The Carlton Football Club has, as widely anticipated, claimed Jacob Weitering with its cherished first selection of the 2015 Nab AFL Draft.
 
Long-considered the pre-eminent Under 18 player of this year’s talent pool, the remarkably composed Dandenong Stingrays’ centre half-back welcomed the opportunity to be part of the Blues’ much-heralded rebuild under newly-appointed coach Brendon Bolton.

“It’s an amazing opportunity I’ve just been given,” Weitering said, moments after Bolton called his name and presented him with the famed dark Navy blue guernsey on stage at the Adelaide Convention Centre.
 
“I thank everyone who’s helped me over the journey, especially my family and friends both sitting home and watching and obviously here tonight . . . and thankyou to the Carlton Football Club for selecting me at pick No.1.
 
“I’m very excited. I can’t wait for it to get underway. I’m going to enjoy the moment and celebrate it with friends and family . . . I look forward to seeing the people I’ve got to know over the journey achieve their AFL dreams tonight as well.”
 
A brilliant performer at the draft combine, Weitering is considered the complete package in terms of his football wherewithal. An athletic, team-oriented type and a genuine leader, the kid from Mt Eliza also has what they call in the trade “football nous”.
 
An unnamed AFL coach, in a recent interview with the Herald Sun’s Jon Anderson, said of the 17 year-old Weitering: “He is the complete package, a generational player, up there with Darren Glass and Matthew Scarlett in terms of key defenders from the U18 competition . . . he is a 300-game player with leadership qualities”.
 
Weitering’s mother Tanya perhaps put it best, acknowledging that her son’s humility was matched by his steely resolve to forge a career in League football.
 
“He is about to embark on a new chapter of his life,” she said. “He’s a very, very humble person, but determined at the same time and I really think those characteristics will take him a long way.”