He’s renowned for his razzle dazzle work in the midfield, but West Coast midfielder Sharrod Wellingham is set to be transformed into a hard-nosed tagger over the next 10 weeks.
Injuries and poor form have hampered Wellingham since he made the switch to the Eagles at the end of 2012, with the former Magpie already axed twice this season.
But Scott Selwood’s season-ending ankle injury has opened the door for Wellingham to carve out a niche as the club’s prime tagger.
Wellingham had mixed results in his audition for the role last week.
The 25-year-old put in a Ryan Crowley-esque performance to restrict Gary Ablett to just four possessions in the first quarter.
But the Gold Coast skipper got off the leash after that to finish with 33 disposals and 10 clearances.
Eagles coach Adam Simpson was mostly impressed by Wellingham’s tagging efforts, but said the 2010 premiership midfielder still had plenty of work to do if he was to lock down the role.
“He needs to be consistent with his performance, no doubt,” Simpson said.
“He’s been around a while. He’s a premiership player and he’s probably looking around our club and realising he’s one of the older ones now.
“He performed well on the weekend, probably his best game for the club, but we’re expecting that consistency most weeks.
“Gary Ablett was a pretty tough ask first game back to do that job.
“He did a reasonable job for two-and-a-half quarters. He might be our go-to guy.
“He reads the cues well.”
Wellingham could get the shut-down job on either Jack Steven or Leigh Montagna in Sunday’s clash with St Kilda at Etihad Stadium.
The Saints are languishing in last spot following a demoralising seven-game losing run, which included a 96-point walloping at the hands of Geelong last week.
West Coast sit two wins outside the top-eight, but Simpson isn’t giving up hope of leading his team into the finals.
“There are still a lot of positions up for grabs, I would have thought,” he said.
“It seems to be pretty even.
“No longer is it a top four; it seems to be a top six or seven that are really pressing for the flag and teams can beat anyone at the moment.”
