Player Watch Steele Sidebottom

[Kappa]

If supporters can't acknowledge the fact that we have had an inordinate number of off field indiscretions/issues which have impacted our team and performance over a number of years they are not to be taken seriously.

The fact that other clubs may have had issues is irrelevant to me as a Collingwood supporter. When Bucks and the players have recited the "we are all about inclusivity, love, caring about each other and being "better people" every time they speak to the press these constant stuff ups wouldn't be so irritating. I sat down and compiled a list of incidents and I have included mental health issues as well which seem to occur at our club more frequently than most others.

Lachie Keefe and Josh Thomas-drugs and banned for two years.
Sam Murray- had already established himself as a decent rebound defender before his cocaine habits were uncovered. Never played another game. His last was against the Premiers of that year so he was clearly considered to be in our best 22 or very close.
Jordan Degoey breaks his hand in a fight. Lied about it.
Jeremy Howe breaks his hand playing a game of cricket and lies about it.
Sidebottom- drink and covid issues. Four week suspension and a huge loss to the team after losing another key player on the weekend.
Stevo-stupid, selfish gambling stunt which played a role in our failure to make the GF. Ten week suspension.
Jonathon Marsh- mental break down and walks out on the club. Now very happy at St Kilda and in their current best 22.
Dayne Beams. Top class football for four years at Brisbane-rewarded with the captaincy. Returns to Collingwood and suffers a mental breakdown after weeks of poor form and rumours and has now walked away from a four year contract.
Alex Fasolo- depression. Missed weeks. Used to weep in the car park before training.Adam Treloar- crying at training and struggling to get through a season.
Sier- Phil Inn
Shaw /Didak-drink driving and lying. Lengthy suspension at a crucial time in the season.
Even Nick Maxwell ( and Heath Shaw) got caught up in a betting scandal.
SHAMED Collingwood premiership stars Heath Shaw and Nick Maxwell have expressed regret over a betting scandal that has rocked the AFL ladder leader. The pair copped heavy punishments for breaking the AFL's strict anti-gambling rules after an investigation found they shared inside information with friends and family.
So Shaw was suspended for weeks and fined twice in three years.
Darren Millane died in a drink driving incident which devastated the club and set it back when it appeared to be on the cusp of a successful era.

Then of course there is the endless Lumumba soap opera which gets a re-run every two or three years. Racist club, racist culture...…..

If this isn't enough to raise an eyebrow or cause some consternation I don't know what is. Who knows how many other scandals have been covered up.
I'm fed up with the endless injuries to key players (no-one other than luck to blame for most of them) and the endless self inflicted wounds. Note how Richmond are playing crap football at the moment yet still have their full list available? You have to laugh or you'd cry.

You've missed some drink drivings and De Goey driving unlicensed.

 

[Markfs]

mark robinson has that peculiar quality of always thinking that everyone else is a drunk... or continuously drunk .....or permanently drunk. Ridiculously after sitting opposite a guy on tv for 4 years or whatever, he still thinks that whately goes on benders....you would think that someone in his position would have some level of empathy to understand that other people's thoughts, feelings, desires and needs are different from their own. Evidently, this quality is only developed when you reach the intellectual age of 7. I look forward to the time when Robinson gets there. As for steele, he was stupid. He copped the max. He's been vague and it's probably just that he copped the max. I dont want to hear any more of it.

 

[queensberryrules]

You said he did it off season.
He implies he was pretty lucky not to get done in season.

Took drugs.
Got away with it.
Tells the story.

Legend.

 

[Finnishpie]

Who cares if Swan took performance-reducing drugs And had a good time? It’s his life. The moralists belong back in prohibition Days.

the guy I feel for is Cousins. Poor bastard.

 

[DerekZoolander]

Steele Sidebottom stuffed up,owned up straight away and took the punishment like a man. Hopefully James Hird takes a notice of this.

 

[sr36]

All things that the AFL negotiated with the various jurisdictions in order to get the game going again. As such, they are all living under stricter rules than us.

He did actually say that.

 

[Doc1763]

He did actually say that.

Yes, and as such, the penalties for breaking those stricter rules should be severe - they can put the livelihood of the entire industry under threat.

 

[sr36]

If supporters can't acknowledge the fact that we have had an inordinate number of off field indiscretions/issues which have impacted our team and performance over a number of years they are not to be taken seriously.

The fact that other clubs may have had issues is irrelevant to me as a Collingwood supporter. When Bucks and the players have recited the "we are all about inclusivity, love, caring about each other and being "better people" every time they speak to the press these constant stuff ups wouldn't be so irritating. I sat down and compiled a list of incidents and I have included mental health issues as well which seem to occur at our club more frequently than most others.

