Pierce Seymour to play 100th SANFL game in Semi Final

Norwood Vice Captain Pierce Seymour will play his 100th SANFL match in Sunday’s Semi Final against the Adelaide Crows at the Adelaide Oval. 

The 30-year-old Premiership defender is in the midst of a career best season, named in The Advertiser’s SANFL Team of the Year for the first time (back pocket).

Seymour played eight SANFL games for the Crows in 2019 and 25 for Woodville-West Torrens in 2020 and 2021, before landing at The Parade in 2022, where he’s played 66 in red and blue.

He was a member of Norwood’s 2022 SANFL Premiership side in his first year at the club, and formed part of the leadership group in recent seasons.

Reflecting on his career, Seymour was thankful for being in the position to play game 100, having made his debut at the age of 24.

“From where I’ve come from (making my debut at 24 years old) to get to 100 games was always a goal I’d had, but never sure whether I’d reach it,” he said.

“Hopefully we can celebrate with friends and family, but the main job is getting a win in finals.”

Seymour’s Redlegs take on the Crows at the Adelaide Oval on Sunday, September 7, from 12:15pm in a knock out Semi Final, after coming from behind to defeat Central District in last Sunday’s Elimination Final.

“That’s why you do all the hours of training from November last year, you want to play as many games as you can on Adelaide Oval, and Elimination Finals are the most tense moments you can be in. But, they are the ones you have the most euphoria when you come away with a win,” he said.

“It was great to be out there against Centrals, and can’t wait to take on the Crows.”

Seymour played several seasons at local level for Payneham-Norwood Union, before starting his SANFL career with the Crows in 2019.

“I had a small stint in Norwood’s U18s as an over-ager, went back to Payneham from 2015 to 2018 and loved my time there,” he said.

“I always had that drive to play at the next level, and had a good season in 2018, and from there I was asked to come out to trial at the Crows as a top-up player. I trialed against 50 players and made it into the final 10 and played the back half of the 2019 season.”

Seymour went to the Eagles in 2020, under the then recently appointed Senior Coach Jade Sheedy, now Norwood’s coach.

“A few clubs approached me after the 2019 season to join them full time, which is what I wanted to do, I’d loved the competitive level of SANFL footy and went to the Eagles.

“At the end of 2021 Twig (then Norwood Coach Jade Rawlings) approached me to come to Norwood, which was my local team and I knew Matthew Nunn and a few of the boys, and Norwood’s been home ever since.

“The 2022 season was a whirlwind, I’d missed out on the two Premierships at the Eagles, I knew my footy was good enough to be a League player, but Twig made me earn the trust of the players so I started in the Reserves that year.

“I fine tuned my defensive craft, and made my way into the team in the back half of 2022 and my confidence grew. I was a part of that Grand Final was special, I hold it close to me.”

Now aged 30, Seymour had a career best season for the Redlegs, averaging 17 disposals and seven marks per game, while kicking seven goals as a valuable swing man for Norwood coach Jade Sheedy.

“I have always been a solid player, but I wanted to take my game to a new level this year,” he said.

“The off-season was the best I’ve had, I nailed a few things like diet and training, I started training earlier, doing Pilates, and trying new things in the off-season.

“I changed my body composition, and that mentally gave me that confidence that my body was the best it had been and I’m ready to launch.

“It gave me extreme confidence to go for my marks, go for the aggressive kicks, and that led to good form. So, my off-season set me up for success, but Sheeds also helped me believe that I was one of the best in my position.”

Seymour said Jack Heard, Tom Donnelly and himself had worked hard on building chemistry in Norwood’s backline over the past four seasons.

“We have a close connection. Donners and I came both came to the club in 2022, and Jack had established himself as a great League player in that year, and we’ve built that chemistry over those three or four years,” Seymour said.

“We’ve played 60 games together now, and we go to work on it at training, review the games well, make sure we are connected and have an understanding on each other’s role.”