Family man selfless saint, back to B&F form

[saynta]

Yeah, I know i posted the link in the Seb thread, but I believe that the article deserves its own thread. So no apologies from me.

From saints.com.au


Family man, selfless Saint: Ross' return to Best & Fairest form with three kids in tow

Seb Ross' life is blur juggling football and family commitments, but the two-time Best & Fairest is enjoying a standout return to form as the Saints rise continues.
By Josh Gabelich, AFL Media - 6 hrs ago

Seb Ross arrived home shortly after 3am on Saturday morning, more than four hours after St Kilda beat Greater Western Sydney in Canberra.

But unlike the rest of his teammates who collapsed into bed after accomplishing the taxing fly-in, fly-out mission to the nation's capital, Ross was up for a couple more hours, looking after his twin sons.

Life has changed dramatically for the 28-year-old in the past 12 months. The star midfielder and his wife Marnie have made the seismic jump from one daughter to three kids under four following the arrival of Vinny and Henley, while navigating some of the biggest decisions of his 166-game career.
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Ross found himself in the spotlight for reasons he never envisaged midway through last season. The clean-cut Saint hasn't put a foot wrong in his time in the AFL, but was suddenly a key talking point in the media when St Kilda's season was in freefall in June.

With five-week-old twins and a two-year-old daughter at home at the time, Ross made the decision to put family before football, leaving the Saints' mini-hub in Sydney to support his wife, Marnie. Tim Membrey made the same decision to ensure he was in Melbourne for the birth of his daughter.

The pair missed St Kilda's important clash against Adelaide in Cairns due to border restrictions and found themselves in the eye of a media storm.

Plenty has changed since then. St Kilda has won five games on the trot for the first time since 2011 and look poised for a deep September run. Ross is back to his 2017-19 best, but he hasn’t forgotten the challenges he faced last year.

Seb Ross followed up his initial forward kick by slotting through this running goal to further extend his side's lead

"On reflection, it was actually pretty tough. Life was pretty tough as it was, having Charlotte and the twins and the twins had bad colic, so it was full on all the time," Ross told AFL.com.au after the win over Greater Western Sydney.

"I knew in my heart of hearts I had to come home; I had to support my wife, Marnie, because there was no way that she would have got through the 11 days without me. She would have fallen in an absolute pit and probably never forgiven me.

"It was certainly difficult, particularly because it was our bye week and I was actually trying to take a break from footy. I found it a bit strange to be in the spotlight for the decision, because when I made the decision, there was no way in my mind that I thought it would ever be a talking point."
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Ross missed only one game and returned for the final nine games of the year, finishing seventh in the Trevor Barker Award. The Horsham product put pen to paper on a two-year extension at the end of the Trade Period, despite attracting more lucrative offers from rival clubs for the second year in a row, putting an end to the most chaotic period in his football career.

"I think I knew last year wasn’t us. I've been here for a long time and this group has gone through so much change in the last three years. Really since Richo [Alan Richardson] left most of the coaching staff have changed, even my teammates there aren’t too many that I've played a real good amount of footy with," he said.

I knew if we just got it together, got our systems going and all got on the same page, we could be doing what we're doing now, play team-first footy. I love the Saints and it was a pretty easy decision in the end.


It has been 11 years since the Saints read out Ross' name with the 25th selection in the 2011 NAB AFL Draft. Ross has lived through a barren period at the club, winning only 39 per cent of the games he has played.

He has only played in two finals – both in 2020 – but at 5-1, St Kilda's second premiership no longer feels as out of reach as it did two months ago. The left-footer isn't daring to dream just yet. Not that the twins would let him sleep deep enough, even if he wanted to dream.

"I'm No. 6 and Nasiah [Wanganeen-Milera] wears No.7. We sit next to each other, and I tapped him on the shoulder on Friday night and said: make sure you enjoy these moments, it’s the best half an hour we get in footy terms, I've been on the end a lot of times, so you just don’t know when it's going to come and go," he said.

"We're just enjoying our time at the moment, it's a great place to be right now. We're not really focused on finals. We know with the list we've got we've got, we can be there come the end of the season. But right now it's really process focused for us; each guy is happy putting their ego aside to contribute to the team. We're getting 22 contributors each week. We've won five on the trot, but there are no guarantees each week."
Seb Ross congratulates Ian Stewart medallist Brad Crouch following St Kilda's Round 3 win over Richmond.

