Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jun 28, 2026

Sam Powell-Pepper

Samuel Powell-Pepper is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Port Adelaide Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL).

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Jun 28, 2026
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Sam Powell-Pepper
Powell-Pepper playing for Port Adelaide in June 2017
Personal information
Full name Samuel Powell-Pepper
Born (1998-01-08) 8 January 1998
Western Australia
Original team East Perth (WAFL)/Wesley College (PSA)
Draft No. 18, 2016 national draft
Debut Round 1, 2017, Sydney vs. Port Adelaide, at Sydney Cricket Ground
Height 187 cm (6 ft 2 in)
Weight 96 kg (212 lb)
Position Forward / midfielder
Club information
Current club Port Adelaide
Number 2
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
2017– Port Adelaide 158 (124)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of the 2025 season.
Career highlights
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Samuel Powell-Pepper (born 8 January 1998) is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Port Adelaide Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL).

Early life

Powell-Pepper was born in Perth, the son of Maureen and Steven. His mother is Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and his father is Caucasian.123 He has two full siblings and two half-brothers. His parents separated when he was young and he lived with his father until he was eight, then spent periods with his paternal grandmother, his mother, and friends' families.4

Powell-Pepper initially attended Mount Lawley Senior High School as an inaugural member of the school’s Aboriginal Excellence Program, before switching to Wesley College on an indigenous scholarship.5 He went to school with Quinton Narkle who is his second cousin. He also attended school with other future AFL players Shai Bolton and Cameron Zurhaar.6 He played junior football for the Mt Hawthorn Cardinals.2

In 2016, Powell-Pepper made his senior debut for the East Perth Football Club during round 20 of the 2016 WAFL season going on to play all the remaining games for the year.7

AFL career

Powell-Pepper was drafted by the Port Adelaide Football Club with their second selection and eighteenth overall in the 2016 national draft. He made his AFL debut in Port Adelaide's twenty-eight point win against Sydney in the opening round of the 2017 season at the Sydney Cricket Ground.8 He was named that round's AFL Rising Star nominee after kicking two goals in the match, the first with his first kick in AFL football.9 In a game against Melbourne, he recorded 17 tackles, beating the club's previous record which was 16.

Statistics

Updated to the end of the 2025 season.10

Legend
  G  
 Goals
  K  
 Kicks
  D  
 Disposals 
  T  
 Tackles
  B  
 Behinds 
  H  
 Handballs 
  M  
 Marks
Season Team No. Games Totals Averages (per game) Votes
G B K H D M T G B K H D M T
2017 Port Adelaide 2 22 16 14 182 193 375 57 114 0.7 0.6 8.3 8.8 17.0 2.6 5.2 1
2018 Port Adelaide 2 16 5 13 137 168 305 36 97 0.3 0.8 8.6 10.5 19.1 2.3 6.1 3
2019 Port Adelaide 2 19 10 18 187 171 358 50 92 0.5 0.9 9.8 9.0 18.8 2.6 4.8 1
2020a Port Adelaide 2 19 7 12 123 156 279 36 77 0.4 0.6 6.5 8.2 14.7 1.9 4.1 3
2021 Port Adelaide 2 16 10 8 115 104 219 39 61 0.6 0.5 7.2 6.5 13.7 2.4 3.8 0
2022 Port Adelaide 2 22 24 22 216 149 365 104 74 1.1 1.0 9.8 6.8 16.6 4.7 3.4 11
2023 Port Adelaide 2 25 31 31 202 141 343 64 78 1.2 1.2 8.1 5.6 13.7 2.6 3.1 2
2024 Port Adelaide 2 3 3 4 19 9 28 9 14 1.0 1.3 6.3 3.0 9.3 3.0 4.7 0
2025 Port Adelaide 2 16 18 18 118 116 234 62 44 1.1 1.1 7.4 7.3 14.6 3.9 2.8 2
Career11 158 124 140 1299 1207 2506 457 651 0.8 0.9 8.2 7.6 15.9 2.9 4.1 23

Notes

  1. The 2020 season was played with 17 home-and-away matches per team (down from 22) and 16-minute quarters with time on (down from 20-minute quarters with time on) due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
References

References

  1. The Advertiser (28 March 2017). "Sam Powell-Pepper pays tribute to former teammate's family after Round 1 Rising Star nomination". adelaidenow.com.au.
  2. Miller, Dale (21 November 2016). "Resilience driving Powell-Pepper's draft bid". PerthNow.
  3. Guthrie, Ben (31 October 2016). "Tomorrow's heroes: Sam Powell-Pepper, big-bodied mid ready for AFL". afl.com.au.
  4. Robinson, Mark (6 August 2017). "Powell-Pepper picks up from broken past". The West Australian.
  5. Homfray, Reece (28 November 2016). "New recruit Sam Powell-Pepper's power nothing to sneeze at". The Advertiser. News Corp Australia. Retrieved 25 March 2017.
  6. O'Reilly, Jacob (1 November 2016). "Wesley College sends four to AFL Draft Combine". Western Independent. Retrieved 2 June 2023.
  7. "WAFL - West Australian Football League". www.wafl.com.au. Retrieved 18 July 2017.
  8. Laughton, Max (25 March 2017). "What we learned: Port Adelaide defeats Sydney Swans in Round 1 as Sam Powell-Pepper makes terrific debut". Fox Sports (Australia). News Corp Australia. Retrieved 25 March 2017.
  9. Twomey, Callum (27 March 2017). "Powerful Port mid's instant impact earns Rising Star nod". AFL.com.au. Retrieved 27 March 2017.
  10. "Sam Powell-Pepper". AFL Tables. Retrieved 10 February 2026.
  11. "Sam Powell-Pepper". AFL Tables. Retrieved 9 February 2026.
External links