New St Kilda midfielder Koby Stevens overcame a frustrating start to his career at Linen House Centre to entrench himself inside the engine room in 2017.
The 26-year-old crossed from the Western Bulldogs last October and completed an impressive pre-season before being sidelined by food poisoning on the eve of the season, which forced him to work his way into Alan Richardson’s side via the VFL.
But after earning a spot down in Tasmania in Round 6, Stevens collected 28 disposals and kicked two goals against Hawthorn to kick-start his season.
The Victorian was impressive again a week later, but a sling tackle on Greater Western Sydney defender Nathan Wilson put his season on hold for another two weeks.
Stevens was used in a handful of different roles in his first season in red, white and black, including as a tagger with great effect at times.
He blanketed Adelaide All-Australian midfielder Rory Sloane in Round 12, holding the superstar to his second-lowest disposal haul for the year, in Stevens’ most influential effort of the year.
While Stevens still faced challenges with his body this season, recent groin surgery should alleviate those issues and set him up for a full summer on the track ahead of an important 2018.
Alan Richardson's views:
“We predominantly used Koby as an inside midfielder in his first year at the club and he stood out with his aggression and toughness around the ball,” Richardson said.
“He was as good as anyone at extracting the footy out of chaos and putting his teammates into time and space.
“We were really pleased with what Koby was able to do for us and are confident he can keep continuing to grow.
“He is entering the age bracket where players typically become more consistent and he importantly believes in himself.
“I’d expect Koby to come back at the start of the pre-season in great shape and develop the outside facets of his play.
“Koby continued to face some battles with his body this year but impressively battled through some duress in the back part of the year and has now had surgery to correct that issue.”
The numbers:
15 games
21.8 disposals
7.7 contested possessions
5.2 tackles
3.1 clearances
