“HE’S so important to Carlton moving forward.”

In 2019, Jacob Weitering reminded the football world what he’s capable of — and it will have Blues fans excited for years to come.

Stationed in a key defensive post for the entirety of the season, Weitering starred in defence, enjoying a career-best season down back.

Come the end of the year, Weitering was ranked as an above average defender, as outlined by Daniel Hoyne - the Chief Data Analyst of Champion Data.

“I was so happy for Jacob Weitering,” Hoyne said on AFL.com.au’s The Data Game.

“There’s a lot of pressure going into your career when you’re taken as the No.1 draft pick.

“Now, Carlton supporters should be looking at him going ‘We’ve locked him away for the next 10 years as our centre half back’.”

Whether it was in a one-on-one contest or having the chance to intercept, Weitering continued to build throughout the season, taking the scalps of Tom Hawkins and Tom Lynch.

The numbers back it up, with Hoyne saying what Weitering produced as a 21-year-old key defender was “absolutely sensational”.

“He’s elite at intercept marks for the season,” he said.

“His ability now to back himself and judge what he sees in the air is exactly what he was doing as a kid, and the main reason why everyone was so excited for him heading into his AFL career.

“He’s so good one-on-one: we saw towards the end of the year he did play on a lot of the best key forwards. Tom Hawkins in Round 23, he kept him scoreless.”

Missing just two games for the year, Weitering took 57 intercepts marks in 2019, placing him in the top six in the competition at the end of the home-and-away season.

With 76 games already under his belt, Weitering - who was named in the 22under22 team - will be a presence in Carlton’s back half for years to come.