Sun Weller silences his critics

A TEXT message from his team manager alerting him to some negative press has sparked the Gold Coast Suns’ Lachie Weller into action.

The usually laid-back Weller, originally from Burnie, admits the text “sparked” him and contributed to his starring role in the club’s epic upset of Sydney at the SCG last Saturday.

Traded to the Suns from Fremantle in exchange for the No.2 draft pick, critics had started to build a case against the 22year-old after a quiet start to the season.

But he has been among the side’s best in the past month and kicked two running goals from outside 50m at the SCG to underline his quality.

Those performances have silenced any critics, not that the unflappable character was aware they existed in the first place.

“I’m not heavily involved in media and you miss a lot of it up here, but there was a little bit that sparked me,” Weller said.

“My manager sent me a message saying: ‘You all good?’

“And I was like ‘what?’, and he said there’d been some [critical] articles. “I was like ‘Really? Thanks mate, I was going all right [until then]’.”

Weller, who would rather surf than watch television, resisted the urge to Google his name but said his own internal drive was enough to keep him on track.

“I’ve got pretty high expectations of myself and want to give back because they [the Suns] had given up a fair bit for me,” he said.

“During the week I’ve backed off a little bit in training and feel like I’ve had a lot more energy going into games.

“My mindset [is now] more just taking the game on, really take ownership and finish the year off really well.”

Carlton (1-16) travels to the Gold Coast this Saturday night.