Seymour Rising In The Red and White

The Clarence Football Club is building some impressive form, having recorded impressive wins over Glenorchy and Tigers FC in consecutive weeks, and fresh face Fletcher Seymour is finding himself in the thick of it. 

With a host of stars, including Brady Jones, Wade Wall, Ryan Edmondson and Keegan Wylie out injured, a batch of emerging Roos and new faces have stepped up to fill the void.

One such player who fills this bracket is 20-year-old Fletcher Seymour.

An accomplished cricketer who represented the Australian under-19s in 2015, and played a key role in Clarence’s 2017-18 Cricket Tasmania Premier League triumph, Seymour decided to make the move from OHA to Blundstone Arena for 2018.

“I’ve been playing footy as long as I’ve been playing cricket,” Seymour said.

“It’s been the last few years I’ve played cricket over footy to try and get to that next level but I have always played footy just in the lower leagues.

“Jez came to me in the off season and gave me the opportunity [at Clarence], it was something I had been discussing with friends and family about facing up to the challenge of TSL level.

“Coming in I had ambitions to play senior TSL footy and to get that opportunity, I’m really enjoying it,” he said.

Seymour has impressed since breaking into the senior side in round four, rotating between the midfield, half forward and half back, with his two-goal effort against the Tigers in the wet on Saturday further enhancing his reputation as a vital part of this team.

Seymour is clean below his knees while also displaying great strength to shake would-be tacklers, with these strengths vital in helping the Roos to a win in a low-scoring contest on Saturday afternoon where only nine goals were kicked for the match.

Seymour concedes it has taken him a little while to adjust to the pace of senior TSL football.

“I’m starting to catch up to the pace of it. It took me three weeks to get the pace of the game having not played at this level before. Now that I’m starting to acclimatise to how we play and how other teams approach it, I’m starting to play some good footy.”

“I have been playing mainly through the midfield as well as half back and half forward. The main thing is for me to be versatile, so when those guys we have injured come back in the side, I can still play a role in the team.”

Wins over Glenorchy and Tigers have put the Roos in a good position, now sitting with four wins and two losses in fourth place.

“We’re building, I think it’s been pretty well publicised that we had a different sort of preseason as we tried to learn how we want to play as a footy club, so we are strating to put those structures in place and see those benefits on the ladder.

“We have now played everyone this season we have a good idea as to where we are at. The two Northern teams are the benchmarks with the depth they have, and we saw Glenorchy perform well on the weekend, but I think we are thereabouts.

“If we play our best footy, I think we can beat anyone. That goes for most teams in the competition, anyone can win it on their day,” Seymour said.

Seymour is set to get his first taste of the Eastern Shore derby with the ‘Roos travelling to Lauderdale in round eight.

“Having seen the rivalry from afar over the last couple of years, I’m really looking forward to the opportunity,” he said.

Although Seymour is fully focussed on his football at the moment, he is hopeful that he is able to continue juggling his love for football and cricket into the future.

“At this stage while footy is on I will prioritize footy and once cricket rolls around again I will just keep trying to improve in both sports.”