WAALITJ Marawar spearhead Jake Waterman had to tune out of social media during his wayward start to the season, but the gun goalkicker is confident his radar has returned after a clutch performance against Greater Western Sydney on Sunday. 

Waterman, whose accuracy was a trademark in his 2024 All-Australian season, has struggled with his set-shot kicking this season and booted more behinds than goals for the first time in his career.  

The 28-year-old was critical, however, in the Eagles' third win of the season, booting 3.1 and giving his team the lead in the fourth quarter with back-to-back set shot goals that proved decisive. 

Waterman leads the Eagles this season for goals (21), marks (6.4 a game), contested marks (1.2) and score involvements (7.9), but negative feedback had been hard to avoid as he worked on his goalkicking accuracy.  

"I'm trying to stay off the socials a little bit. I've copped a fair few messages over the duration of the year about how I owe people money because I've lost them multis. It can be a little bit savage sometimes, but that's the world we live in," Waterman told AFL.com.au.

"I feel like if you see 99 great things said about you, and then you see one bad thing, you focus on the negative. That's just how we are as athletes.

"If we do stuff well, that's just reality. But when we don't do stuff well, we care about it and we tend to focus on that. 

"I do see things on Twitter and that, and it does become personal. I live by the rule that you don't say something to someone that you wouldn't say to their face, and I see some pretty horrible things said about people."

AFL players have spoken increasingly about the steps they take to avoid social media feedback, with Yartapuulti captain Connor Rozee telling AFL.com.au during the pre-season that he had restricted comments on his photos and unfollowed all AFL-related content. 

Waterman said it was important for fans on social media to understand the impact their criticism could have when it crossed the line. 

"You can say all you want about someone's kicking or whatnot. But it doesn't need to be personal," he said.  

"I think we just need to keep reminding ourselves that what we say has a massive impact on people's mental health, especially when it's so prevalent in the AFL at the moment. 

"We've got the best fans, our West Coast fans are amazing, and that [win] was for them. But we don't want the minority to bring it down for everyone else when we're not going well."

Waterman said he had filtered his feedback from the people around him this season to make sure he wasn't taking on too much goalkicking advice and becoming overwhelmed.

He highlighted his ball drop as an area that had caused some trouble but said all other aspects of his routine had been in good order. Crucially, the forward line leader is creating opportunities, ranking No.4 in the AFL for shots at goal (52) and No.3 for marks on the lead (28). 

"I've just got to keep giving myself the opportunities. I think that's the main one, and I'm giving myself a lot of opportunities at the moment and feel really dangerous," Waterman said.  

"A bit of ball drop stuff has been hurting me a little bit, but everything else has been good. I think I can get that confidence back.

"I've always been a really reliable kick and set shot my whole career, so you don't just lose it. But you lose confidence.

"Games like tonight where you come up clutch for your team boost your confidence, so hopefully I can start hitting them a little nicer and they can start going through."

Waterman highlighted the aerial contest work of young talls Jobe Shanahan and Jack Williams on Sunday, as well as the outstanding performance of ruck Bailey Williams against the Giants. 

The powerful forward said the Eagles had proven what they were capable of when they play a committed brand of high-pressure football, with the team showing maturity to rebound from a poor opening quarter. 

"We hung in there, we turned the tide, and it happened off the back of a lot of hard work. It felt like a good brand of footy that could stack up against any team," he said. 

"We were under the pump early, but we just weathered the storm and were really predictable.

"I could sit here and go through the whole team one by one, but it was a great day for the club."