I really find Wellingham a total enigma as to where he sits within our list.
WCE traded pick 18 in 2012 for Wellingham and at this point in time you would have to judge it as a very large bust.
A brief look back over his career may somewhat explain his current status in the game and on the WC list.
He was first recruited at pick 10 in the 2007 Rookie Draft by Collingwood. He debuted in 2009 and quickly became a fan favourite playing sixth or seventh fiddle to a Super A class midfield. Wikipedia said of him " His pace, foot skills, overhead marking and ferocity at the contest became valuable assets to the magpies' side."
This is hardly the present case.
During his five year stint at Collingwood he averaged only 18 Possessions a game and in no year did he exceed an average of over 19 possessions and .06 of a goal. In fact his highest goal kicking tally in any one year was only 17, so it would have been hard to justify his spot in the team as a goal kicking forward/mid.
It was off field that he attracted a fair bit of attention, maintaining a high social profile and hanging with the "boys" and resulted in a drink driving conviction and $5000 club fine. This is when things stated to go wrong at Collingwood and he was told to grow up and toughen up on field. His response was his cheap hit on Kade Simpson which netted a five week suspension.
When recruited by WC the expectations were that he would move into our stagnating midfield and have an immediate impact and we all know what happened. A self inflicted injury on a trampoline ended any reasonable start to his career at the Eagles and it would be well into the 2013 season before we saw any return on our investment.
The 2014 season went from bad to worst for Wellingham when he struggled with form and attitude and was dropped from the team on 3 occasions before a stint at East Perth and injury ended his season.
In a 6PR's Sports Today program Wellingham was quoted:
"I was in a little bit of a form slump and that was due to to me being a little bit lazy. You're playing at peak level and if you are not on 100% of the time , you get found out pretty quickly and I wasn't quite pulling my weight"
"It's nothing new. It's switching off and doing all those things that you need to grow out of. When I'm not fully concentrating I can find myself drifting in and out of games which you can't really do these days"
Conclusion.
Wellingham is still immature as a person and a footballer and I am not convinced that this will change any time soon. The dilemma for the club is that we invested pick 18 into him and are not likely to see any trade deal that will return anything close to this . So where to from here, as I see no permanent position in the current team , not forward , not midfield, not tagging and certainly not up back.
Looks like a prolonged stint at East Perth till he grows up and recognises the opportunity afforded him.
WCE traded pick 18 in 2012 for Wellingham and at this point in time you would have to judge it as a very large bust.
A brief look back over his career may somewhat explain his current status in the game and on the WC list.
He was first recruited at pick 10 in the 2007 Rookie Draft by Collingwood. He debuted in 2009 and quickly became a fan favourite playing sixth or seventh fiddle to a Super A class midfield. Wikipedia said of him " His pace, foot skills, overhead marking and ferocity at the contest became valuable assets to the magpies' side."
This is hardly the present case.
During his five year stint at Collingwood he averaged only 18 Possessions a game and in no year did he exceed an average of over 19 possessions and .06 of a goal. In fact his highest goal kicking tally in any one year was only 17, so it would have been hard to justify his spot in the team as a goal kicking forward/mid.
It was off field that he attracted a fair bit of attention, maintaining a high social profile and hanging with the "boys" and resulted in a drink driving conviction and $5000 club fine. This is when things stated to go wrong at Collingwood and he was told to grow up and toughen up on field. His response was his cheap hit on Kade Simpson which netted a five week suspension.
When recruited by WC the expectations were that he would move into our stagnating midfield and have an immediate impact and we all know what happened. A self inflicted injury on a trampoline ended any reasonable start to his career at the Eagles and it would be well into the 2013 season before we saw any return on our investment.
The 2014 season went from bad to worst for Wellingham when he struggled with form and attitude and was dropped from the team on 3 occasions before a stint at East Perth and injury ended his season.
In a 6PR's Sports Today program Wellingham was quoted:
"I was in a little bit of a form slump and that was due to to me being a little bit lazy. You're playing at peak level and if you are not on 100% of the time , you get found out pretty quickly and I wasn't quite pulling my weight"
"It's nothing new. It's switching off and doing all those things that you need to grow out of. When I'm not fully concentrating I can find myself drifting in and out of games which you can't really do these days"
Conclusion.
Wellingham is still immature as a person and a footballer and I am not convinced that this will change any time soon. The dilemma for the club is that we invested pick 18 into him and are not likely to see any trade deal that will return anything close to this . So where to from here, as I see no permanent position in the current team , not forward , not midfield, not tagging and certainly not up back.
Looks like a prolonged stint at East Perth till he grows up and recognises the opportunity afforded him.
