Slicing through backlines and booting goals, Sam Lowson has had a fine state-league career.

He won a premiership with Woodville-West Torrens in the SANFL in 2020.

Won praise from his North Melbourne coach Tom Lynch as the “most dynamic’’ player in the VFL in 2023.

Won a VFL representative jumper this year.

And yet …

“There are a few what-if moments around me, aren’t there?’’ Lowson laughs at one point during an interview to discuss his move to Southport Sharks next season.

Like, what if he had stayed in the SANFL for another year? Like, what if he had crossed from Coburg to North Melbourne 12 months earlier?

But, before that, what if he had not suffered injuries a couple of days out from the 2019 AFL mid-season draft?

Ahead of that draft, the dreadlocked Lowson was everywhere in the media. It was widely reported Carlton would take him with the No. 1 pick. Clips of him drilling goals for Coburg against Werribee in a night game did the rounds on social media and made for great watching. He hammered one home from 60m.

In the Werribee box, coach Mark “Choco’’ Williams apparently asked: “Who’s that pineapple head?’’

The mid-season draft was set down for May 27. Two days earlier, Lowson played for Coburg against Geelong at GMBHA Stadium.

He hoped to do well again – he had 14 goals from five matches by then – and reaffirm his standing among recruiters as a pacy, pressure-bearing, goalkicking small forward.

Instead he was caught up in a tackle and suffered knee and ankle injuries that would shunt him to the sidelines for nine weeks. No club was prepared to select a player who would be unavailable for most of the second half of the season.

Fox Footy cameras had lit up the Coburg City Oval on the night of the draft, but there were no feel-good images to capture.

“It ended up being pretty embarrassing but that’s how much interest there was in the Sam Lowson story,’’ former Coburg general manager and head recruiter Sebastian Spagnuolo says.

“They (Fox Footy) wanted to get Sam’s reaction to being drafted and then it didn’t happen. That was booked in prior to him sustaining the injuries. I did try to cancel that filming. But they said they felt comfortable and confident that, according to their research, he would still get an opportunity.’’

Lowson spoke to nine clubs and had a second interview with a few of them. Three called him after the draft saying they were sorry it hadn’t worked out.

“Deep down, I thought I was a 75 to 80 per cent chance of going,’’ he says. “But after what happened at Geelong, it didn’t make sense to put on a player they didn’t really know much about and was going to be out injured.’’

He hurt his knee (a grade 2 MCL tear) and ankle (ruptured ligament) against the Cats on the Saturday. The following day other mid-season draft hopefuls sat out their matches.

Lowson had given no thought to doing the same. Coburg fancied beating Geelong and he figured he had put himself in contention for the draft by playing, not watching.

“It was about the team. I’ve always been team first,’’ he says. “I didn’t want to be selfish and let the guys down. I don’t regret playing. It was a freak accident.’’

Amid well-meaning comments about how unlucky he had been, the right-footer came back late in the season, but didn’t show quite the same sparkle he had in the early rounds.

Invited to the state combine, he tested well, but was overlooked in the national and rookie drafts.

Spagnuolo remains convinced Lowson would have been drafted if not for the injuries.

“All the lead-up to that draft suggested there were a number of clubs that were keen. He had medical-tested at clubs and the interest was really high,’’ he says.

Still, there was another speck of hope for him a few months later when Covid was kicking in and there was talk AFL clubs would be granted two extra players to help them through 2020. He had a meeting with Carlton but soon after the season was suspended.

With the VFL season shut down, Lowson jumped in his car and headed to Adelaide, where he spent two weeks in quarantine before joining Woodville-West Torrens and going on to play in a premiership.

He wonders now if he should have stayed with the Eagles.

“Might have had two SANFL flags … would have played a full season … who knows what could have happened,’’ he says.

But he had a girlfriend back in Melbourne and Coburg was equally keen for his return.

He played with the Burgers in the half-season of 2021 and again in 2022, but decided to switch to North Melbourne the following year.

His early performances for the Roos – he had 16 goals and was averaging 15.8 possessions after six rounds, including a bag of five against Port Melbourne – again had him in mid-season draft discussions.

“In my mind, he’s the most dynamic player in the VFL by a long, long way and I hope people haven’t forgotten what he can do,’’ Kangas coach Lynch said at the time.

Again nothing came of it. But Lowson appreciates what Lynch has done for him, “not just with football, but in life … he’s helped me through a few hard things’’.

