COLLINGWOOD assistant coach Mark Neeld knows for his club to take the next step in 2010, it won’t necessarily come from the likes of Dane Swan or Alan Didak.

So it pleased the Pies midfield coach no end to see three of the club’s youngest and brightest talents leading the pack on day one of pre-season training.

The Magpies began their campaign for next season earlier this month, kicking things off with their now-customary two-kilometre time trial.

But, as was the case last summer, it wasn’t one of the biggest names at the club who stopped the clock first. It was emerging midfielder Steele Sidebottom.

“For anyone to improve, and Collingwood’s no different to the other sides trying to get up the ladder, you need your young group of players pushing the group that’s in front of them,” Neeld said this week.

“Steele, with some of the things that he showed last year on the field, is capable of that.

“We are expecting him to work particularly hard over the summer to make sure the pressure is on that group that’s in front of him.”

Those results from the Pies’ return to training will buoy the hopes of the black and white army that the 19-year-old will become a more permanent fixture next year.

He impressed in 11 senior matches last season, with his best performance coming in the club’s thrilling semi-final win over Adelaide.

Sidebottom seems to glide around a football field yet he isn’t noted for his leg speed.

Put him over some ground, however, and he’s like a Melbourne Cup winner. Aerobically, it seems there are few able to match his tank.

Marty Clarke came close last pre-season, and Jaxson Barham and Dayne Beams have been the early contenders this summer.

While fitness comes naturally to Sidebottom, he admitted he didn’t want to drop off during his first AFL post-season.

“You’ve got to keep doing a little bit,” he said. “I did a little bit over the break but I had a good break as well.

“I went on the footy trip for a few days, and then went back home.

“I’d just go for a few runs a week, and just some light weights - nothing too demanding.”

His efforts seem to have paid off.

When he arrived at the Lexus Centre last summer he scooted around the 2km track in six minutes and 18 seconds. He’s already shaved a few seconds off that this year.

One might think that just because he sets the pace, he enjoys, or even relishes, the hard slog of the summer running sessions dished out by strength and conditioning coach David Buttifant.

But he is human.

“I do [enjoy them] to an extent but then when it gets a bit tough I don’t think anyone really enjoys it, when you blow up and get a bit crook,” Sidebottom said.

Last year, the kid from country Victoria and his fellow first-year draftees were eased into their workload.

But, 12 months on, Sidebottom hasn’t missed a beat in the first couple of weeks since resuming.

He says he feels stronger after a full season at senior level, and looks thicker through the hips.

“I’m 82 [kilograms] now but I reckon I’ll lose maybe one or two before we get into the season … I might have a little bit of fat on me at the minute,” he said.

Neeld says weight and strength would come with another summer in the gym.

But the coach was quick to emphasise Sidebottom must continue working on those parts of his game already considered strengths.

“Steele had a very good first-up season last year,” he said.

“The club is looking at him building on his first year … yes, he does have an aerobic base but he still needs to work at it and still improve on it if he wants to be the full-time midfielder that I’m sure he does.

“He is a highly-skilled player but I still think there’s scope there for him to improve those skills under AFL intensity … that will be his challenge, to improve in that area.

“But we won’t set one particular aim above any others this summer.”