Sam Petrevski-Seton | 2021 Season Review
Written by Ari Stamatakos
SEASON SYNOPSIS
After coming off a not-bad 2020 season, many fans were very intrigued by how Samo was going to perform this time around. He was still being deployed off the halfback line in the early parts of the season and performed well. However, he was left out of the side from round 8 till 15 and when he was brought back in, he found alot more midfield minutes than normal. He started attending more centre bounces and playing alot more time on-ball. Having to transition roles mid-season is always a tough ask and he adapted pretty well. All his usual traits were still apparent despite the increased midfield minuets. He was still very clean in traffic and provided alot of effective ball movement going forward. He had 3.9 score involvements and 1.1 score launches, which shows the work that he has done to become a more clinical player, in a system that is sometimes quite blunt going forward.
He averaged an impressive 31.6 contested possession rate, and 3.6 ground ball gets, which again, shows the adaptability he had from going back into the midfield after so long playing and training in the defence. His 75% disposal efficiency ranks above average for midfielders this year and his 70% kick efficiency also ranks above average.
BEST PERFORMANCE
While he didn’t have a standout performance where you can’t hang your hat on saying that he played brilliantly. He did have many above par performances that went unnoticed by the majority of fans, due to the nonchalant style of his play. A clear example of this was the round 4 game against the Suns.
He gathered 23 disposals, 10 marks, 74% disposal efficiency and 4 rebounds 50’s. While not overly impressing on the stat sheet, Samo is a beautiful exponent at maintaining possession and dictating the tempo of where the ball is moving. He assessed his options well and didn’t need to do too much when he didn’t need to. On a dewy night on the gold coast, Samo made the wet ball look dry - as he always does - and provided that cool head when the game was in the balance.
OFF-SEASON & 2021 OUTLOOK
Samo has been at the heart of the Adam Cerra trade fiasco. The most likely scenario, accordion to fans, is that we give up pick 6 and Samo, to get the Freo gun in return. This is after his season left alot of people angry and frustrated with his performances. While that, in my opinion, would be overs for Cerra, we can’t afford to let a player go with obvious talent, we just need to use it right.
We saw how good he was when he had proper midfield minutes early in his career, got moved to halfback, had middling performances. He now has had more time in the centre and attended more centre bounces and the talent is so obvious. He is clean on the outside, being one of the more effective kicks in the side, while he also has the football smarts to pick the right options more times the not. Where will he end up at the start of season 2022? Who knows? If he stays at the Blues there is a big chance, we see him developing into a very, very good player, so it would be a very big risk to let him go, despite the quality of player in return.
2021 REPORT CARD RATING
C-
STATUS HEADING INTO 2022
Traded/ Fringe 22
