General News
14 June, 2025
Back in love, Seb is going steady
By ADAM BOURKE AT THE end of 2023, Seb Erharter had fallen out of love with footy. An injury ruined year with Bentleigh in the Southern Football League in Melbourne had him contemplating his playing future at just the age of 21. A conversation with...
By ADAM BOURKE
AT THE end of 2023, Seb Erharter had fallen out of love with footy.
An injury ruined year with Bentleigh in the Southern Football League in Melbourne had him contemplating his playing future at just the age of 21.
A conversation with a school mate in 2024 changed all that.
Erharter’s friend invited him to join Loddon Valley Football Netball League club Inglewood.
While he was unsure at first, Erharter thought a change of scenery might do him good. Plus, he had family living in Bendigo who he could stay with at weekends.
The move to Inglewood was the best football decision Erharter has made.
After testing the water in the reserves, he played the final four games of the 2024 home and away season in the seniors and he knew he’d found his new footy home.
After a big pre-season working on his fitness and strength, Erharter has been a revelation for the Blues in 2025.
Only Bridgewater star Lachlan Sharp (53 goals) and Bears-Lagoon Serpentine spearhead Josh Mellington (43) have kicked more goals than Erharter, who has 42 goals at the halfway mark of the season.
A brilliant effort considering Erharter played all his football in Melbourne as a defender.
“When I started with Inglewood I just wanted to have some fun and find my love for footy again,’’ 23-year-old Erharter said.
“Inglewood has been great for me. Ev-eryone at the club has been unreal and the playing group across the seniors and reserves are a young group… it’s a great bunch of blokes.
“I’m having a lot of fun and we’re winning some games, it’s great.”
Erharter is the height of a mid-sized forward, but his strength and marking ability, coupled with his speed at ground level, makes him a match-up headache for opposition defenders.
“It’s the role I need to play to help the team win games,’’ he said.
“I still have some learning to do in the role, but I’m enjoying it.”
Someone else who is enjoying it is Inglewood senior coach Fergus Payne.
Erharter’s presence inside forward 50 has added an extra dimension to the Blues’ attack.
“He fits in seamlessly with the group,’’ Payne said of Erharter.
“He’s our focal point and he kicks lots of goals, but at the end of the day the main thing is he’s having fun and he’s a great part of our group. That’s what I love about him the most.”
Inglewood goes into the second half of the season in fifth place on the Loddon Valley ladder with a 4-4 record.
The Blues would love to claim at least one scalp in their next three matches against league-leader Marong (away), fourth-placed Bears Lagoon-Serpentine (home) and third-placed Bridgewater (away).
They lost to that trio by a combined margin of 24 points in the opening three rounds of this season.
“When we’re up and firing our best footy can match it with anyone,’’ Erharter said.
“Our starts were horrible in the first three games of the season and that cost us in those close losses to some of the best teams.
“Our ability around the contest to win the footy is the big difference when you compare last year to this year. We’re in a good position halfway through the year.”