At least he recognises he has a problem with consistency and is working to address it. As they say, recognising you have a problem goes a long way towards fixing it.

But how about those coaches, hey? How dare they reveal to Waite that they're frustrated over his inconsistency. Boy, they really know how to destroy players' confidence don't they

But Carlton's continued struggles and those of Waite to reproduce his brilliant high-leaping best either up forward, or more recently, as an undersized key defender have taken a toll on the hype.

Waite famously saddled up for the Blues barely 24 hours after his father's death. "I was glad I played, I would have regretted it for the rest of my life if I hadn't," he reflects. "It didn't really hit me till after the game when I saw my family, and all the emotions just opened up.

"It took me ages to comprehend what had happened. Probably the first year-and-a-half was the toughest. I had to try not to block it out but focus on other things, and concentrate on football, because I found that relaxed me a bit. I think it probably helped me grow as a person, to deal with other stuff that happens in my life."

Vin's legacy is never far away, not least in the No. 30 guernsey Jarrad pulls on every week. "You come in every day, and his name's on the locker," he says. "I just want to achieve what he did. Obviously, he played in a pretty good era, and I'd like to do that as well."

And when the quest for consistency continues to be a rollercoaster ride. "You probably put more emphasis on the week after if you play a good game," Waite says. Which is why he was particularly down on himself when, the week after his shutdown of Riewoldt, he let Collingwood's Travis Cloke off the hook.

"He gave me a bit of a hiding. I just wasn't playing tight enough on him. He kicked three goals in the last quarter and probably won them the game. That was the most disappointing part, I allowed him to get on top and finish off the game for them."

After a poor game against the Brisbane Lions a month ago, it got ugly for Waite. A Carlton supporters' website discussion about the Blues' No. 30 cast him as trade bait. "Undisciplined, lazy, overly ambitious, wasteful, unaccountable", came a particularly aggrieved string of invective.

They backed off a little after Waite, in his next game, produced one of the best performances of his career, blanketing St Kilda champion Nick Riewoldt. But the scepticism lingered. "Next good game from him will be late August, I reckon," snarled one back-handed compliment.

I was excited!.. he went up a notch since the StKilda game.
He just needs to minimise / eradicate some of those mistakes and he is an elite footballer when he is playing like he did last night.