HOLDING his senior spot and contributing as much as he can have become new priorities for Colac Tigers footballer David Weiss.

The speedy wingman started the summer hoping to train himself into the ones, but he’s lifted his personal goals after two solid matches to start the campaign.

A lightened university study load has allowed the 21-year-old to shift back to Colac, which has sparked his first full pre-season in years.

His increased commitment to football has boosted hopes he can enjoy a break-out season and add another chapter to a scattered career.

Weiss played juniors for Western Eagles, Colac Imperials and the Tigers, but left Colac for Europe and Asia during a gap year in 2009.

A move to Melbourne to study followed, but a year without football prompted him to rejoin the Tigers and play reserves in 2011.

“I missed the mateship of it and keeping physically active, and being a part of something,” Weiss said.

Reverting to part-time university this year – he studies physiotherapy at La Trobe – opened the door for a regular seniors spot.

“With the opportunity to come back to Colac and have more time to be available to train and do a pre-season, I was hoping I might be able to play a couple of senior games,” Weiss said.

“I had a small goal just to start off playing seniors and going from there,” he said.

Colac will take on North Shore at Windsor Park tomorrow on the back of a 68-point hiding from Bell Park last weekend.

Weiss said the Dragons’ speed, skills and conditioning stood out, but he said the Tigers had the potential to be competitive against the GFL’s top-tier clubs.

“Our skills are definitely letting us down. I don’t think it’s because we haven’t got the ability, it’s because we aren’t executing them,” he said.

“The pre-season has given us a good fitness base, now it’s about fine tuning other areas.”

Weiss said he was confident his football would develop under coach Matt Gibson.

“He’s definitely big on getting the basics right, being a good defensive player and developing the offensive play,” he said.

“He makes very good notes in that area with dedication, work rate, and doing those basics right.

“That could be because he was a backman back in his day, he does like those philosophies.”