Dermott Brereton’s advice for former No.1 draft picks Jacob Weitering and Paddy McCartin

THE best players have special attributes that set them apart. DERMOTT BRERETON says struggling No.1 draft picks Jacob Weitering and Paddy McCartin have these. But their fans will want to see them soon.

Carlton's Jacob Weitering is down on confidence and form. Pic: Michael Klein

IT is never good to get a draft choice wrong, regardless of the number attached to that selection.

But if you don’t get the No.1 pick right, scrutiny comes very quickly. And with scrutiny comes pressure.

Pressure on the club and, for the player, pressure and maybe even a touch of embarrassment.

ROUND 4: HERALD SUN EXPERT FOOTY TIPPING

DUSTY THE ‘WADDLER’: FOOTY PREDICTIONS GONE BAD

Of course he shouldn’t feel embarrassed. He did not select himself.

A quick scan of the four best players in the comp right now reveals that none of them was taken at the top — Dustin Martin was drafted at No.3, Lance Franklin (5), Patrick Dangerfield (10) and Nat Fyfe (20).

Patrick Dangerfield nor Dustin Martin were No.1 draft picks. Pic: Michael Klein

Newbie Cameron Rayner at Brisbane and 2016 No.1 Andrew McGrath at Essendon aside, Carlton’s Jacob Weitering, St Kilda’s Paddy McCartin are the most recent top selections.

There is much chat about Weitering now and even a feeling of impatience.

One thing is for certain, the very best players all have several things in common — not the least that they share somewhere in their makeup a physical capability that sets them aside from the average AFL athlete.

The super-elite players may have one or more of a physical prowess that might allow them to run faster, sidestep quicker, fend off more powerfully, kick further, jump higher or have a better body size-to-stamina and pace ratio than one might suspect.

Weitering has this. His agility, considering his 195cm, and subsequent reach are top end. He really does move beautifully.

Dermott Brereton says Carlton's Jacob Weitering has rare physical ability. Pic: Michael Klein

You have to remember this kid is still only 20 and, on what he has shown so far, I believe he will be capable of fulfilling the (very high) hopes and dreams of his club and Blues fans.

Clearly he is going through a patch where he is lacking in confidence to play with the freedom required when attacking the ball — the opposite problem of teammate Liam Jones. Weitering seems to be second-guessing that his opponent’s best effort might be a little better than his. It appears he is searching for his opponent’s body more than he is tracking the incoming ball.

If I were to give young Jacob any advice, I would refer him to the great Gary Ayres and his backman mantra: “Once the ball leaves a player’s boot, it can’t change its course. It will land where it is meant to. And if you can read that landing point before your opponent, go and get it first.”

Of course some forwards also are pretty good at working out where it is landing, so that is when a committed spoil needs to be executed.

Paddy McCartin, who turns 22 next week, is in a slightly more difficult situation.

He has size, but he doesn’t appear to have an elite physical capability and now, more than ever, an abnormal physical capability is required to play as a key forward.

Endurance to go with size is Tom Lynch’s long suit at the Suns.

Buddy Franklin’s pace, his side step and his endurance is something no current league player can totally deal with.

Joe Daniher has mobility and a reach to the highest point like very few others.

And Jack Riewoldt would admit that he is now a much better player since he has learned to run much, much harder and outwork his opponents.

I do love how McCartin will launch at the ball when attempting to mark, but the issue is about how he gets to the point from which he will spring and launch.

Saint Paddy McCartin is aggressive in the air. Pic: AAP I

I dislike talking negatively about a young man finding his way, but McCartin would not have outworked and outrun a single opponent in any of his three seasons.

He has had hurdles to jump — injury and head knocks have not been kind.

St Kilda will start to feel the heat from its supporters soon, because most of the other 17 other clubs had Melbourne’s Christian Petracca as the clear No.1 pick in that draft.

McCartin still plays like a big kid in the under-18 competition. He probably would have outreached, outsized and outplayed every other kid in the TAC.

He sees where the ball is going, runs straight to it and goes for it. That is fine in the juniors when you are bigger than everyone else, as Tom Boyd has found out.

In the AFL you need to be more than just big if you are to regularly beat professional key backmen.

You need tricks, you need angles in your leading patterns, you need to learn which arm your opponent spoils with, which foot he jumps off, you need to be armed up with game knowledge.

McCartin needs all this and more — he has to transform his big, over-size, under-18 body into the adult, AFL key-position model.

The words are easy. Now for the actions.

Christian Petracca was a wanted man in 2014. Pic: Getty Images