From Super to sacked, Siposs finds positives at home
Arryn Siposs watches the television screen at Melbourne’s Marvel Stadium as the Star Spangled Banner is playing at Las Vegas’ Allegiant Stadium.
Just 12 months ago, he had a very different vantage point.
As a member of the Philadelphia Eagles, Siposs listened to the US national anthem in person at Arizona’s State Farm Stadium for Super Bowl LVII.
“Looking at it now and seeing it, you’re like, ‘You’ve done it’,” Siposs said. “It gives me goosebumps, to be honest.”
Life has changed significantly for Siposs over the past 12 months. Rather than playing in the Super Bowl, he was one of 2000 punters attending the stadium’s watch party in Melbourne, all scoffing down hot dogs and drinking Budweisers. But Siposs is a punter apart. His transition from St Kilda forward to the Philadelphia Eagles generated headlines on both sides of the equator, culminating in an NFC Championship ring, which he is wearing proudly.
A few minutes before kickoff in Super Bowl LVIII – watching on TV the same Kansas City Chiefs he lined up against in the corresponding game last season – it was all starting to sink in.
“Up until the last couple of weeks it still has all been a bit surreal,” he said.
“So I didn’t really know how to approach it. I’ve thought about it a little bit, and it’s bittersweet to be honest.”
After the high of the NFC Championship last season, Siposs’ fortunes took a sharp turn. First came an agonising three-point Super Bowl defeat to the Chiefs, then the news in late August that the Eagles had cut him.
With opportunities in the US limited, Siposs, 31, decided to return home to Melbourne, where he has spent much of the summer playing with his local cricket team and embarking on a footy coaching journey.
On Monday, however, his thoughts were back in his former home.
The Eagles began last season’s Super Bowl brightly and led the game through three quarters. But the Chiefs swamped them in the final quarter.
With all the momentum and having taken the lead, Kansas City was aided by a poor Siposs punt and even poorer defensive tackling effort that led to another touchdown.
Eagles fans voiced their disapproval and Siposs was in the crosshairs.
A few months later, his NFL career was over.
The disappointment is still raw, but time is proving a great healer.
“It brings back some great memories but it obviously brings back some ones that you just want to take back to be honest,” he said. “But you just kind of learn to embrace that and take the positives out of everything.”
The experience of playing in the Super Bowl, he said, has played a role in his new career as part of Sam Mitchell’s coaching team at Hawthorn.
“I’d be silly to say that it hasn’t helped,” he said. “But I still kept an eye on the AFL even when I was over in America and it’s something that I always wanted to do.”