The Pies three-point win over the Crows on Saturday night assured Collingwood would finish the season on top - the first time the club has achieved the feat in 33 years.
While admitting his teammates would take great confidence from finishing the season on top of the ladder, Sidebottom acknowledged the Pies' season will solely be judged on how they fair on the grand stage.
“It’s always good to finish on top. But it’s one thing to finish there,” he told afl.com.au. “We can’t rest up there. It’s going to be hard work.”
Sidebottom admitted to a sense of relief when the Pies narrowly beat the 11th-placed Crows despite some woeful inaccuracy in front of goal in the second half.
The Pies kicked 3.13 in the second half to the Crows 3.2 with Travis Cloke again the chief culprit, finishing the match with 1.3.
Mick Malthouse’s men struggled against the disciplined Adelaide outfit, with the Pies' damaging run from defence virtually coming to a standstill as the Crows restricted the free-scoring Pies to just six goals for the match.
“We knew before the bounce it was going to be a tough game,” Sidebottom said.
“We have a lot of respect for Adelaide and they are a good team and it obviously showed out there.”
The 19-year old said the Crows' ability to stick to their team structures was in stark contrast to what Collingwood were able to do on the night.
“They are very disciplined in their structures and they held the game out well. They didn’t fall away at all. They did well to slow us up,” Sidebottom said.
“I think the things that we do well we went away from. As soon as you go away from your structures, everything falls down and Adelaide’s pressure caused us to go away from that.”
Sidebottom conceded the Pies could ill-afford to look further ahead than next week, with their clash against Hawthorn next Saturday afternoon at the MCG a perfect test for the Pies on the eve of their finals campaign.
“It’s our last game and you want to go into the finals with a bit of form so it’s important for us to have another win.”
