Key forward Peter Wright has exceeded most expectations in 2016, playing eight of the last nine games at senior level and booting 11 goals including hauls of three against North Melbourne in round four and Adelaide in round seven.
Despite establishing himself as a member of Rodney Eade’s best 22, the 19-year-old admits while he is loving life at the top level, there is still plenty of room for improvement.
“I’m loving it. Loving to get the opportunity this year, still massive development at the moment,” Wright told SUNS TV.
“Just really learning each week, learning from the opposition players I’m playing on and also just the standards we hold ourselves to within the club.
“I think each week is all about growth for me, feeling more comfortable, still a lot of areas I’m trying to work on.
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“Hopefully just the more exposure I can get, the more I can adapt to AFL footy and really apply myself and try and contribute to the team.”
With Steven May and Rory Thompson resuming their positions as key posts in the SUNS backline in recent weeks, Wright now forms part of a three-prong tall forward attack alongside Tom Lynch and Sam Day.
After Eade expressed concerns earlier in the year whether three talls could co-exist, the contrast in strengths of each player has allowed the coaching staff to persist with a line-up that is capable of stretching opposition defences.
“It’s really beneficial for myself and for each of us. We all bring something a little different,” Wright said.
“It’s tough for a lot of teams to go with three tall forwards so I think if we can maintain the defensive pressure side of our game we’re all trying to work on as a collective, as a forward group.
“And as tall forwards, something we really need to make sure we bring given we don‘t have the smaller men on the ground as much as other teams would.
“So I think if we bring that forward pressure it won’t really hold us back in that regard and then obviously try and stretch the defence of the opposition.”
Wright (203cm), Lynch (199cm) and Day (197cm) have a great opportunity to put an undersized St Kilda backline to the test this weekend with the tallest Saints defender standing at just 194cm.
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But size alone won’t be enough to get the SUNS over the line, with a four-quarter performance essential against the in-form team from Linen House Centre.
“Obviously we go out to win each week, we’ve been a bit of a rough patch lately but really looking forward to the challenge this week,” Wright said.
“They’re in good form, they’ve got a strong outfit and had a really good win on the weekend so I think it’ll be a big challenge for us.
“But if we can play at the standard we did on the weekend for the full four quarters it’ll put us in a really good position.”
