Sam Powell-Pepper reveals what he hopes to give his two young daughters amid four-match ban

Port Adelaide player Sam Powell-Pepper has opened up about his aspirations for this young family, following a four-game suspension.

In the wake of his four-match suspension Port Adelaide’s Sam Powell-Pepper has opened up about his road to redemption – his family.

The Power star revealed his two children, Frankie, two, and nearly eight-month-old Billie, who he shares with fiance Brya Waghorn, provide him with daily motivation.

“My main priority is to give my kids that loving, that caring and affectionate upbringing that I didn’t really get,” he told 9News.

Sam Powell-Pepper has revealed to #9News he won't be changing the way he plays, despite that four match ban for a crude bump.

The Power hard nut opens up exclusively on his young family and his road to redemption. @coreynorris9pic.twitter.com/UHB2JQsmnN

— 9News Adelaide (@9NewsAdel) March 12, 2024

Powell-Pepper was raised in Perth before he relocated to SA to make his mark in AFL.

“My and my brother, we used to play in the backyard and down at the park for hours, it was always my dream,” the 26-year-old said.

Sam Powell-Pepper and his kids at the Port team photo day. Pictured on February. Picture: Ben Clark

Powell-Pepper was drafted by the Port Adelaide Football Club, where he has grown to become one of their most valuable players.

“It’s a pretty good feeling when you’re whole team kind of backs you like that,” he said.

But his rise was recently halted after he was slapped with a four-match suspension for his bump on Mark Keane.

Port Adelaide protested the length of the ban which would be “manifestly excessive”.

“My teammates know the way I play, you know I put a lot of pressure on and that’s what the team relies on me for, so I’m not going to stop doing that,” he said.

In 2017, Powell-Pepper spoke to the Advertiser about his childhood which was “laced with sadness and abuse”.

When Powell-Pepper was drafted at pick No. 18 national draft, his mum was in prison in Perth.

Sam Powell-Pepper with his daughter at the Port team photo day. Picture: Ben Clark

Port Adelaide football player Sam Powell-Pepper outside his lawyers office after a tribunal hearing where he was charged with a high bump on Adelaide player Mark Keane. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Brenton Edwards

Powell-Pepper visited her before he was drafted and by the time he returned to Perth for the Christmas break, she had been released.

“She was just making the wrong decisions,’’ the then 19-year-old Powell-Pepper said.

The prison was sadly familiar because already visited several people before his mother was locked up.

“It was a bit surprising to see my mum in there. She was pretty sad to be in there as well because her mum passed away in the same prison,” he said.

“She wanted to get out ASAP. Now, she’s behaving herself and I’m always talking to her, checking up and seeing how she is.’’

Originally published as Sam Powell-Pepper reveals what he hopes to give his two young daughters amid four-match ban