Lachie Keefe and Josh Thomas-drugs and banned for two years.
Sam Murray- had already established himself as a decent rebound defender before his cocaine habits were uncovered. Never played another game. His last was against the Premiers of that year so he was clearly considered to be in our best 22 or very close.
Jordan Degoey breaks his hand in a fight. Lied about it.
Jeremy Howe breaks his hand playing a game of cricket and lies about it.
Sidebottom- drink and covid issues. Four week suspension and a huge loss to the team after losing another key player on the weekend.
Stevo-stupid, selfish gambling stunt which played a role in our failure to make the GF. Ten week suspension.
Jonathon Marsh- mental break down and walks out on the club. Now very happy at St Kilda and in their current best 22.
Dayne Beams. Top class football for four years at Brisbane-rewarded with the captaincy. Returns to Collingwood and suffers a mental breakdown after weeks of poor form and rumours and has now walked away from a four year contract.
Alex Fasolo- depression. Missed weeks. Used to weep in the car park before training.Adam Treloar- crying at training and struggling to get through a season.
Sier- Phil Inn

Just looking at the recent ones.

Lachy Keeffe and Thomas took some party drugs in the off-season.
Jordan DeGoey,, a 20 year old got in a fight
Howe played cricket in the off season.
Sidey got drunk and took an Uber to a friends house.
Sier played basketball.
Stepho had a couple of small bets.

Clearly moral degenerates working in a twisted culture.

Not sure why you've listed a string of guys who have had mental health issues or in Treloars case - cried.

P. S. I do like that I now get to blame my employer every time I stuff up. Sorry boss, but it's the crap culture that you've created that made me do it.

 

[Dead Eye Didak]

The leaders, including the leadership group and senior coaches are the ones who create this culture where we have players drink driving, gambling on Collingwood matches, taking cocaine in season, vice captains having all night benders and breaking covid rules in season... What else did I forget? Driving unlicensed? Racism?

You don't have to support Collingwood, there are another 17 clubs you can switch your allegiance too...

 

[TKiL]

If supporters can't acknowledge the fact that we have had an inordinate number of off field indiscretions/issues which have impacted our team and performance over a number of years they are not to be taken seriously.

The fact that other clubs may have had issues is irrelevant to me as a Collingwood supporter. When Bucks and the players have recited the "we are all about inclusivity, love, caring about each other and being "better people" every time they speak to the press these constant stuff ups wouldn't be so irritating. I sat down and compiled a list of incidents and I have included mental health issues as well which seem to occur at our club more frequently than most others.

Lachie Keefe and Josh Thomas-drugs and banned for two years.
Sam Murray- had already established himself as a decent rebound defender before his cocaine habits were uncovered. Never played another game. His last was against the Premiers of that year so he was clearly considered to be in our best 22 or very close.
Jordan Degoey breaks his hand in a fight. Lied about it.
Jeremy Howe breaks his hand playing a game of cricket and lies about it.
Sidebottom- drink and covid issues. Four week suspension and a huge loss to the team after losing another key player on the weekend.
Stevo-stupid, selfish gambling stunt which played a role in our failure to make the GF. Ten week suspension.
Jonathon Marsh- mental break down and walks out on the club. Now very happy at St Kilda and in their current best 22.
Dayne Beams. Top class football for four years at Brisbane-rewarded with the captaincy. Returns to Collingwood and suffers a mental breakdown after weeks of poor form and rumours and has now walked away from a four year contract.
Alex Fasolo- depression. Missed weeks. Used to weep in the car park before training.Adam Treloar- crying at training and struggling to get through a season.
Sier- Phil Inn
Shaw /Didak-drink driving and lying. Lengthy suspension at a crucial time in the season.
Even Nick Maxwell ( and Heath Shaw) got caught up in a betting scandal.
SHAMED Collingwood premiership stars Heath Shaw and Nick Maxwell have expressed regret over a betting scandal that has rocked the AFL ladder leader. The pair copped heavy punishments for breaking the AFL's strict anti-gambling rules after an investigation found they shared inside information with friends and family.
So Shaw was suspended for weeks and fined twice in three years.
Darren Millane died in a drink driving incident which devastated the club and set it back when it appeared to be on the cusp of a successful era.

Then of course there is the endless Lumumba soap opera which gets a re-run every two or three years. Racist club, racist culture...…..

