Seb Ross

[B.M]

Thought I’d start a thread on who I think is the most unappreciated player on the list - Seb Ross

For some reason, supporters seem to be annoyed by his ability to find the footy, prefer other Mids - who don’t find the pill as much or perform at as high a level?!

I find it bizarre?!

Played 124 games

Since 2016 has been a starting midfielder
Had missed 1 game in that time
Has won two B&Fs 2017 & 2019
Finished 6th in 2016 and Second in 2018

He has average 28.1 disposals in that time
3.0 clangers
4.5 clearances, 9 contested possessions, 19 up
0.75 bounces
4.2 Tackles
0.2 goals, 0.5 goals assists
1.6 one percenters

42 Brownlow Votes (7 BOG)

Remarkable consistency and great attitude!

Elevated his running capacity, speed and endurance to rate top 5 at the club in both categories!

Leadership Group (voted by players) since 2017, Acting Captain, 2019.

In my mind, he is a super player, not elite but reliable and performs at a high level.

I would like to compare his ACTUAL output to some other Mids at StK (Admittedly Steele does a great job nullifying the oppositions best player)
Even compare him to some of the highly rated Mids in the AFL you’d be surprised!

Maybe people want him to be Patrick Cripps level or something?!
But when pointing the finger of blame at people for just reasonable results (12, 11, 4, 9 wins) over the last 4 seasons. I suggest look elsewhere.

Others who have performed consistently in that time
Geary, Roberton, Membrey, Steele

[Scollop]

If Sebby was helping us to more wins and if he had a greater impact on games maybe he would be better appreciated. Saints fans haven't had much to be happy about in the last few years.

Dylan Roberton was our most important player in 2017. Sebby should have been runner up to D Roberton in the TBM in 2017 imo

[B.M]

Lot of good Mids going around - they are the money men

To get in the AA top 40 you need to be in the BEST 10-12 Mids in the comp.

And

Maybe some of those Mids are media darlings and get a lot of exposure.

Seb is a quiet achiever, just goes about his business?

And your opinion that he shouldn’t of won the 2017 TBA is the very reason I posted this

Dylan was very good, Seb was also outstanding!

Very underrated by supporters, obviously not by coaches!

Question
Is Seb Ross a good player?

Not who’s better...

[Scollop]

Was Seb Ross a good player in a mediocre team over the last 3 years?

Yes

Has he been the most consistent?

Yes

Does that mean that he should be a walk up start (in the same position he's played in the last 3 years) in a team that is looking for wholesale changes?

I don't know

[Beno88]

Seb's a very good player. He could be a great player. He needs more support in the middle, we need to win more games of footy and he needs to work hard both ways.

Many Saints supporters don't accept that Seb's current level is where it should be, and neither should he.

[skeptic]

Speaking for myself... never thought he wasn’t amongst our best players and certainly never subscribed to the idea that he should be delisted or traded for unders etc.

The challenge is and has been for so many of our players, the discrepancy btw best and average performance... we’ve all seen Seb’s best and it’s elite standard.

It really is...
He wins lots of ball, runs, kicks the odd goal and tears games apart with a clear BOG performance. He also has a lot of games where he appears to win a lot of possession but doesn’t seem overly damaging.

I think the idea that he needs more support is the correct one
With Hill, Jones and hopefully Hannebery in the squad playing 20+ games each and maybe a Clarke, Sinclair and Hind stepping it up more, perhaps the aspects of his game that he’s better at can be capitalised on more and his deficiencies be less apparent.

Reckon it’ll be a big year for Seb

[Scollop]

Lot of good Mids going around - they are the money men

To get in the AA top 40 you need to be in the BEST 10-12 Mids in the comp.

And

Maybe some of those Mids are media darlings and get a lot of exposure.

Seb is a quiet achiever, just goes about his business?

And your opinion that he shouldn’t of won the 2017 TBA is the very reason I posted this

Dylan was very good, Seb was also outstanding!

Very underrated by supporters, obviously not by coaches!

Question
Is Seb Ross a good player?

Not who’s better...

Edited my post a couple of times. Got it wrong on Sebby and the AA nomination in the squad of 40 for 2017.

Fact is that both were nominated

[Secret Kiel]

Claiming the team is looking for wholesale changes is also a considerably misguided perception that has it's genisis firmly planted in the echo chamber.

[B.M]

Why do people think he doesn’t impact games?

He’s been voted in the best 3 players on the ground 21 out of his last 87 games (4 years) which is outstanding!

And this notion that he’s been a good player in a s*** team is also folly!

We had a poor 2018 - no doubt
Lot of injuries, lost confidence

But 16, 17, 19 we won 32 out of 66 matches at just under 50% with a severely depleted team in 2019.

People carry on like it was 80s and we won 4 wooden spoons?!

