THE AFL wishes to congratulate Collingwood's Steele Sidebottom ahead of his 350th AFL game tomorrow night at the MCG.
The two-time premiership player and two-time Collingwood best and fairest is set to become the 26th player in VFL/AFL history to reach 350 games, having made his debut in Round 7, 2009 against St Kilda.
Sidebottom is the second Collingwood player to reach the 350 game milestone after teammate Scott Pendlebury (420*). Sidebottom and Pendlebury hold the VFL/AFL record for most games played as a pair of teammates, currently sitting on 321 games together.
He is the 10th-quickest player to reach 350 games, with this week's game 16 years and 88 days on from his debut. He was also the oldest player in VFL/AFL history to win the Anzac Day Medal earlier this year.
Sidebottom was the youngest member of Collingwood's 2010 premiership side, and the third oldest of the 2023 premiership side.
AFL Chief Executive Andrew Dillon recognised Sidebottom.
"Steele is one of the most consistent and reliable players in the competition. Over 16 AFL seasons, he has been one of the most skillful players in the competition and has shown a remarkable ability to make the right decision in the biggest games on the biggest stage," Mr Dillon said.
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"The AFL congratulates him on reaching this significant milestone, achieved by only 26 players across the history of the competition. I look forward to watching Collingwood fans celebrate his milestone on Thursday night."
The 26th person to play 350 career games.
# Player  Year   # Player  Year 1 Kevin Bartlett  1981   14 Adam Goodes  2014 2 Bernie Quinlan  1986   15 Matthew Pavlich  2016 3 Bruce Doull  1986   16 Shaun Burgoyne  2018 4 Michael Tuck  1988   17 Gary Ablett jnr  2020 5 Simon Madden  1991   18 David Mundy  2021 6 Doug Hawkins  1995   19 Eddie Betts  2021 7 Paul Roos  1998   20 Scott Pendlebury  2022 8 Craig Bradley  2001   21 Joel Selwood  2022 9 John Blakey  2002   22 Lance Franklin  2023 10 Robert Harvey  2007   23 Travis Boak  2024 11 Brad Johnson  2010   24 Tom Hawkins  2024 12 Dustin Fletcher  2012   25 Patrick Dangerfield  2025 13 Brent Harvey  2013   26 Steele Sidebottom  2025
MISCELLANEOUS
- Pick 11 in the 2008 AFL Draft
- Debuted 2009 Round 7 vs St Kilda
- 22 disposals on debut– the highest for a player who had the same number of disposals as their jumper number
- Won the Gary Ayres medal as the best player of the 2018 Finals series
- Runner up in the 2018 Brownlow Medal to current teammate Tom Mitchell
- 2018 All Australian
- Won the Collingwood Best and Fairest in 2017 and 2018
- The second Magpie to the 350 game milestone after Scott Pendlebury (420*)
- Gordon Coventry (306) and Tony Shaw (313) are the only other Collingwood players to play 300 games
- When Sidebottom made his debut there were 10 players in the 350 club, Robert Harvey being the most recent member of the group (in 2007)
- The 17th person to get to 350 games as a one club player
- Holds the record for the most games wearing jumper #22. Will be the 13th player to get to 350 games without changing jumper number
- Has missed just 42 games since making his debut
- 16 years and 88 days from debut to game #350 – 10th quickest of the 26 players to reach 350 games
- The youngest member of the 2010 premiership side and the third oldest of the 2023 premiership side
- He and Pendlebury hold the record for the biggest gap from winning one premiership to winning the next – 13 years (2010 and 2023)
- Is both the second youngest and the second oldest Collingwood player to have polled the maximum 10 AFL Coaches votes in a game.
- Nick Daicos is the youngest, Scott Pendlebury the oldest
- Sidebottom was 20y 119 days old when he polled 10 votes vs the Bulldogs in 2011 Round 6.
- Sidebottom was 34y 113 days old when he polled 10 votes vs the Bombers in 2025 Round 7.
- Has played in 21 games decided by one point or less, the VFL/AFL record (shares the record with Pendlebury)
- 10 one-point wins, five one-point losses and 6 draws.
- Earlier this year he became the oldest player to win the Anzac Day medal, was 34 years and 113 days at the time.
- The third-most watched player in VFL/AFL history after Dustin Fletcher and Scott Pendlebury
- Sidebottom has played in front of 18,199,580 footy fans
- Has played 321 games alongside Scott Pendlebury, the most by any pair of teammates in VFL/AFL history.
- The previous league record was 307 games between Andrew McLeod & Tyson Edwards
- The previous Collingwood record was 254 games between Wayne Richardson and Len Thompson
- Has played in 197 wins with Pendlebury as well, the second most behind Joel Selwood and Tom Hawkins (217)
- In 48 of his games, he was the youngest player in the Collingwood side
- Two games as the oldest – both in 2025, against Adelaide (Round 7) and Richmond (Round 20).
MOST GAMES PLAYED ALONGSIDE STEELE SIDEBOTTOM
Sidebottom has played games alongside 152 teammates
He has played at 100+ games with 25 of them
Games  Teammate  W-L-D 321  Scott Pendlebury  197-119-5 222  Jack Crisp  124-94-4 203  Brayden Maynard  109-90-4 185  Jamie Elliott  115-67-3 168  Will Hoskin-Elliott  99-66-3 168  Darcy Moore  90-74-4 163  Jordan de Goey  90-70-3 158  Jeremy Howe  93-62-3 155  Brodie Grundy  78-75-2 148  Taylor Adams  82-64-2
MOST GAMES PLAYED AGAINST STEELE SIDEBOTTOM
Games  Opponent  Sidebottom
 W-L-D record21  Jack Darling  11-10-0  21  Dyson Heppell  13-7-1  20  Tom Hawkins  10-10-0  20  Josh Kennedy  10-10-0  20  Joel Selwood  9-11-0  20  Travis Boak  12-8-0  19  Shannon Hurn  10-9-0  18  Patrick Dangerfield  9-9-0  18  Dayne Zorko  11-7-0  18  Kade Simpson  13-5-0  18  Jake Melksham  14-4-0  18  Harry Taylor  9-9-0  18  Isaac Smith  4-14-0  18  Zach Tuohy  9-9-0  18  Todd Goldstein  13-4-1
WIN-LOSS-DRAW RECORDS IN 50 GAME SPANS
Best: 43-6-1Â (2010-2012)
