Seb Ross is one of a number of midfielders who have played support roles at St Kilda for the big dog of the club, Jack Steele, but it is those level of players who had to lift gears to make the Saints into a finals contender. Ross has done that job this year alongside the likes of Jack Sinclair, though his improvement does not show up much in his basic fantasy scoring. In Supercoach, he has posted three tons in a row and lifted his average somewhere near his previous bests from 2017-18. He would be an interesting POD choice from here.
Seb Ross is one of a number of midfielders who have played support roles at St Kilda for the big dog of the club, Jack Steele, but it is those level of players who had to lift gears to make the Saints into a finals contender. Ross has done that job this year alongside the likes of Jack Sinclair, though his improvement does not show up much in his basic fantasy scoring. In Supercoach, he has posted three tons in a row and lifted his average somewhere near his previous bests from 2017-18. He would be an interesting POD choice from here.
Seb Ross increased his fantasy output in each of his first seven seasons, and most senior midfielders keep up a plateau at that point as they have learned how to get the best out of their mind and body. Ross, disappointingly, has dropped several gears in statistical terms since his 2018 peak, to the point where his early 2021 averages are thirty points off his best mark. The advent of Brad Crouch in central midfield for the Saints will not help this situation at all, and he's in danger of not being of much use in any fantasy format, even in deep draft leagues.
Ross maybe is the best Saint
Having lifted his fantasy scoring in each of his first seven seasons, fanatical ball winner Seb Ross went backwards in 2019 at the same time that he had to carry the captaincy for large parts of the campaign. He dropped four disposals and a mark off his 2018 personal bests, though the shape of his stat line remained the same with a nice mix of inside and outside ball, plus plenty of inside 50s. Ross has been a consistent ball winner throughout each of the last four seasons. Used in a variety of roles for the first half of the campaign, coach Brett Ratten stabilised him in the midfield after taking the reins. An excellent fantasy scorer with a tremendous durability record, pounce before the middle draft rounds as he has ten points of bounce back potential.
Seb Ross is currently the most dangerous midfielder at St Kilda with Jack Steven starting forward or not at all due to off-field issues. Opposition analysts are all over this and Ross is now feeling the heat of taggers in that role, with Reece Conca limiting him to 21 touches and a single mark. It is his productivity on the spread that is threatened by taggers, as he averaged five marks per game in 2018 and usually went much higher than that in his frequent fantasy tons. As all great midfielders must do at some stage, he has to learn to beat the tag to be considered elite.
Ross is now a boss
Since his debut in 2012, Seb Ross has improved every year he has played, to the point where he could now reasonably be considered an elite midfielder. At the very least, averaging 107 in 2018, he’s an elite fantasy player. He made the top 15 in the league for metres gained, with two-thirds of his ball on the outside. A durable and consistently high scoring midfielder, Ross represents everything fantasy coaches love in an early selection. One tagging target from round 2 by Ben Jacobs should not be enough to scare anyone away, as he ran free for the rest of the season. He should be snapped up in the opening two rounds of almost any draft.
Seb Ross has loomed as a late-season pick up to round out your salary cap midfield as the Saints pick up their form in August junk time. With such little time left in the season and fantasy finals upon us, it's a matter of rolling the dice at this point and Ross is not owned by a particularly large contingent of fantasy coaches.
Smooth gloss on Ross
While many of his teammates had up and down seasons, Seb Ross rode the plateau from his previous year and added four disposals per game to reach an average of 30 for the first time. His game got a teensy bit more inside, though his score involvements and metres gained both rose. The reinjection of David Armitage to the Saints midfield should not affect Ross as he is still a predominantly outside player, and may even help him jump to a new level. He should be drafted early with some confidence, though a reach in the first couple of rounds would be too optimistic.
