Super Bowl LVIII: Arryn Siposs relives Philadelphia Eagles heartbreak 12 months on at Melbourne watch party
Last year, Arryn Siposs’ Super Bowl mistake attracted fan outrage. Today, he watched the corresponding game from Melbourne. He speaks to SHANNON GILL about a day of contrasting emotions.
Arryn Siposs watches the television screen at Melbourne’s Marvel Stadium as the ‘Star Spangled Banner’ plays 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 live and in-person at State Farm Stadium in Arizona for Super Bowl LVII.
“Looking at it now and seeing it, you’re like, ‘You’ve done it,’” Siposs tells CODE Sports.
“It gives me goosebumps, to be honest. I was part of that.”
Life has changed significantly for Siposs over the last 12 months.
Rather than playing in the Super Bowl, he is one of 2,000 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 kick-off in Super Bowl LVIII - watching on TV the same Kansas City Chiefs he lined up against in the corresponding game last season - it is all starting to sink in.
“Up until the last couple of weeks it still has all been a bit surreal,” he says. “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 made the decision 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.
But today, his thoughts are 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 were 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 healing with time.
“It brings back some great memories but it obviously brings back some ones that you just want to take back to be honest,” he says. “But you just kind of learn to embrace that and take the positives out of everything.
“The fact that we even got there in the first place is amazing.”
He continues: “[The NFC Championship] is something we cherish. A few of my teammates over there did get to achieve the ultimate goal (in 2017), but there were many that didn’t get to do that and this is the best thing that they’ve got.
“We have a bond for the rest of our lives in terms of what we were able to do. It wasn’t the ultimate goal, but it was the next best thing and we should hold our heads up high.
“This ring is something I can look at every time to remember the good things. It’s something that I should embrace even more as I’m very, very proud of it.”
The experience of playing in the Super Bowl, he says, has played a role in establishing a new career as part of Sam Micthell’s coaching team at Hawthorn.
“I’d be silly to say that it hasn’t helped,” he says. “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.”
As the Super Bowl unfolds, the memories start flooding back. Siposs sits with another AFL player turned Eagles punter, Saverio Rocca, and both are hoping countryman Mitch Wishnowsky can go one better than they did and become the first Aussie to play in a winning Super Bowl game.
But as the Chiefs reprise their role of last quarter comeback kings over the 49ers, just as they did last year against his Eagles, the hope fades. Siposs knows the feeling better than anyone else as Patrick Mahomes takes control in overtime.
A fairytale for Chiefs fans and Swifties. Not for Aussie punters.
“I’ve been there and you’re never safe with Mahomes and the Chiefs,” he says. “I know Mitch really well and feel for him. He’s been there before and been in the same situation as me.
“The people that have gone through the process with you and understand what it takes are bonded. It’s a brotherhood.”
An Australian win will have to wait but, on a day that at first felt daunting for Siposs, he has visibly relaxed.
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Chiefs fans celebrate around him.
And on this day, Siposs is a fan, too.
“You tell me six years ago that I was going to go over there and be part of the biggest day arguably in the sporting world? I would have laughed at you,” he says.
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