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.
"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: 43-6-1 (2010-2012)