While Jack Steele and Jade Gresham have attracted most of the praise externally in 2022, the rise of Jack Sinclair the midfielder and the return of Brad Crouch to his ball-winning best have also generated plenty of attention. But many inside RSEA Park believe Ross' return to his Trevor Barker Award winning best has also been a key reason why St Kilda's midfield is humming right now.

Ross won his first best and fairest in 2017, finished second 12 months later, before winning a second Trevor Barker in 2019. After struggling with a calf issue across 2020, Ross has rediscovered his zip and drive this year, thriving back on the inside after spending most of 2021 on a wing and across half-forward.

"I've always been pretty fit, but I think this year my body is really healthy and I'm back up on top of the ground. I think I'm honestly just enjoying my role at the moment, being back playing on the inside as a midfield, as opposed to last year having to play a lot of outside. I think I'm just enjoying being back in the middle," he said.

"We've got some real clarity around the roles we need to play. 'Gresh' can be a pinch hitter and a great clearance player. 'Crouchy' and 'Steeley' are natural ball hunters and high-pressure tackling players. I'm balancing my role between winning the footy and getting back and helping defence and trying to support them that way. We are all nailing our roles at the moment."

St Kilda is taking it day-by-day right now, and so is Ross. He is either at the football club in Moorabbin or at home with Marnie and the kids. There isn’t time for anything else. Life is a blur, but he wouldn’t change anything. "

[shanegrambeau]

Sugar
Sugar
And more sugar

[WellardSaint]

Everyone here knows that I'm in the 'anti-Seb' camp,
i.e. we've bagged him incessantly and made comments like 'if he's best 22, then the club is bottom 6' etc.

He has re-invented himself, he is accountable, he has clarity, no longer does he blaze away like he used to.
He makes a great effort to give off to advantage.
It's something that we all wanted to see from him.
So now, I'm a big fan.

[CQ SAINT]

Seb keeps adding these explanatory fluff pieces to his profile. We did sign him for 3 years didn't we?

[shanegrambeau]

Seb keeps adding these explanatory fluff pieces to his profile. We did sign him for 3 years didn't we?

I don't know.

But the media fluff posted by Saynta is pure BS.

What a load of crap.

And shame on the Saints propaganda team for hiring such a hack..

Or should I say hack?

They are probably laughing down at the pub now, at their prose with their mates.

..and will be working for Richmond or Geelong nest year.

What a load of crap.

The crimes are too many to list ...
Conflating Memrey's situation...
Saying it was 'just one game'...
What a load of horse s***...

[The_Dud]

I think Stinger works for the PR department down at saints.com.au with the amount of reposts he does!

If he has returned to B&F form now, it confirms everything most have said about him. Looked good in ordinary teams, now many have passed him by. In a good team (which we seem to be ATM) he'll never be better than 5-10 range, which isn't a bad thing for the side.

And don't forget, 30 goals in 165 games... its almost unbelievable

[saynta]

Seb keeps adding these explanatory fluff pieces to his profile. We did sign him for 3 years didn't we?

I don't know.

But the media fluff posted by Saynta is pure BS.

What a load of crap.

And shame on the Saints propaganda team for hiring such a hack..

Or should I say hack?

They are probably laughing down at the pub now, at their prose with their mates.

..and will be working for Richmond or Geelong nest year.

What a load of crap.

The crimes are too many to list ...
Conflating Memrey's situation...
Saying it was 'just one game'...
What a load of horse s***...

Don't like him showing you up for the poor judge of footballing flesh that you are, eh?

[B.M]

Do all mids have to be goal kickers?

Did Lenny kick many? Harves?? Ball?? C. Jones?? N. Burke??

Fact is, when you’ve got an elite power forward to kick it to… why not kick it to them?

Do you expect Seb to be Bont, Dusty, De Goey, Petracca?
They are the best of the best!!!
No one is suggesting Seb is in that realm - only a handful are

But a very good midfielder, it is clearly obvious!

[CQ SAINT]

Do all mids have to be goal kickers?

