Sam Armson ready for Grand Final challenge with Inter

At just 21-years of age, Inter Lions captain Sam Armson has shown maturity well-beyond his years, as he prepares to culminate a historic season at this Saturday’s League Two Grand Final. 

After finishing the 2022 regular season in first place, Inter entered the finals series with plenty of confidence and continued their stellar form when they secured a spot in the grand final.

Going into this weekend’s clash as the favourites, Inter will look to its young captain Sam Armson to help the club secure its second piece of silverware this season.

Armson, who was only named the Lions’ captain at the start of the season, admitted that Inter’s preseason form couldn’t of foreseen them making a Grand Final appearance.

“The last few years we were just a mid-table side, this year we made a few good signings with Ollie Green, Patrick Scibilio, Evan Patramanis and Danny G [Daniel Gerogievski] that took us to another level”, he said.

“In our first few training sessions we were flying, then in our first ten preseason games we lost seven of them and alarm bells were ringing, we were a bit nervous.

“We were still working hard and all the boys were putting in work, in the last few weeks before the season we really put it together, then to start the season we went ten-games unbeaten.

“It was a little unexpected, but once we really got moving with our training intensity, all the boys were really lifting and we started on a high and rode that the whole way”.

Armson noted that he had only starting playing u/20’s for Inter in 2019 and began to grow his game in the years to come under coach John Theodoropoulos.

At the start of the 2021 season, Theodoropoulos selected Armson as the new captain of Inter, something that he admitted he strived to step-up to.

“At the start of this year, the captain from last year moved on and I stepped and said I wanted it, the coaches trusted me and it’s worked out pretty well this year.

“I played alongside the former captain Domenico Tripodi in the midfield for the last three years and he was such a good mentor to me, he always told me that I would be the next captain.

“When he moved on he told me that I should go for it and that it was something that I deserved, he really helped me step into that next role”.

Armson noted the level of talent that Daniel Georgievski has brought to the team since joining mid-way through the season.

“He had been in and around the club in the years prior and I remember the first training session where John told me that Daniel was coming to play with us, I was nervous,” he said.

“He’s came into the team with international and A-League experience, I wasn’t sure if I was allowed to tell him what to do, but he has been such a great teammate on and off the field.

“He said he was here to help and do his role, off the field he is really funny and helpful, on the field he brings so much experience and advice, he’s really giving it 100% even though he’s played at the highest level, he took it seriously which pushed us further”.

The 22-year-old credited his coach, John Theodoropoulos for his success in recent years.

“We joined Inter at the same time and I went from a kid playing park soccer to the captain, he kept trusting me and we were worked together all this time.

“I have so much respect and appreciation for what he has done, he is terrific on and off the field, off it he can be a great mate and he commands respect in an indirect way, you just appreciate what he’s doing because he wants to win and has so much passion”.

Looking ahead to this weekend’s grand final, Armson is wary of the motivation that the Rams will have heading into this.

“The 8-2 game was not quite reflective of the game, the first thirty minutes of that game was the toughest of any game all year, we just had the minor premiership in reach and nothing was gonna stop us,” he said.

“It’s going to give them a lot of motivation to come through and they’ve won three elimination games in a row so they’ll be full of confidence, but we are looking forward to it and we’ll be ready.

“It’s been a while since any of us have played in a grand final, but I am going to instil that we have to keep working hard and use it as motivation to play with excitement instead of nerves”.

By Football NSW Men’s League Two Writer, Dominic Criniti @DominicCriniti