By Peter Douglas
AFL club Western Bulldogs has announced the delisting of prodigious Healesville talent, Tristan Tweedie.
The 190cm forward last year signed on with the club as a Category B rookie and had high aspirations of working his way through the AFL ranks.
Tweedie, 19, has been delisted after just three goals from 11 VFL games this season, one in which he battled stress fractures.
Tweedie also battled foot injuries throughout his time with Eastern Ranges in the TAC Cup, when he was limited to four games in two seasons.
After his drafting in 2016, Tweedie told the ‘Mail’ he was confident he could put his injury woes behind him and make the transition to the elite level.
“I feel like I’m at the back end of it now and looking to get past it in the next month or two,” he said.
“It’s a bit surreal for that (elite football) to be your primary career, but it’s the best job in the world from my point of view, and getting paid to do what you love, it’s a great opportunity.
“To be successful, I think you have to be really modest and take everything as it comes.
“Take it day by day, week by week; think in here and now and look to go from there.”
Tweedie said his aim in his first year was to build a good foundation, though injuries have continued to plague his progress.
Tweedie played most of his junior career with the Coldstream and Lilydale football clubs in the EFL, before progressing through the ranks to the Eastern Ranges.
He was initially included in Hawthorn’s multicultural and Indigenous Next Generation Academy, although the Hawks overlooked him and the Western Bulldogs drafted him.
Tweedie was the second rookie to be delisted by the Western Bulldogs, after midfielder Josh Prudden was released last week.
