Australian Football

A supremely talented footballer who was equally effective leading the rucks or acting as a focal point for his team's attacks at centre half forward, Peter Sartori was touted as the most promising youngster in Western Australia during the early part of a career that tantalisingly promised greatness, but was repeatedly undermined, and ultimately wrecked, by injury. 

Swan Districts recruited him from Redcliffe, and he made his league debut in 1981. Tall, agile, and boasting a first rate football brain, he impressed from the start, but midway through his second season, in a sign of things to come, he suffered a serious kidney injury while playing in an exhibition match at Esperance, and was unable to resume until 1983. That meant he missed the 1982 finals series, from which Swans emerged with their first flag in two decades. In 1983 and 1984 he made amends by helping his club to further premiership triumphs, with his dominant performances during the 1983 finals series in particular living long in the memories of those who witnessed them. 

Not surprisingly, Sartori's displays garnered some appreciative attention from clubs in Melbourne, and after a 1986 season that had seen him climax his 82-game, 119-goal Swans career with a club fairest and best award, he crossed to Carlton. Alas, his misfortune with injury was far from over, and in five seasons with the Blues followed by three at Fitzroy he managed just 77 senior games. Peter Sartori's top level career also included a couple of state games for Western Australia.

Author - John Devaney