Cody Weightman on his premiership aspirations, learning to kick for goal from an unlikely source

[Axe Man]

Cody Weightman on his premiership aspirations, learning to kick for goal from an unlikely source



Believe it or not, Bulldog Cody Weightman wasn?t always this deadly in front of the big sticks, and it?s all thanks to an unlikely hero. The star Dog chats with Sam Landsberger about his rise.

He goes by the name ?Ross the Plasterer?.
When Cody Weightman?s radar was askew following his under-18 year it was Ross who scratched out a few flaws in his goalkicking technique.

?I actually missed a lot as a junior to the point where the old man (Rob Weightman) just got one of his mates, Ross who?s a plasterer, to have a kick with me before the draft,? Weightman told the Herald Sun.

?I can?t remember where he played, but he was a full-forward and very good kick back in his day.

?He?s a plasterer and I went, ?Ah well, I can?t lose much here. It?s not his job, but he can only help, hopefully? and he?s got a really good eye for it.

?I?d love to get him a job in this because he?s very good and he was able to fix up a few little basic things.?

Ross the plasterer is Ross Deakin, a goalkicking great at country level who featured on Melbourne?s under-19s list in the early 1980s and went on to boot bags and bags of goals for Keysborough.

Growing up there was a target board ? an old wooden board with a hole in the middle and bird netting behind it ? to hone the kicking skills.

Weightman kicked 9.9 in eight Coates Leagues games in 2018-19 and a sharper 9.3 from four games for Vic Country in 2019.

Last year Weightman was the No. 1 Western Bulldog for goalkicking accuracy (57.6 per cent) and No. 26 in the AFL. This year he is No. 1 in the AFL with 75 per cent, well ahead of Josh Treacy (Fremantle), teammate Aaron Naughton, Jacob van Rooyen (Melbourne) and Ben King (Gold Coast).

The sharpshooter has kicked 21.5 and two misses in 2024.

?As a small forward it is definitely limited opportunities. I envy ?Naughts? and ?Marra? (Jamarra Ugle-Hagan) at times with their ability to have so many looks, but I can?t waste any,? he said.

?It?s nice that this year I?ve been able to kick straight and hopefully that continues.?

While Ross the plasterer was the pre-draft fixer, this season it has been legendary Bulldog Brad Johnson.

?He?s even further been able to help me out and I feel really confident in my basic routine now,? Weightman said.

?Hopefully most of it is automatic and I don?t have to think too much, which is nice. I just go out there and execute my skill.

?A bit random that it was just one of dad?s mate Ross and with a mix of (forwards coach Matt) Spangher and Johnno I?ve had good support around to help me kick straight and it?s working so far.?

Johnson is the club?s games record holder with 364 games and 558 goals. The specialist goalkicking coach/consultant has been big for the Bulldogs? bullseye king.

?He?s got a presentation he ran us through with certain steps, and there?s a few things he actually went into the detail of giving us all individual tips,? Weightman said.

?So he unpacks the tape really closely and looks for gains in all of us individually. Even experimenting, so early in the year with the blindfolds and all these things, to try and find little gains.

?He talks about committing to the kick and your plant leg and some technical stuff, but also some psychological stuff as well.

?I think that?s a huge part of goalkicking, the ability to compartmentalise what you need to do and execute a skill without considering much other external factors or results-based stuff.

?Just get the process right and the results genuinely should take care of themselves. That?s one big thing he talks about.?

CODY WEIGHTMAN ON ?

RE-SIGNING AFTER NAUGHTON (2032) AND UGLE-HAGAN (2026)
?It?s been a three-year period now where we?ve played together. We really enjoy playing together and feeding on each other?s energy. Again, that?s really exciting that it?s going to be another fair few years of that to come and I suppose it just reiterates the fact that we?re all happy and we?re all enjoying the place we get to go each day and call it work. It doesn?t feel like a workplace sometimes it?s that good. It?s a great thing to have boys signing up and wanting to stay and I think that goes from the top to the bottom of that club, whether it?s the head coach in ?Bevo? or it?s the trainers that do those voluntary jobs and give their time.?

