Lord Nev

Firstly, I might have missed it, but haven't seen anyone say "that is impossible to not have social media". Seems like you've moved the goal posts a fair bit there. From what I've seen; others have pointed out how, young people especially, use social media as their primary means of staying connected with one another. Secondly, why should he have to avoid something that is such a big part of connecting people his age just because others choose to act like douches on it though? That's great you use SMS, FaceTime etc, but not everyone wants to do that, and not everyone has relationships that operate in that way. Aside from that, there's how much social media is integrated with the career of a modern sportsperson. Business and social media are intertwined in an irreversible way, not having a social media presence can have a big affect on a sportsperson's career and earning potential. Long story short, what you're saying is 'Sorry Sam, I know you use social media to stay in touch with the lives of your friends and families, keep up to date with world news and that of your industry, make potential business connections and help build your career, personal brand and earning potential, but if you could just not do all that because we want to let trolls run free that would be great....'

Just for reference, Gawn at 23 years of age played 9 games in that season, averaging 10 disposals and 14 hitouts. IMO 23/24 is still 'young' for a key position player. Some come on quick, some don't.

Making stuff up? Here's a quote from Taylor and some draft profiles... JT: “With Sam we thought we needed to bring in another key forward to partner Jesse (Hogan). We think he’s going to be a quality player in time and we can be patient with him." AFL draft 2015: Melbourne drafts Clayton Oliver, Sam Weideman "longer term prospect" 2015 AFL draft prospects: Sam Weideman " First year projection: Long-term prospect" 2015 Draft Profile: Sam Weideman

Not sure why the shock? Every year clubs draft players that they see as longer term projects.

Could be the first really tricky test at the Dees for Choco. A lot to unpack when it comes to Weid I reckon. By all acounts; Goody and Yze are fantastic with relating to players, Choco is a bit of a magician with the enigmas, Stafford I'm not totally sold on, but there's also TMac (he who has risen again), so seems like he has the right people around him to give him the best chance to make it work.

That's fair. Would definitely agree in the difference in the quality of our development programs between then and now. I think if he's not with us next year it's by his choice too. Personally, I think the pressure should shift to Ben Brown now. He's the big name recruit, peak age, but he hasn't grabbed his chance so far. Something has been 'off' with the forward line synergy when he's played as well IMO. He's the proven mature player who now needs to execute.

I agree there were definitely expectations he would be better than he's currently showing, absolutely no doubt there. Huge difference between hoping he'd be something special and thinking he's the messiah though. If you go back to all the draft profiles, and even the comments by Taylor, about him around the time he was picked up you'll see a recurring theme: "project player", "long-term project", "be patient", so perhaps the expectations some had weren't accurate? Those statements don't buy him infinite time, but at 23 he is still young for a key forward, let alone one consistently labelled in such a way. I think it's too early to call him a bust just yet, but expectations surely should have adjusted by now.

"Breakout game" might have been said a few times, but I'm yet to see one person ever say 'Weideman is the messiah' about a year where Gawn and Oliver were All-Australian. Let's not rewrite history just so we can find a new way to bash Weid.

Has there been one person since the day he was drafted that thought "Weideman is the messiah"?

Not 100% sure what point you're trying to make here. Is it that a key forward will have more goals and contested marks than a mid sized forward who sees more of the action and obviously then gets more disposals and tackles? Also, our average scores over those two different periods are almost the same so I don't think saying "played in a far worse side" is entirely correct in this context.

He's 23. That's still young for a key forward, especially one who was already considered a 'project' by the club whom drafted him. Gawn didn't become a consistently good player until his 7th season.

Ironically, I reckon I've got 'more hope' because I've 'given up hope'... I don't think he'll ever be the gun player we hoped for or that some in the media thought he might become, but if he can become a solid, best 22, second key forward then I think that's ok.

I'm in total agreement that he''s out of form, has to be dropped. I just don't agree that he's a write off and that a handful of games defines his career.

Ok.

Sure, but I'm talking about the context of the Weideman threads and the timing of them in relation to the Pies game.

This thread has 5 and a half new pages since the Pies game. Coincidence you reckon hey? There's also the 6 page thread about Ben Brown playing instead of Weid that was started after that game. Haven't seen one thread started about our horrendous delivery in that game, or how our defence was a mess. Not going to bother with the rest of your post, it's just another example of the ridiculous overreactions in this thread,

Please cite some examples.

Not panic like some posters are here. He's not in form clearly, but the past month doesn't define his career. Ben Brown hasn't even played in the last month, do we write him off too? No, we get to work. I have no doubt the coaches, particularly Williams and Stafford, will continue to work with him to help him get some form, and I'm sure Goody and Yze will be working with the midfield and forwards in improving structure and delivery to rebuild the synergy there we seem to have lost recently. The reality of our current list demographic means Weid will likely stay IMO, unless he requests a trade himself. I believe the club will back in it's development and coaching to get him out of his current slump and get him back to his 2020 form when the coaches rated him as a top 10 player for us.

100% discuss what's going on with a players football form, perhaps even bring some stats and analysis into it, that would be great hey? This thread has become just a 'he's a dud', 'give him away', 'can't mark, can't kick' thread where posters are just throwing silly insults that are overreactions rather than actually discussing football. It's not a 'discussion' at all now.

This thread really is bringing out the worst in a lot of posters. Just continual kicking of a young player rather than actually discussing footy.

Yes, it was an intraclub match.

Also Melksham looked better and Daw apparently pretty good. Apparently hard to read too much into it though as it doesn't sound like it was a super intense hitout given the short break.

Second hand info, so not very detailed - Heard that Jones was busy, got lots of it, and B.Brown kicked at least 3-4 goals. Apologies I don't know more yet.

That "rumour" is a couple of years old mate. Pretty clearly he won't be asking for anywhere near that this year. Whether he stays or goes, I hope we invest in a future key forward prospect, potentially through the draft, as we're looking a bit thin in that area in a few years.

Been poor for most of this season, no doubt. I'm just not convinced that defines his career though. Has had bad luck with consistently badly timed injuries,including this year. Brown has had the same problem this year after not having a proper preseason too. I think maybe you're taking my use of the word 'average' as being the classic Aussie way of saying 'bad'. I don't mean it like that, I mean it in it's true form. I would class players like Spargo, ANB, Hunt, Hibberd, Tomlinson, Brayshaw, Harmes etc as 'average', and all of them have been selected pretty consistently this year, played a role, and contributed to team performance. IMO, over his career, that's the level Weid will fit into. Personally, I think fitness will be the thing that makes or breaks his career. In 2020 he was covering a huge amount of territory and had his best year. If he can get a solid run without injury where he can build that tank I believe he'll carve out a decent career.