven home by police after being found half naked.

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Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley said Sidebottom’s recollection of events over the course of his booze up “isn’t that great’’.

Teammate Lynden Dunn, who was with Sidebottom in the Uber, has copped a one-week ban.

The pair had visited Howe to console him after scans showed the star defender would miss the bulk of the season with a knee injury.

“In speaking with Steele, he’s quite embarrassed about the situation,” Buckley said.

“He’s obviously remorseful about the decisions that were made, but he’s also in some ways confused about what has taken place.

“At some point obviously with his drinking he’s made some poor decisions but his recollection isn’t that great.

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“He hasn’t been consuming as much alcohol (before the weekend) and one of the theories is that he wasn’t able to handle what he consumed at Howe’s place

“In the end they are details to try and explain in some way what’s happened in the evening, or in Steele’s understanding of it.

“He’s suitably embarrassed and very contrite as you’d understand.”

Buckley said Sidebottom’s decision to head to former teammate Wells’ house after finishing up with Howe was a “poor” one.

“That was probably the next bad decision, and things have headed a little bit off the tracks at that point,” Buckley said.

Sidebottom will have plenty of time to think about his boozy night out. Picture: AAP

“Steele obviously needed to get help home and in his recollection can’t remember a lot around what happened that evening.

“He found himself home sometime the next morning.”

Buckley described Sidebottom’s actions as out of character.

“This is an event, not a pattern and we’re treating it as such,” he said.

“We’re trying to support Steele through it because his major emotion is embarrassment at the moment.”

“The initial idea to go over to Howie’s on Saturday afternoon was in terms of love and care for his teammate.

“We also see that part of it as well.

“He’s been a great support and he’s been playing great footy.

“He had a quiet one on Friday night and potentially all of those things weighed on top of one another.”

Sidebottom has been hit with a four-week ban.

Lynden Dunn copped one week for his indiscretion.

HOW SIDEBOTTOM’S NIGHT UNFOLDED

Sam Landsberger and Glenn McFarlane

Collingwood president Eddie McGuire says the club has no intention of reviewing Steele Sidebottom’s leadership role, claiming the club was “proud” of him for owning up to his booze-fuelled COVID breach that resulted in a four-game suspension.

McGuire revealed Sidebottom had apologised to AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan for “putting in jeopardy $600 million of AFL (money).”

He said the Magpies were “disappointed” with the star onballer’s actions after he was picked up by police drunk and half-naked on the streets of Williamstown at 7.30am last Sunday.

The 29-year-old vice-captain “had a bad night”, according to McGuire, after drinking scotch at the home of injured teammate Jeremy Howe along with Lynden Dunn, who copped a one-week ban.

McGuire claimed that Sidebottom accidentally locked himself outside Daniel Wells’ house while attempting to find the bathroom.

“The old-fashioned was asleep on the couch, got up to go to the bathroom and walked out the wrong door,” McGuire told Fox Footy.

“He drank scotch that he doesn’t normally drink and it affected him.

“He was totally disoriented. He had a bad night on the grog, it’s as simple as that.”

McGuire said Sidebottom ruled out an appeal against the AFL’s four-game suspension because that would send the wrong message during the pandemic.

“It’s manifestly excessive every day of the week, except today, and that’s why Steele Sidebottom accepted the four-match penalty, and we accepted it as a club as well,” he said.

“We went to Steele and said, ‘What do you want to do?’ and he wasn’t of the inking to go forward with an appeal.”

Steele Sidebottom decided against challenging the four week suspension.

The president said 29-year-old Magpie vice-captain “had a bad night”, but hadn’t intended to break the AFL’s strict coronavirus protocols until he became “disoriented” due to his alcohol consumption.

“He did the right thing in every situation as far as going out to see his teammate (Jeremy Howe) whose knee had just been blown out and unfortunately drank too much liquor he wasn’t used to and became disoriented and from there a few things went wrong,” McGuire told Channel 9.

“We apologise, Steele apologies and he has taken four weeks suspension and taken it on the chin. For that, I think he has done the right thing by the game.”

When asked if Sidebottom would lose the club’s vice-captaincy, McGuire issued a one-word response: “No”.

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WHERE IT ALL WENT WRONG

SIDEBOTTOM’S NIGHT OUT

– Played against GWS Giants in Sydney on Friday night, stayed overnight in Sydney.

– Flew back to Melbourne with team on Saturday afternoon.

-Sidebottom went to injured teammate Jeremy Howe’s house in the afternoon. Teammate Lynden Dunn also joined.

– At about 12am, Sidebottom and Dunn took an Uber from Howe’s place to drop Dunn off at his home. Sidebottom then went on to ex-teammate and Pies staff member Daniel Wells’ house.

– Just before 7.30am on Sunday, police find Sidebottom at Hanmer Street, Williamstown. He was partially naked before being taken home by police.

Originally published as Magpies star Steele Sidebottom cops big suspension for boozy night in coronavirus rules breach