Did Lenny kick many? Harves?? Ball?? C. Jones?? N. Burke??

Fact is, when you’ve got an elite power forward to kick it to… why not kick it to them?

Do you expect Seb to be Bont, Dusty, De Goey, Petracca?
They are the best of the best!!!
No one is suggesting Seb is in that realm - only a handful are

But a very good midfielder, it is clearly obvious!

The dominant ones do.

[B.M]

Harves and Lenny not dominant?

Maybe some of those goal kicking mids haven’t got a defensive bone in their bodies?!

Dusty went into the Richmond backline once - he forgot which way they were kicking!

[skeptic]

Yep. Very mediocre player Dusty

Not worth a smudge of Ross’ boot. Hasn’t nearly been as consistent as Seb over the journey

[B.M]

Dusty is the best player in the last 10 years

Point is

Not all players kick goals

Not all players defend

Steele is the best 2 way mid in the AFL by a mile

[CQ SAINT]

Harves and Lenny not dominant?

Maybe some of those goal kicking mids haven’t got a defensive bone in their bodies?!

Dusty went into the Richmond backline once - he forgot which way they were kicking!

Harves and Lenny hit chests, consistently, over many years. They were dominant.

You're digging the Seb hole you're standing in, deeper and deeper with every comment.

[SaintPav]

A bit harsh. He’s doing well.

Seb apparently knocked back a few “lucrative offers”. I wonder which teams he knocked back?

[The_Dud]

Do all mids have to be goal kickers?

Did Lenny kick many? Harves?? Ball?? C. Jones?? N. Burke??

Fact is, when you’ve got an elite power forward to kick it to… why not kick it to them?

Do you expect Seb to be Bont, Dusty, De Goey, Petracca?
They are the best of the best!!!
No one is suggesting Seb is in that realm - only a handful are

But a very good midfielder, it is clearly obvious!

Yes. When you start throwing words around like ‘elite’, ‘A-grade’, ‘great’, you gotta hit the scoreboard and hurt the opposition.

Harvey averaged 0.56 goals per game
Ball 0.4
Steele 0.4
Burke 0.38
Lenny 0.32
Jones 0.27

Ross 0.18

Those you listed above weren’t known frequent goal kickers, yet they still run laps around Seb in that department. I actually don’t know if you’ll find a experienced mid who kicks as little amount of goals as him. And it’s not like he’s been passing it to Lockett, Loewe, Hall, Hamill, Gherig his whole career…

He’s a good player, which all good teams need, but let’s stop pretending he’s in the same ball park as those above (except Jones), or even a lot of blokes who happen to have zero B&Fs.

[Scollop]

Everyone here knows that I'm in the 'anti-Seb' camp,
i.e. we've bagged him incessantly and made comments like 'if he's best 22, then the club is bottom 6' etc.

He has re-invented himself, he is accountable, he has clarity, no longer does he blaze away like he used to.
He makes a great effort to give off to advantage.
It's something that we all wanted to see from him.
So now, I'm a big fan.

This post is spot on…… BUT…. some people read it differently. They read ‘I was wrong AND I take it all back!’

This is also what WellardSaint said in the other thread;

I will say that anyone who gets onto an AFL list has got there through hard work +persistence.
But my issue w/Seb was his 32+possessions weren't usually quality, nor was he looking to give to a team-mate's advantage.
They quite often were kicks in hope, and random handballs. Ok, maybe our outside guys weren't in the clear at the time, but anyways...

This year, maybe knowing there's younger guys pressing for a spot, he actually looks for a clear target and usually nails it.
Example was right foot pass to Higgins for a goal.
He even takes on the tackler to give himself a lil bit more time to dish off, which he does well.

He's now much more of a team-first player.

His 30+ disposals used to be decaf, now he gets 20+ but they're double-shot Arabica

Wellardsaint did NOT say that he was delusional about his previous perception of Seb and that his perception of Seb over the last 4 years was wrong.

If WellardSaint came on here and said that he had no justification to criticise Seb in the last 4 years then I’d say WellardSaint was a hypocrite.

Equally…if some posters don’t understand that the St Kilda side at the moment is benefitting from a Seb Ross that is playing team footy and we are better off as a team from that, then they are hypocrites.