THE EXPLOSION OF SAM DARCY
?He was held back by a few really weird injuries. He had an air socket in his lung, an ingrown hair and an ice bath that went wrong. But maybe that?s been a blessing, because he?s been able to get in the weight room and really build up and get himself ready for AFL level. I think he?s really starting to hit his straps early now. Key positions can take a while, but he doesn?t seem to look like he wants to go by that method. He?s jumped on the scene really quickly and having a real impact for us. Hopefully like Naughts and Jamarra and myself, he can stay around at the club for a long time (Darcy is out of contract in 2025) and that forward line can just continue to evolve.?

How did Weightman go blindfolded?

?The first couple were all right and then the rest I shanked them, so I got rid of the blindfold pretty quick,? the 23-year-old said.

With his eyes open, the energiser also ranks high in VFL-AFL history. Weightman?s career return of 120.47 ranks No. 7 of all time among every player to have had at least 50 shots.

Ross the plasterer helped place Weightman on the path to stardom and he was also coached by goalkicking champion Matthew Lloyd at Haileybury.

Drafted at pick No. 15 in 2019, the Pakenham boy packed up and he settled into AFL life on the west side of the city with former teammate Mitch Wallis and his wife Emily.

They formed a special bond and the Wallises became Weightman?s family in the 2020 Gold Coast hub.

These days Weightman resides with teammates Arty Jones and Lachie Smith, where boardgame battles of Sequence and Monopoly Deal help them switch off from football.

?Arty?s actually the owner of Sequence and him and his mum used to play a heap, so he?s a genuine gun,? Weightman said.

The Herald Sun revealed this month that Weightman had re-signed until 2027, taking him through to free agency and the eve of Tasmania?s entry to the AFL.

Weightman still pinches himself when he runs out to play and couldn?t sign quickly enough when the club presented a contract to him 12 months early.

?People talk about the highs and lows of footy, but the highs are just so good and I can?t wait for the future highs to come,? he said.

What can he achieve by 2027? Elevation to the club?s leadership group? All-Australian selection?

?I?m super present in this season and invested in this season,? he said.

?The prospect of winning a premiership this year is real and alive so that absorbs most of my future thoughts.

?I?m not really bothered by being an All-Aus or whatever. It would be great I?m sure, but it?s not something I put in my notes and try to shoot towards.

?It?s certainly second to a premiership and it sounds clich?, but that?s all I want our of my career.

?If I can obtain that then I feel like instantly you?re a successful player. It?s the pinnacle and something we all want but not everyone gets.

?Individual accolades I?m sure they?re great, but they don?t equate to premierships.

?They?re not something I give much thought, but the premiership is something I think of probably too often.?

[comrade]

Great kid who sees the positive in situations which translates so well to being a small forward and to professional footy in general. We?re lucky to have him.

[Happy Days]

I love Cody. His infectious enthusiasm, his ongoing totally oblivious commitment to making some of the worst “art” I've ever seen, and of course his being a gun at footy. The sun really shines out of him.

[comrade]

I love Cody. His infectious enthusiasm, his ongoing totally oblivious commitment to making some of the worst “art” I've ever seen, and of course his being a gun at footy. The sun really shines out of him.

If growth mindset was a person, it would be Cody Weightman.

[chef]

Love the way he and Jamarra celebrate other people's moments as much as they do their own.

[Mitcha]

it seemed to be a toss up between Cody and Kossie Pickett at our pick back in 2019. So glad we went with Flea, our energizer, a reliable set shot and a much much better person who doesn't take cheap shots at unsuspecting opponents. Thanks Dees for taking the lesser of the two.

[Sedat]

it seemed to be a toss up between Cody and Kossie Pickett at our pick back in 2019. So glad we went with Flea, our energizer, a reliable set shot and a much much better person who doesn't take cheap shots at unsuspecting opponents. Thanks Dees for taking the lesser of the two.

Kossie is a total douche, but that is a no lose pick either way - he is a jet (as is Cody)

[hujsh]

Both miss matches too (injury for Cody and suspension for Kossie)

[jeemak]

it seemed to be a toss up between Cody and Kossie Pickett at our pick back in 2019. So glad we went with Flea, our energizer, a reliable set shot and a much much better person who doesn't take cheap shots at unsuspecting opponents. Thanks Dees for taking the lesser of the two.

Melbourne traded up to snag Pickett a couple of spots ahead of us.

Both are good players, but I'll take Weightman any day given how much of a douche Pickett is and how genuinely lovely Weightman seems to be.