We haven’t been great, but in that time Seb has been a really good player for us, and outperforms most other players on the list!

Bar Jack Steven, Id have Seb as our best PERFORMED player over the last 5 years!

[The Fireman]

maybe it's about the butchering of the ball ?

[B.M]

Have to check his efficiency

He is not a Dustin Martin like kick, or Pendles or Bont

But no different to
Crouch x 2, Selwood, Fyfe, Danger, Cripps, Sloane, Wines, Mitchell, Kennedy, Steven, Cunnington.
In fact a lot of elite Mids aren’t awesome users by foot

3 clangers out of 28 disposals is not horrific though

Guess supporters see what they want to see

I’ll check his efficiency to get some data on it before I conclude

[Sanctorum]

An interesting discussion. I always considered that Seb Ross has for a long time been on the cusp of becoming elite and I go along with the view that his status is diminished by playing in an "average" rather than a strong team. His career if he were to play for Geelong, Hawthorn, Sydney, West Coast would in my view have seen him rise to elite level.

This thesis could well play out in the coming season with the Saints fielding a much stronger lineup in the midfield and with Brett Ratten in charge, who was a gun midfielder himself, we may well see Seb Ross finally achieve his full potential. If he does, expect him to contend for the Brownlow!

Lastly, i would very much like Seb Ross to be given the captaincy this year as he is a proven leader onfield and handles the media exceptionally well.

[saintsRrising]

Adding Hill, and to a lesser extent Jones, is going to make our previous midfield assets a lot more effective. Hill is a very good fit for St Kilda and an especially good acquisition for the Saints due the type of mids that we already had..


Morseo if Ratten is at the top of his coaching game.

[oldie60]

The best of Seb Ross could be yet to come. If our midfield /onball combination can build you may find some of the shackles on his game being released and he could find more of the footy in more dangerous positions to impact games. I feel he has been a role player for too long due to lack of skill and experience of most of the side but if a couple of players could take up the slack then who knows what he could do. Vastly improved player to his first couple of seasons.

[CQ SAINT]

Seb is a good player.

[CQ SAINT]

He won 2 TBA's ffs. Not underrated at all.

[The Fireman]

Have to check his efficiency

He is not a Dustin Martin like kick, or Pendles or Bont

But no different to
Crouch x 2, Selwood, Fyfe, Danger, Cripps, Sloane, Wines, Mitchell, Kennedy, Steven, Cunnington.
In fact a lot of elite Mids aren’t awesome users by foot

3 clangers out of 28 disposals is not horrific though

Guess supporters see what they want to see

I’ll check his efficiency to get some data on it before I conclude

not singling seb out..our poor disposal is shared by a few, but yes I do see what I want to see..but it's what I don't want to see that sticks in my mind.

[Secret Kiel]

Actually when I think about it, Seb could be the one that has a breakout year. If he goes up another level is he AA?

[The_Dud]

Good player, needs to work on his disposal, not damaging enough, 22 goals in 124 games is very very poor.

[Secret Kiel]

Was Robert Harvey a goal scoring mid?

[The_Dud]

Was Robert Harvey a goal scoring mid?

Different game back then, but even so, Harvey was super damaging with his disposal, and even though he wasn’t a goal scoring mid, still kicked goals at a rate 2.5 times higher than Seb.

Also, comparing those two in any capacity is ludicrous.

[saynta]

If Sebby was helping us to more wins and if he had a greater impact on games maybe he would be better appreciated. Saints fans haven't had much to be happy about in the last few years.

Dylan Roberton was our most important player in 2017. Sebby should have been runner up to D Roberton in the TBM in 2017 imo

Thant's meant to be a joke, surely?

[Freebird]

Was Robert Harvey a goal scoring mid?

I was excited when Harvey had the ball..I'm not when Ross has it

Needs to go forward quicker not hold the ball and wait for holes to be filled then go sideways / back....this adds to his efficiency

Compare how many goal assists Harves had with Ross

[Secret Kiel]

What is the goal assist stats out of curiosit?, I didn't think those stats were recorded when Harves played...maybe towards the end of his career?

Its only been recently that coaches have put systems in place to record and measure what happens after a player disposes of the ball.

It's why kicks, marks and handball records as stand alone stats is almost useless data for the modern AFL coach.

[The_Dud]

What is the goal assist stats out of curiosit?, I didn't think those stats were recorded when Harves played...maybe towards the end of his career?

Its only been recently that coaches have put systems in place to record and measure what happens after a player disposes of the ball.

It's why kicks, marks and handball records as stand alone stats is almost useless data for the modern AFL coach.

Was only recorded for Harves last 2 seasons, where he averaged 0.6 and 0.9 per game.

Seb’s career average is 0.44 per game, with no season being over 0.6.

Again, he’s not damaging enough, and doesn’t deserve to tie Harves bootlaces!