Carlton’s Jacob Weitering looks set for a breakout season in 2020 after blanketing Tom Lynch
Former No.1 draft pick Jacob Weitering hasn’t quite come on as expected but based on his performance against Tom Lynch, the Carlton defender looks set for a breakout season this year.
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Ross Lyon delivered Tom Lynch the highest praise of the pre-season.
The Richmond superstar forward was tracking so well, Lyon said, that he had the potential to become the first player in 12 years to slot 100 goals this season.
And only a few minutes into Richmond’s season-opening win on Thursday night, Lynch’s eyes lit up at another beautifully-weighted Marlion Pickett pass.
Starting three metres off Lynch in that contest was the third amigo in Carlton’s crucial 2015 draft crop, Jacob Weitering.
Until now, much has been said about the superstar capabilities of the two gun forwards taken at pick No.10 and No.12 in that make-or-break group, Harry McKay and Charlie Curnow.
But in the duo’s absence at an empty MCG, it was Weitering, the player taken at No.1 that year, who made one of the strongest statements of the night alongside Blues’ new recruit and four-goal hero Jack Martin.
In that first contest of the night against Lynch, Weitering set the tone for what was one of the best performances of the 22-year-old Blue’s fledgling career.
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Quickly making up a three-metre gap on Lynch, Weitering bravely flew into the path of teammate Liam Jones and Jack Riewoldt to lay a perfectly-timed right-arm spoil to blunt the Coleman Medal favourite only a few minutes into the game.
The early first-term contest was easy to miss as we all took in the empty MCG stands and worked out what to make of this new, somewhat eerie silence in the outer.
But two minutes later, Weitering nullified Lynch again, getting first piece of another high ball in marking contest on the flank.
And then two minutes after that, Weitering got his man again, this time in a chase for a bobbling ground ball.
While Richmond’s Jack Riewoldt was running riot in Richmond’s first-term goal spree, Weitering showed Blues fans signs that this will be his year.
He took the points easily over Lynch, keeping the superstar spearhead goalless on the opening night of the season.
Carlton coach David Teague on Thursday night said his centre half back did an “outstanding” job on Lynch after a faultless summer campaign.
And after a few rough patches in his first four seasons, Teague said Weitering now had the confidence required to flourish at the top level.
“Belief is an amazing thing and I think he believes now,” Teague said.
“If you watch the way he prepared, it’s no surprise he played the way he did today.
“He prepares really well, he analyses his opponent, he studies them and he goes out there with a job to do and he got his job done.”
Lynch was one of only four players not to take mark for the night. This is a man whose big hands snaffled the fifth-most grabs for the season for Richmond last year.
And Carlton has been his bunny over the years. Lynch has slotted 32 goals over his last seven games against the Blues, including bags of eight in 2018 and seven in 2017 for Gold Coast.
But Weitering got one back in the 24-point loss that said plenty about Carlton’s ticker, fighting back into the match after at one stage trailing by 46 points in the second term without star ruckman Matthew Kreuzer, who hurt his foot.
Weitering was moved forward and back under Brendon Bolton before the senior coach was moved on from the club last year.
Clearly, his confidence waned during this period, unable to really establish himself at either end. In 2018, he was dropped and footy played on his mind.
But fitness boss Andrew Russell has sharpened his fitness and helped equip his body to handle the biggest and best goal kickers in the league.
Importantly, it is now clear the 196cm stopper is settled in defence in the same role he developed a reputation as the best draft prospect in the country, largely for his intercept marking and close-checking.
And former list chief Stephen Silvagni swooped confidently on the man considered the safest bet of the talent pool.
But all of the buzz over the past year has been about the Blues’ other two high picks in that year’s draft.
That’s the contested-marking specialist McKay and hybrid forward-midfield Curnow, and even more recently last year’s Rising Star winner Sam Walsh.
Walsh has already become Carlton’s third-best midfielder behind Patrick Cripps and Marc Murphy, but the Blues’ young prime movers such as Walsh and Paddy Dow did not use the ball well against the Tigers on Thursday night.
Walsh and Dow only had five effective kicks between them for the night and Dow continues to spray his set shots on goal.
But the opportunity is there, if he is up to it, for Weitering to this year blossom into an All-Australian centre half back contender.
His graph began to trend decidedly upwards last year, finishing sixth in the club’s best and fairest.
While some may think he is still too young to join the absolute elite key defenders in the league at age 22, Brisbane’s Harris Andrews did it at exactly the same age last year.
Collingwood’s Darcy Moore also has to be in the conversation if he can overcome his soft-tissue problems.
Richmond great Alex Rance vacated the throne as the premier key defender in the competition when he dropped his retirement bombshell late last year.
West Coast’s Jeremy McGovern, 28, is deservedly next in line after signing a $1million-a-year deal on the back of his 2018 premiership heroics.
But in the key defensive stakes, the chasing pack is coming. And Weitering is most certainly part of it.
