SEB Ross has played in St Kilda’s last eight games. The young midfielder debuted in the penultimate round of 2012, before spending the first three weeks of this season in the VFL, eventually earning a promotion four the Saints round four clash against Essendon.
At the halfway point of the year, the 20-year-old has a week to take stock and reflect on what has been a break-out two months of senior football.
“I bet the boys will be feeling pretty sore,” Ross told SAINTS.com.au on Sunday evening.
“There was plenty of knocks and it was a pretty contested sort of game with plenty of tackles laid.”
This fierce style of play suits Ross given his willingness to put his head over the ball in the clinches.
It’s a quality that the left-footer always had, but has improved rapidly under the guidance of two of St Kilda’s most experienced midfielders.
“Just working with the likes of Joey Montagna and Lenny (Hayes) has been great,” he said.
“They’ve showed me the sort of work-rate that is required to play at AFL standard and I am still learning … They are great role models on and off the field.”
Ross is averaging a healthy 15 disposals and 3.3 tackles per game, an output which is especially impressive considering the quality players he is going head-to-head with on a weekly basis.
On Sunday his direct opponent was the most prolific tackler in the AFL, Scott Selwood.
Despite the result, Ross said that St Kilda could take a couple of positives out of the game:
“We did a lot of good things tonight but if you look at the KPI’s (Key performance indicators) our contested ball just dropped off a little bit in our last quarter.”
“But credit to the boys, I thought they played their hearts out.”
You can follow Tom Morris on Twitter: @tommorris32