“The program at North was awesome. I think it took my footy to a whole different level. That’s why I’m sad I maybe didn’t go there a bit earlier,’’ he says.

Entering this season, Lowson was accepting that his AFL chance had gone.

“I don’t expect to get picked up any more,’’ he says.

But people still tell him how unlucky he was and how he should have played in the AFL. “You should be a on a list,’’ his North Melbourne teammates have regularly remarked. He appreciates that they recognise his ability.

“It’s good to know everyone else thinks I should have got given a chance,’’ Lowson says. “It sort of makes me feel a little bit better, that I’m known as a really good footballer who was just a little bit unlucky rather than not having the talent to be there. But, yeah, obviously it still sucks. Sometimes, I’m like, ‘Fuck, why does everyone else see it but not the people who matter?’’

If Sam Lowson had reached the AFL, it would have made for one of the more unlikely draft stories.

He did not play in the TAC Cup for Eastern Ranges. He says his kicking and his fitness were judged short of the mark. He was also a “bit of a muck-up in school’’, which he suspects was another reason Eastern didn’t take him on.

Lowson instead played for East Ringwood, progressing to the senior team.

But he devoted little time to football.

“I didn’t really care about it at all,’’ he says.

“I’d play, have beers with the boys after the game, never do the pre-season, just rock up a few weeks before the season and play. I was pretty handy even though I didn’t train and wasn’t fit.’’

He had also developed a drug habit, as he revealed in a powerful article in the Herald Sun early in 2020.

Lowson doesn’t really want to go into it again – “’Ralphy’ (Jon Ralph) did a big story on it and it’s out there about how I used to use drugs but that’s years ago now.’’

“I had a bad past but it helped me become who I am now,’’ he says.

His natural talent carried him far enough to bring him to the attention of Coburg recruiter Spagnuolo. One of his spotters alerted him to a “strong, quick, explosive small forward’’ in the Eastern league.

The Lions invited him to the 2017 pre-season.

But he barely held on in his first few weeks at the City Oval.

“It was a very slow burn. Our coach at the time (Peter German) didn’t see a lot in him and wanted to cut him before Christmas,’’ Spagnuolo says. “I was able to say, ‘Wait until we play a praccy and we’ll see the best of him’. Luckily he hung in there and played a practice match and then the Development League for the first half of 2017.’’

Lowson debuted that season. With his speed and goal sense, he was off. And, in 2020, so were the dreadlocks; he lopped them to raise money for men’s mental health. He was chuffed to tally up $7000.

“Never thought I’d get rid of them but it’s almost the best thing I’ve done in my life,’’ he says. “They were good for my footy though. You stood out. They were a bit of a trademark for me but I’m glad they’re gone.’’

Lowson gives Coburg credit for helping turn his life around and setting up his VFL career.

It will take in a third club next year when he relocates to the Gold Coast to play for Southport Sharks, where, all going well, he’ll reach the 100-game milestone.

Lowson played alongside six Sharks in this year’s state game and ended up staying in Adelaide and enjoying a few drinks with them.

The Southport crew told him he should make the move in 2025 and Boyd Woodcock even whipped out his phone and drafted a mock contract. Lowson signed it.

“And then we thought it would be funny to send it to ‘Lynchy’ (Lynch) as a joke,’’ Lowson says. “All those blokes were rippers. I thought, ‘I’d actually go there, because they’re all legends and if half the team is like this it will be good fun’.’’

The Woodcock “contract’’ resurfaced at the end of the season, with Southport football operations manager Jarrod Field sending it to Lowson.

“He goes, ‘If we can get these numbers will you come to Southport?’’’ he says with a laugh.

“I was going to give up on the VFL. But I actually broke up with my long-term partner and I didn’t know whether I wanted to stay in Melbourne, so it was probably a perfect time to keep pushing myself and reaching for the best person I can be and to play the best footy I can. It also resonated with me that we can potentially win a flag and I’ll reach 100 games. That would be pretty cool to do both of those in one season. I also still want to show everyone why – well, not why – but why I was a chance and maybe I should have been given a chance.’’

Spagnuolo, now talent manager at the Calder Cannons, will be following his fortunes.

Form a talent perspective, he has no doubt Lowson would have been a “great addition to any AFL list and he would have thrived in a full-time AFL environment’’.

“Unfortunately he did not get an opportunity. But he can be really proud of the fact that he’s been able to manage an eight-season and hopefully 100-game VFL career.

“At the start we had doubts he’d do it for one or two seasons. So to be at this part of his journey is tremendous for him.’’

No question about it.