Collingwood veteran Steele Sidebottom is in the gun after a “stinker” performance against St Kilda on Thursday night.
As the Magpies’ season went from bad to worse with their third-straight loss, questions are being asked of the club great.
Sidebottom, who has won two premierships across his brilliant 312-game career, had 16 disposals against the Saints, but went at just 50 per cent efficiency.
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The 33-year-old also made two critical errors that lead to St Kilda goals, including a weak spoil that landed straight into the path of Jack Higgins to kick an easy goal.
Club legend Mick McGuane said Collingwood’s performance was not acceptable, but zeroed in on Sidebottom and fellow veteran Jeremy Howe.
“Playing dishonest footy Collingwood. Let’s hope (Craig) McRae hits them up right between the eyes,” he tweeted.
“No point sugar coating tonight’s performance. It was non acceptable.
“Howe and Sidebottom have had stinkers tonight.”
While McGuane was somewhat measured in his comments, a lot of fans were calling for Sidebottom to be dropped and potentially retire.
“The start of this season is the worse I have ever seen Sidebottom play. Always oozed class and confidence and just looks shot at the moment,” one fan tweeted.
“I love Steele Sidebottom and he is one of the best Collingwood players ever but he has to be dropped after that regardless of his legacy,” another said.
“Sidebottom won’t see out the season. Looks way off the ball,” another added.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a player so washed as Sidebottom It’s genuinely sad,” another said.
“Steele Sidebottom possibly went on one year too many, he has been well below his best in all three games so far this season,” another added.
Coach Craig McRae referenced the struggles of his experienced players when talking about how his team failed to get the fundamentals right against St Kilda.
“I think you could see some fundamental skills that are just sloppy, rusty, clunky. Just give-away goals, the little things that you take great pride in,” he said after the match.
“There’s a lot of fundamental errors that we’re making, from experienced players that you wouldn’t expect.
“We do hours of fundamental work. It’s actually the stable part of our training, fundamentals. I’d be surprised if others do as much as we do.
“It’s hard to answer (why we fumbled). We got some of our best players and some of the most decorated players that you’ve seen in the game (fumbling).”
Veteran Jack Crisp pinpointed turnovers, particularly in the defensive half, for the disappointing loss.
“What was costing us was just our turnovers, again. In the back half our ball use, missed handballs, missed kicks and to St Kilda’s credit, they pounced and made the most of those opportunities,” he told Channel 7.
“What we’ve done really well over the last couple of years is been able to move on from the mistakes and focus on what’s next in the game.
“I think we did that well at times but in a game like this, when the ball moves so fast, you have to move on quick but also the opposition are getting really good at punishing on turnover.”
Collingwood will look to notch their first win of the season next week against Brisbane, who are also winless, in the grand final rematch.
