Sam Weideman

Sam Weideman
Weideman pictured following a pre-season match in February 2017
Personal information
Full name	Samuel Weideman
Date of birth	(1997-06-26) 26 June 1997 (age 19)
Original team(s)	Eastern Ranges (TAC Cup)
Draft	No. 9, 2015 national draft
Debut	Round 20, 2016, Melbourne vs. Hawthorn, at MCG
Height	196 cm (6 ft 5 in)
Weight	94 kg (207 lb)
Position(s)	Forward
Club information
Current club	Melbourne
Number	26
Playing career1
Years	Club	Games (Goals)
2016–	Melbourne	7 (6)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of round 4, 2017.
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Sam Weideman (born 26 June 1997) is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). A key forward, Weideman is 1.96 metres (6 ft 5 in) tall and weighs 94 kilograms (207 lb). He played top-level football early, playing in the TAC Cup as a bottom-aged player. His achievements as a junior included two best and fairest awards and national representation. Even though an ankle injury forced him to miss the majority of his final year of junior football, he was drafted by Melbourne with the ninth selection in the 2015 AFL draft. He made his AFL debut in 2016, making him a third-generation footballer, whereby he is the grandson of the Collingwood Football Club's 1958 premiership captain, Murray Weideman, and the son of former Collingwood player, Mark Weideman.

Weideman was born into an Australian rules football family with his grandfather, Murray Weideman, playing 180 matches for the Collingwood Football Club, including winning two premierships (he captained the 1958 premiership), winning three Copeland Trophies as Collingwood's best and fairest, and is a member of the Australian Football Hall of Fame; his father, Mark Weideman, also played for Collingwood, playing 28 games. Although both his father and grandfather played for Collingwood, he grew up a passionate supporter of the Richmond Football Club. He attended Whitefriars College, graduating year twelve in 2015, and he played his junior football with the Vermont Football Club in the Eastern Football League where he won back-to-back best and fairests after switching from a ruckman to a forward at 16 years of age. He played with the Eastern Ranges in the TAC Cup as a bottom-aged player in 2014, and despite an iron deficiency and an ankle stress fracture hampering his second half of the season, he played fifteen matches and kicked nineteen goals. He received a scholarship within the prestigious AFL Academy for 2015, which included playing in the curtain raiser for the 2014 AFL Grand Final with the under-17 Australian team.