If this isn't enough to raise an eyebrow or cause some consternation I don't know what is. Who knows how many other scandals have been covered up.
I'm fed up with the endless injuries to key players (no-one other than luck to blame for most of them) and the endless self inflicted wounds. Note how Richmond are playing crap football at the moment yet still have their full list available? You have to laugh or you'd cry.

Wellingham - drink driving - we lose sponsorship
Banks/ Millane - hijacking bus
Marley Williams - various
Swan - various - inc jumping on bonnet of cop? car & being friends with Jake King

 

[Go Woods]

Didn’t agree when club made JDG front in front of the cameras to apologise to everyone on the club’s website after his indiscretions but do we see a similar fate happening with Sidey as well?

Waiting for this to happen, he is the vice captain and he should be putting his hand up and apologising to all the fans...

 

[Billys Back]

Feel free to come to any conclusion you want. And yes they could have done things differently.

The report is he was noticed trying to get home, so he had obviously slept at Wells place. Somehow you have interpreted that as staying out until 7am!?

And yeah who knows what state Jezza was in, be a dick move to clock watch and set an alarm just to meet some arbitrary 2 hr rule, if you are going to offer support to a mate.

First and foremost Bucks is trying to build a positive supportive culture within the playing group, without that you are dead in the water.

So yes Steele will cop a whack for not complying with covid rules, and as a senior leader should know better...but going and having some beers with a teammate who is battling with realisation that his season is probably over isn’t a drama for mine.

He wasn’t off to a party, or heading to a bar, drink driving etc.

He stayed with a mate for too long, and jumped in a ride share to another mates, a Collingwood employees, house instead of drink driving...

So yeah in Covid world, it is front page news...normal world, who cares

I suppose even if we weren’t in a ‘COVID’ world, being picked up by police half naked and drunk walking the streets during the season would also make front page news.

 

[Apples]

2 hours sounds a bit arbitrary and tokenistic to me. What's the story with partners, assumedly they'd not have to follow AFL protocols?

Thanks for increasing my lexicon "sr36". I didn't know there was such a word as 'assumedly'. Always learning.

 

[domus]

Just looking at the recent ones.

Lachy Keeffe and Thomas took some party drugs in the off-season.
Jordan DeGoey,, a 20 year old got in a fight
Howe played cricket in the off season.
Sidey got drunk and took an Uber to a friends house.
Sier played basketball.
Stepho had a couple of small bets.

Clearly moral degenerates working in a twisted culture.

Not sure why you've listed a string of guys who have had mental health issues or in Treloars case - cried.

P. S. I do like that I now get to blame my employer every time I stuff up. Sorry boss, but it's the crap culture that you've created that made me do it.

I don't care if they broke the rules by playing tiddlywinks. If they know the rules state no tiddlywinks then still choose to go ahead and play it they have willingly chosen to flout the rules and risk the consequences of suspension and letting down the team whose goal is to win games of footy and ultimately win a flag. If you had a workplace where a number of employees left due to mental stress/depression/anxiety I would hope you'd think it worthwhile to examine the environment and ask whether that has contributed to it.

We have had four players who have said they broke down crying at training or at the very thought of going to training. If I had an employee crying during the working day I would be concerned and feel it was noteworthy.

I cannot understand the willingness of some supporters to shrug off the shopping list of issues I listed as nothing to be concerned about. If losing your vc and one of your best players for a month during a tightly contested season ( due to an indiscretion) is no big deal then I don't see why we even bother to have a footy forum. What is there to discuss? Why do so many people on here get all hot and bothered when we lose a silly game or grand final? All this fuss over a bunch of blokes chasing after a pigskin bladder! LOL.

Why do you feel the need to strawman what I said?

 

[sr36]

I don't care if they broke the rules by playing tiddlywinks. If they know the rules state no tiddlywinks then still choose to go ahead and play it they have willingly chosen to flout the rules and risk the consequences of suspension and letting down the team whose goal is to win games of footy and ultimately win a flag. If you had a workplace where a number of employees left due to mental stress/depression/anxiety I would hope you'd think it worthwhile to examine the environment and ask whether that has contributed to it.

We have had four players who have said they broke down crying at training or at the very thought of going to training. If I had an employee crying during the working day I would be concerned and feel it was noteworthy.

I cannot understand the willingness of some supporters to shrug off the shopping list of issues I listed as nothing to be concerned about. If losing your vc and one of your best players for a month during a tightly contested season ( due to an indiscretion) is no big deal then I don't see why we even bother to have a footy forum. What is there to discuss? Why do so many people on here get all hot and bothered when we lose a silly game or grand final? All this fuss over a bunch of blokes chasing after a pigskin bladder! LOL.

