Wellman has tasted success on a number of occasions at Essendon and with many of the players he is currently playing with. He has a huge belief in the capability of his teammates and realises confidence is the main issue at the moment. ""Confidence is a huge thing for us at the moment. You look at the Geelong game in Round 1 of this season. We won by 50 points. In 15 weeks, the turn-around is 89 points. Physically I don't think a lot has changed between now and then, so I guess you have to look at confidence and mentality - and those things have changed. It is a matter of turning it around - you can get confidence back very quickly,"" Wellman said.
Wellman said the players realise the situation is beyond urgent at the moment, however there is no sign of panic. ""I just think what we need to do is have belief in one another. We have been through a lot together as a group of players and I know what my teammates can do. I have seen it, week in, week out, for that many years that I have got a tremendous amount of belief in the guys that I play football with. A win against Richmond on Friday night can turn things right around,"" the 27-year-old said.
""Footy is so tight now and teams are so competitive. If you are not switched on mentally, you are going to get found out. I can not stress enough how much belief I have in my teammates and that is not just the Hird's and the Lloyd's - it is also the young guys coming through. I believe they are a lot better than they even think they are. As soon as they start believing that - that is when we will start to go places.
""I think improvement is right across the board. Hirdy has been fantastic, but even if you spoke to him, I am sure he will tell you that he can improve. There are guys that haven't had great years, but you can turn your season around in the next six weeks. You can go from having a poor year, to playing the last six weeks really well - putting ourselves in a good position and having a good finals series.""
