Oliver won’t start in seniors in race towards season; the young Hawk embracing the hype

In AFL briefing, a wrap of footy news:

Clayton Oliver will play in Melbourne’s match simulation against Richmond on Sunday – but not with the senior side.Hawthorn’s Josh Weddle has modelled parts of his game on some of the AFL’s best players, and the newly re-signed young gun has got the mentality to match theirs.

Oliver’s race for round one

Andrew Wu

Clayton Oliver will play in Melbourne’s match simulation against Richmond on Sunday – but not with the senior side – as he races the clock to be ready for the start of the home-and-away season.

Oliver will not be part of an under-strength Demons team, also missing a host of stars including Christian Salem, Harrison Petty and recruit Shane McAdam, for the first four of the seven periods set aside for the AFL team and will instead take the field with the reserves for the final three stanzas at Casey Fields.

The champion midfielder is in top physical condition but is short on match fitness, a source with knowledge of the situation said, as he had not taken part in match simulation over the summer with the rest of the squad.

Oliver resumed training with the main group this week having been with the rehab group since returning from leave to focus on his personal issues on February 1.

Clayton Oliver won’t play for the seniors in Melbourne’s match simulation against Richmond on Sunday.Credit: Getty Images

If he can get through the match, Oliver will be in contention to face Carlton in an official practice game next week to press his claims for selection in the AFL’s season-opener against Sydney at the SCG on March 7.

But given Oliver’s injury issues last year when he missed 10 games due to a hamstring problem, the Dees will not want to take any risks in their handling of the four-time club champion for round zero mindful they are embarking on a campaign that could stretch deep into September.

That Oliver is in contention at all should be a source of optimism for their supporters after his turbulent off-season in which the club demanded he meet off-field standards, was hospitalised after a seizure, underwent minor knee surgery and fined $600 for driving while his licence was suspended on medical grounds.

Hampered by injuries and suspension at the business end of last year, the Demons again have several injury concerns heading into the match practice swing of the pre-season.

Kosi Pickett is out of round zero due to suspension. Petty and McAdam are considered unlikely to be ready to face the Swans but may play the following week against the Western Bulldogs. Petty has had surgery to fix a nerve-related issue with a toe, while McAdam has battled a soft-tissue problem.

Wingman Lachie Hunter, veteran Tom McDonald and former Brisbane big man Tom Fullarton are in the frame to come in for next week’s practice game, while Ben Brown could also face the Blues after making better progress than expected managing his troublesome knee.

Star half-back Salem, coming off a minor hamstring strain, will build through the reserves against Richmond.

Cornes said he could be the best in the league. Weddle is embracing the hype

Marc McGowan

As far as throwaway lines go, this one was a doozy. Fast-soaring Hawk Josh Weddle’s highly impressive debut AFL season, as a top-20 pick, helped him attract an army of new fans – and not just of the brown-and-gold variety.

Port Adelaide great Kane Cornes is among them. The outspoken Cornes, an avid viewer and consumer of US sports and the talking heads around them, has carved out a successful media career by figuring out how to stand out from the crowd.

The 300-gamer has put the heat on many a player, coach or club. However, in Weddle’s case, Cornes had nothing but good things to say, albeit there was still a heavy dose of hyperbole.

Josh Weddle in action for the Hawks against the Saints last season.Credit: Getty Images

“He has the potential to be the game’s best player. What I have seen from this young man has blown me away,” Cornes pontificated on SEN during the quiet of January.

It did not take long for news to reach Weddle. The 19-year-old’s dad, Jarrod, who apparently loves scrolling through X, formerly known as Twitter, was the first to contact his son.

Friends and other family followed, and it was not long before Weddle’s Hawks teammates began poking fun at his expense, just as they do when accusing him of being coach Sam Mitchell’s “pet”.

(Weddle, for his part, insists he does not clean the coach’s dishes in the Waverley Park kitchen).

Josh Weddle has moddled parts of his game on Fremantle great and two-time Brownlow medallist Nat Fyfe.Credit: AFL Photos

The timing was ideal, although inconsequential, given Weddle’s agent, Dylan Hodge – brother of ex-champion Hawk Luke – was already deep in discussions about a contract extension for his teenage client, who, as of this week, is officially tied to the club until the end of 2026.

“It’s a bit different for me. I had a lot of setbacks when I was younger, and I thrive off that, but seeing stuff like [what Cornes said], it’s obviously a nice feeling that someone sees that in you,” Weddle told The Age.

Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell.Credit: Getty Images

“But, in the end, there are no guarantees it’s actually going to happen. It’s a bit of a weird thing to think about, and I try not to because it’s obviously a very big call … I’ve got to have the belief in myself to be able to become that player, if it happens or not.”

The crux of Cornes’ prediction was that Weddle would have to morph from a 191-centimetre dashing defender with the greenest of lights to take the game on, into a centre-forward player of the ilk of Dustin Martin, Christian Petracca and Marcus Bontempelli.

Or maybe even dual Brownlow medallist Nat Fyfe, who Weddle modelled parts of his playing style on.

“I played a lot in the midfield as a junior, and as I grew in my teenage years [he had a 20cm spurt in the two years before being drafted], I was thinking I could become one of those players, like Fyfe,” Weddle said.

Kane Cornes is a big fan of the newly re-signed Weddle.Credit: Channel Nine

“I always wanted to play like him, but it’s really up to Sam [where I play]. I’m still a second-year apprentice in the backline, but we saw what ‘Daysy’ [Will Day] did after his three or four years in the backline; moving into the midfield and winning the Peter Crimmins Medal.

“So if it works, then it works. But right now, I’m pretty happy in the backline.”

Weddle, who played 17 senior games in his first season, is already well-regarded for his running power. He has replaced Finn Maginness as the resident star runner, a role Isaac Smith once made his own.

He went on five-kilometre runs with his mum, Tania, as an eight-year-old, beat both his parents in a fun run roughly 12 months later, then finished 14th in a national cross-country race another year on.

Weddle was also a handy basketballer, whose Eltham Wildcats once represented the Asia-Pacific in a junior tournament in the United States against future NBA players Cason Wallace, Gradey Dick and Jarace Walker.

Former star 800-metre runner Tamsyn Lewis, the athletics coach at his old high school Carey Grammar, and a Hawthorn tragic, even rose early in the weeks leading up to last year’s draft combine to help him prepare.

“I like fighting through the pain because it makes me feel good afterwards that I’ve fought through,” Weddle said. “There are two different voices in your head – one that wants to keep going, and another one that’s saying you should stop. I like fighting that, and listening to the other voice that tells you to keep going.”

There is still work to do on how to harness his weapon on a football field. As opposed to the voices wrestling in his mind during a normal run, he swears there is little going on when he tucks a Sherrin under his arm.

“My eyes just light up, I’m smiling, I’m seeing open grass, and it’s like, ‘Here we go, here’s my time to do whatever’,” Weddle said.

“When you get that ‘handball-receive’, or whatever it is, it’s just like green light [time to go] – I know that the coaches back me in to do that, and that’s why I was drafted here. It’s still probably a learning [curve] for me, to lower the eyes when I’m going full speed, and hit a kick, so that’s something I’m trying to work on.”

Cornes – a columnist for The Age – and many others will watch that development with interest. But before Weddle climbs the AFL mountain, he first plans to upgrade his 2006 Honda CRV.

If his promising start to his career had not already endeared him to everyone at the Hawks, his answer on what his next car might be certainly will.

“I’m not sure actually; maybe a Nissan, one of the sponsors,” Weddle said with a grin. The kid just gets it.

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