With Demon greats David Neitz, Adem Yze and Jeff White no longer at the club in 2009, Wheatley – and others – have now moved into a 'top six' at Melbourne.
Consider this.
This 'top six' involves James McDonald, Russell Robertson, Cameron Bruce, Brad Green, Matthew Whelan and Wheatley. The sextet represents Melbourne's experience – in terms of matches, age and longevity in 2009.
For the record, Wheatley has played the sixth most matches (132) and is the sixth oldest player at the club (27 years old) in 2009.
Yet he moves into fifth position in terms of earliest debut at the club, pipping Matthew Whelan by two rounds in 2000. He then moves into fourth position in terms of longevity on the club's list as he was drafted before Whelan and Bruce in the 1999 AFL Draft.
He was also agonisingly close to making another top six over the summer, but just missed out on being named in Melbourne's six-man leadership group, made up of McDonald (captain), Bruce (vice-captain), Green, Brock McLean, Brad Miller and Brent Moloney.
Still, Wheatley, along with Aaron Davey and Jared Rivers were next in line, forming the next level of leadership at the club, as the defender/wingman explained.
"With the leadership [group], it was good to get recognised by my peers. It's done by player voting and although I wasn't in the top six, there were nine of us who got votes," Wheatley told melbournefc.com.au.
"The other two boys who just missed out – Davey and Rivers – we'll be running the next tier of leadership, which is pretty important, as it allows the leadership group to focus on bigger issues.”
Wheatley said being experienced means he has to show the way at the club.
"It's important to show the young fellas what's expected and help teach them about the game," he said.
Having endured some injury-riddled seasons in recent years, Wheatley's status lifted considerably in 2008, when he produced his finest AFL season, including career-best numbers – 462 disposals at 24 touches per game.
And although the humble Demon is "happy to go without recognition because it's much easier to go under the radar", he understands it's his duty to provide further leadership at the club in 2009.
"I prefer to be quieter and sit in the background. That suits me better," Wheatley said.
"But when guys go [like Neitz, Yze and White] – they've been doing it for so long – others have got to step up and I started feeling pretty comfortable doing it last year.
"Having Dean [Bailey] here has really allowed the players to talk up and express themselves. That's helped me give a lot more confidence to give my opinion and share my knowledge with the rest of the group."
Dream Team watch – Paul Wheatley is rated a $407,300 defender in Toyota AFL Dream Team 2009.