Why do you feel the need to strawman what I said?

I don't think I'm strawmanning anything. You're suggesting a deep seated cultural issue. I'm suggesting a string of unrelated minor incidents, admittedly some with big consequences, that are a combination of stupidity and dumb luck.

 

[domus]

I don't think I'm strawmanning anything. You're suggesting a deep seated cultural issue. I'm suggesting a string of unrelated minor incidents, admittedly some with big consequences that are a combination of stupidity and dumb luck.

Could you provide me with a similar list from every other club in the AFL?
That is a genuine question. I don't know the answer. My focus is on Collingwood.

 

[jackcass]

I am not sure why bothered to quote me again!?

Naive? Eh?

Players are just people. People make stupid decisions. Strong leaders also can make stupid mistakes.

Plenty of people sometimes need a blow-out to de-stress. Who really cares if Steele had a skinful?

The naive people are the ones who actually think that players are some kind of special role models who don’t drink, do drugs, have other vices, have problems at home, battle depression or make stupid decisions like 99% of regular people do.

Remove Covid world, and the club might have gone the Hawks method of just giving him a token fine like when Hodge was caught drink driving before the 2015 finals.

Are you such a wowser that you think Hodge was a poor leader because he made a stupid mistake? IMO, Hodge is arguably the best football leader of the last 15 years. Or are you naive enough to think that it was just a once off for Hodge?

Especially after the 1st few sherbets are under the belt.

The true measure of his leadership will be what he does going forward.

 

[jackcass]

Couldn't agree more, I've done more than my fair share of stupid things over the journey. But I haven't done anything that could have had the flow on ramifications like Steele did. My stupidity had ramifications for 1 person, me.

So Steele's indiscretion holds more weight than ours because it impacts we supporters and our hopes for silverware? How petty have we become?

 

[jackcass]

The druggies as in Keeffe and Thomas? Didn't want either of em.

Swanny only ever went hard in the off season.

You're a funny man.

 

[jackcass]

I'm talking about the culture of a club, the majority of the blame should land at the club leaders. How do so many members of our leadership group get caught blatantly breaching important rules? How do our players not know you can't gamble on matches THEY'RE PLAYING IN? How many players have we had caught with cocaine on game day? Why do we have so many more "incidents" than other clubs?

Do we though? Or is that those impacting Collingwood players attract greater scrutiny?

 

[sr36]

Could you provide me with a similar list from every other club in the AFL?
That is a genuine question. I don't know the answer. My focus is on Collingwood.

TBH, I don't know the answer either. But even if we are way above par, that doesn't necessarily mean that there's a big cultural issue. The recent issues that we've had don't point to me to a mob that are out of control.
Dumb -yes.
Unlucky - probably.
More likely to be uncovered due to being the biggest club in the state - possibly.
Greater coverage of our player's stuff ups because we are the biggest club in the state - definitely.

 

[jackcass]

for NSW and QLD yes, but SA and WA teams have even more local media focus on them than Collingwood. Whole city and only 2 clubs to talk about.

Yet what did we hear about the Weagles players and the drug culture that was so prominent there? What did we hear about the Crows recent implosion or what was impacting upon the Walsh family? It generally takes a major incident or police involvement for those stories to get any meaningful air time.

 

[jackcass]

Just looking at the recent ones.

Lachy Keeffe and Thomas took some party drugs in the off-season.
Jordan DeGoey,, a 20 year old got in a fight
Howe played cricket in the off season.
Sidey got drunk and took an Uber to a friends house.
Sier played basketball.
Stepho had a couple of small bets.

Clearly moral degenerates working in a twisted culture.

Not sure why you've listed a string of guys who have had mental health issues or in Treloars case - cried.

P. S. I do like that I now get to blame my employer every time I stuff up. Sorry boss, but it's the crap culture that you've created that made me do it.

And no mention of the group of players from others clubs they were apparently with at the St Kilda festival, simply because they were lucky enough not to get tested.

 

[House_of_Dahl]

Seems pretty harsh unless there is more than reported. Not like he drove drunk, crashed into multiple cars and then buggered off as well as breached the covid rules (looking at you Lachie!)

 

[domus]

So Steele's indiscretion holds more weight than ours because it impacts we supporters and our hopes for silverware? How petty have we become?

No -it impacts the entire football club. Of course an indiscretion by a leader of a powerful AFL club carries more weight than if an individual stays out late and gets intoxicated. The same applies to politicians and other public figures. Why do you find this fact an indication of our pettiness?