Lachie Weller is eight years, two knee reconstructions and 99 games into phase #2 of his AFL career after a life-changing decision made in 48 hours, seven and a half years ago.
Set to join Ben King in posting his 100th game for the SUNS against Richmond at Marvel Stadium on Saturday night, Weller moved ‘home’ to the Coast in November 2017 after three years and 47 games at Fremantle.
He joined the SUNS via a trade that was heavily scrutinised in the media at the time but was an important ‘line in the sand’ moment and a key part of the club’s transformation into one of the most exciting young teams in the competition.
After a frantic 48-hour negotiation the SUNS traded pick #2 in the 2017 National Draft to Fremantle for a then 21-year-old Weller, who had grown up on the Gold Coast after he and his family moved from Tasmania when older brother Mav was a foundation signing with the club.
It was suggested in the media at the time the club had given up too much for the SUNS Academy graduate, who was originally drafted by Fremantle with pick #13 in the 2014 National Draft, having not qualified as a zone priority choice.
It’s a commentary that has recurred at times as Andrew Brayshaw, drafted by Fremantle with pick #2, has built a fine AFL career. But the full backstory and Weller’s commitment to the SUNS has never been fully told. Until now.
Still with one year of a contract to run at Fremantle at the time, Weller had been offered a long-term deal to lock in his future with the Dockers.
But he and then girlfriend now wife Nicola, who had met at school on the Gold Coast, decided very late in the trade period their future was on the opposite side of the country. At home.
It was Weller, through his management, who initiated contact with the SUNS while on holidays on the Coast. In what seemed like no time, he and Nicola met SUNS CEO Mark Evans and coach Stuart Dew for dinner at Etsu Japanese restaurant at Miami, had an after-hours tour of the facilities at Carrara, and confirmed where Weller wanted to play. An in-principle deal was done.
“We’d had a lot of early picks in the draft and brought in a lot of young players from interstate to start their career in Queensland, and here we had a very good player who was three years in and wanted to play with us,” said Evans.
“We just felt we had to make it happen.”
The club tried to do a deal for Weller using future picks, but Fremantle, who held the upper hand in negotiations because he was under-contract, stood firm. They insisted they would accept nothing less than pick #2.
There was the option of trying to convince Weller not to extend with the Dockers, with a view to getting him a year later, but in good faith the club decided the time was right.
It had been a tough period for the SUNS. In 2016 they’d finished 15th with a 6-16 record and lost Dion Prestia to Richmond and Jaeger O’Meara to Hawthorn, and in 2017 were 17th at 6-16 and lost Gary Ablett back to Geelong and Brandon Matera to Fremantle.
And there was already speculation on futures of co-captains Tom Lynch and Steven May, who as it turned out would leave at the end of 2018.
But, aided by a brave show of loyalty by a young man who’d grown up wanting to play for the club, the club made a brave and far-sighted decision in a real ‘line in the sand’ moment.
“We spoke with the leadership group at the time, explained what was going on, and made a decision we hoped would be the start of a move into the next phase of our development,” Evans recalled.
“There were always going to be a lot of 18-year-olds available to draft, but not many very good 21-year-olds who had come through the SUNS Academy system and wanted to play there, so we made a call to do it.”
Evans said there was one possible scenario that could have disrupted the plan. The SUNS recruiting staff at the time were a huge wrap on a young Cameron Rayner, he said, and if they thought they could get him at #2 they may have balked. But Rayner was always locked in at #1 to Brisbane.
With the ever-accurate benefit of hindsight, it turned out to be a mixed first round.
Already five players taken in the first 14 picks are out of the AFL system – Jaidyn Stephenson (122 games), Lachie O’Brien (66), Aiden Bonar (34), Jarrod Brander (27) and Matthew Ling (4).
The top 20 in the 2017 National Draft were:-
- Cam Rayner (Bris)
- Andrew Brayshaw (Frem)
- Paddy Dow (Carl)
- Luke Davies-Uniacke (NM)
- Adam Cerra (Frem)
- Jaidyn Stephenson (Coll)
- Hunter Clark (StK)
- Nick Coffield (StK)
- Aaron Naughton (WB)
- Lochie O’Brien (Carl)
- Aiden Bonar (GWS)
- Darcy Fogarty (Adel)
- Jarrod Brander (WC)
- Matthew Ling (Syd)
- Zac Bailey (Bris)
- Ed Richards (WB)
- Jack Higgins (Rich)
- Brandon Starcevich (Bris)
- Wil Powell (GC)
- Callum Coleman-Jones (Rich)
Weller rejected an offer to wear the #9 SUNS jumper vacated by Ablett and instead chose #14, worn previously by Nathan Krakouer, Matthew Warnock and Mitch Hallahan.
He played 69 of his first 74 games with the SUNS, logging a full season in 2018 and 2020, missing three games with a hamstring and one through illness in 2019 and played the first 13 games of 2021.
But since then it’s been a tough journey. He’s been restricted to 30 of a possible 81 games but not one but two knee reconstructions.
The now 29-year-old will admit he took small steps in his comeback in the last six games of 2024, but in 2025, in a new role on the wing, he’s looked like the Weller of old.
And, after just 27 wins in his first 95 games at the SUNS, he’s won four on the trot this year – the longest streak of his career.
Weller and King will take to 26 the number of SUNS 100-gamers, becoming the first pair to share this milestone. Weller will be the club’s fifth-oldest 100-gamer behind Ablett, Michael Rischitelli, Sam Collins and Jarrod Witts, and the seventh import to his ‘ton’ after this quartet plus Jarrod Harbrow and Nick Holman.
