AFL finals: Sam Powell-Pepper talks family, Port’s chances and failed possible move

Sam Powell-Pepper could have left Port in 2021, now fatherhood is inspiring the Power warrior to try to help the club win a flag in 2023. The Port star sits down with Matt Turner.

Looking into his daughters’ eyes, Sam Powell-Pepper cannot help but smile.

Frankie, 18 months, stares back at him, smirks and makes his day.

Powell-Pepper gazes at six-week-old Billie and he instantly forgets about what has happened at training or the result of a game.

Simple moments like these are what the Port Adelaide forward enjoys most about being a dad.

“You can’t ever not be happy when you’ve got little ones,” Powell-Pepper, 25, tells this masthead. 

“You and your partner created your little human and all your happiness comes from that.

“Coming home from a long day of training, Frankie will come running down the hallway screaming ‘Daddy, Daddy’.

“Billie’s still really young, but staring into their eyes gives you a lot of love and happiness.”

Powell-Pepper the footballer is no-nonsense.

Tough.

Refuses to back down from a contest.

Expect nothing different in the qualifying final against Brisbane at the Gabba on Saturday night.

But cop a smile from his girls and he is “a big, cuddly teddy bear”.

“I’m not saying I’m a tough bloke, but it melts you like that (instantly),” he says.

Sam Powell-Pepper and fiancee Brya welcomed baby girl Billie to the world. Picture: Supplied

Powell-Pepper says his new child grounds him in the tough AFL world. (Photo by Sarah Reed/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

Fatherhood has been something Powell-Pepper has wanted for a long time. 

Raised in Western Australia, he lived with his nan for a large chunk of his upbringing after his parents split.

His environment forced him to grow up quickly.

“I always said I wanted to be a great father and give my kids the life I didn’t really have,” he says.

“That’s why I work so hard, come into training every day and push myself on game days, just to give my kids a better life.”

With two children under two and a fiancee, Brya, Powell-Pepper’s own life is very different now to the time of Port Adelaide’s previous September tilt in 2021.

Powell-Pepper was the substitute that night and collected six disposals when the Power sustained a shock 71-point drubbing at home by the Western Bulldogs.

An underwhelming full stop on a season that at one point he thought might have been his last at Alberton.

The year ended with him being linked to a trade to West Coast and Port football boss Chris Davies giving him a public clip about needing to be fitter and more committed.

Powell-Pepper had missed training in March that season then had a month of personal leave.

Reflecting, he says: “I wasn’t in a good spot in my life”.

“At the end of 2020 and start of 2021, I wasn’t in the right headspace,” he says.

“I lost my way.

“With certain people I was hanging around with, I didn’t really have that family like I do now, a tight-knit network around me.

“When I let the club down (by missing training), I felt like I didn’t deserve to be here, so wanted to work hard and earn their trust back.”

Powell-Pepper has come a long way from the end of the 2021 season. (Photo by Morgan Hancock/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

Powell-Pepper says his personal leave was hugely important, allowing him to sort things outside of football and reassess his career.

“It wasn’t (because of) partying, it was a mental thing, losing the motivation, feeling like I didn’t have any purpose in my life,” he says.

“Taking that time away, I realised it (playing AFL) was a once-in-a-lifetime thing that I was taking for granted.”

The public challenge from Davies did not bother him.

“I got a bit of tough love here and there, but that’s the type of love that I like,” he says.

“When things get hard, I don’t just shy away, I take it head on and want to prove people wrong and prove to myself I’ve got more in the tank.”

As for trade links to West Coast, Powell-Pepper says he always planned to stay at the Power, but clubs inquired about him.

“I’ve never really wanted to go home or anywhere else,” he says.

“This has been my family (at Port).

“Crippa (Power list manager Jason Cripps), CD (Port football boss Chris Davies) and Kenny gave me a second chance so I didn’t want to stuff that up.

“I wanted to thank them for their loyalty and for sticking by me.”

State border closures frustrated plenty of travellers during 2021 but one proved something of a sliding-doors moment for Powell-Pepper.

He had been “kind of doing my own thing, floating through life” before he got together with Brya.

They met in Perth at the end of 2020 then she came to Adelaide – where she was born – for work at the start of the next year and they started dating.

When Covid led to borders shutting, Brya stayed in SA, rather than returned home.

“We’ve been together every day since,” Powell-Pepper says.

“She’s my rock and has brought a lot of stability to my life, and a lot of happiness.

“She came along at a perfect time in my life and showed me how good life can be.

“She’s one of the main reasons I’ve turned my career around, along with the birth of my little ones.”

The forward is one of the favourites at the Power. (Photo by Daniel Carson/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

Just as Powell-Pepper’s family is inspiring him, so too has evergreen former housemate Travis Boak.

Like Boak, Powell-Pepper has had a sauna installed at home, getting it early last year to complement his spa and home gym.

Powell-Pepper’s off-field growth has sparked his improvement as a footballer.

Last season the 2016 No. 18 draft pick had his first top-10 best-and-fairest finish, placing fifth.

Another is on the cards this year.

He has kicked the third-most goals for the Power with a career-high 29.

“I didn’t give myself the best preparation in pre-season in 2021 so had to come back fit, firing and ready to go,” says Powell-Pepper, who finished third in the 2017 Rising Star Award.

“I had a good year in 2022 and felt like I’ve backed it up this year.

“Ever since I took that break, everything’s just been perfect.”

Many football followers now consider Powell-Pepper the heartbeat of the team.

Power supporters love that he plays in what they see as the traditional Port Adelaide way.

“I never go 100 per cent in a game, I always go 110,” he says.

“I’ve had to learn to pull it back sometimes and stay a bit more composed, but not in terms of effort.”

Family is the source of Powell-Pepper’s innate competitiveness.

“My brother is three years younger and there wouldn’t be too much competition, I’d always push him around, but when we’d catch up with my cousins, I wouldn’t be the bigger one so had to fight for it a bit,” he says.

“My nan and my dad have always pushed me to be the best and never give up. 

“I guess I get that sort of mongrel from them, my mum as well.”

Powell-Pepper and coach Ken Hinkley. (Photo by Mark Brake/Getty Images)

Port will have to bring similar dogged effort if it is to upstage Brisbane on its home deck.

The Lions are unbeaten at the Gabba this year, winning 12 matches in a row, and the Power is without a win up there since 2017.

Most tipsters are expecting a Brisbane victory.

But being underdogs sits well with a Port Adelaide side few people fancied to make the finals, let alone finish in the top four.

“We know our best footy can beat anyone,” says Powell-Pepper, who will play his 138th game on Saturday night.

“And we like proving people wrong.”

Finals bring butterflies in players’ stomachs. 

Proposing to Brya was far more nerve-racking for Powell-Pepper.

He got down on one knee at Henley Beach in April with Frankie watching on. 

“I couldn’t put sentences together that day because I wanted it to be perfect,” he says. 

“I planned to string it out a bit but as soon as I got to the beach, bang, I just did it.”

Wedding plans are on hold until season’s end.

Right now, Powell-Pepper is focused on winning a premiership.

And he knows there is a particularly special moment on the end of it if the club can break its 19-year drought.

“For me personally, it’d mean the world and be great indicator of the hard work and sacrifices,” he says.

“It’d mean a lot for the club as well and be great for Kenny, who is a great man and has been like a father figure for me.

“I’ve seen it millions of times before with players having their families on field after a grand final win – that’d be the most special moment for me, soaking it all in with them.”

Originally published as AFL finals: Sam Powell-Pepper talks family, Port’s chances and failed possible move