BOTH were elevated into Carlton's leadership group on the same day, and were today announced as the Club's newest AFL co-vice captains.
For Sam Walsh and Jacob Weitering, it's very much business as usual.
The duo spoke to the media on Saturday after the announcement earlier that morning: this is what they had to say.
Sam Walsh
On being elevated to co-vice captain:
To be involved in a leadership group, it’s great recognition from your peers. It’s something - since I’ve walked in the door, and I’m sure ‘Weiters’ would agree - that you just want to earn the respect of your teammates. From there, we all lead in different ways.
The ability of this group now is we’re going to have more and more people that are going to be there to stand up and hopefully we can lead the way int that aspect.
On the new environment:
It’s been a great environment so far. ‘Vossy’ has added a lot to that. He’s a great leader and he’s got some great ideas, and so do the assistant coaches who have come along with him.
I feel like the training has been at a pretty high standard at the moment and it’s up to us to continue it, and earn that right to come out and compete.
On the challenges the 2022 season presents:
There’s going to be our separate challenges, but I think we’ve learned over the last two years to adapt. We’ve had some healthy numbers out on the track and that’s only been building since we’ve got back.
We had a strong three-week block heading into our couple of days off now to reset and then go again. It’s a pretty important period to get right and I feel like we’ve done that: it’s the ability to continue it.
On one of many, many contract questions:
I’m really happy with where I’m at with the Club and the direction we’re heading. I’ve got a lot of good support around me here. I’m not going to put a timeframe on it, because that’s when the talk starts! All I can say is I’m really happy with how it’s tracking and I’m sure it’ll take care of itself.
Jacob Weitering
On Sam Docherty’s influence:
‘Doc’, to his absolute credit, is an unbelievable leader in his own right without the title. You saw him out there today in the first bit of match sim doing an unbelievable job for us. He’ll continue being a mentor for the younger boys and doing his job for the team I’m sure.
On the extra physicality on the training track:
I think that’s been the aim for our pre-season so far, as ‘Worpa’ said: we’ve got to earn the right to compete. To do that, you’ve got to do that out on the track.
We’ve got all new assistant coaches and they’re preaching that. All lines are competing really well and I think it’s setting us up for a good year.
On playing against Charlie Curnow for 50 minutes of match simulation:
He’s in unbelievable shape: photos probably don’t do him justice. He’s very hard to play on, he’s athletic, he can mark, he can wheel around and kick a goal from 70.
It’s great to see him out there and he’s got a lot of energy too for the group. It’d be nice to see him, Harry and whoever else puts their hand up to play up forward this year.
On a new back-line mix:
It’s been different. It was a real shame to see ‘Jonesy’ retire from the game, but it brought about a new opportunity. Oscar McDonald has also been on our list for a year and gone through a bit of an injury rehab period.
Those three guys have been playing some pretty good match sim recently. ‘Gov’ has certainly put his hand up, he can run and jump and intercept. ‘Youngy’ has done the same, and Oscar is a terrific one-on-one player.
We’ve got to build that chemistry and they’ve got to continue to strut their stuff. We’ve still got a little while: we’ve got some match sim coming up and the week after that. It’ll be good.
