Bombers great Matthew Lloyd believes embattled Magpies star Jaidyn Stephenson needs to toughen up if he's to survive in the AFL.
Stephenson has looked a mile off his best in recent weeks since exploding onto the scene in 2018.
Having been dropped multiple times this season, the youngster has struggled to find form and has noticeably lacked confidence on the ball, as the Pies prepare for their finals campaign.
With just eight disposals and one goal It was much of the same against Port Adelaide last week, and Lloyd warned the 21-year-old it was time to evolve his game or risk fading away.
"What has happened to Jaidyn? He's not playing out of the goal square where he's got his pace to use," Lloyd told Nine's Footy Classified.
"He's become nervous, he's become fumble-y, so much so that on the weekend he wanted the ground to just swallow him up.
"He took the AFL by storm as a full forward. So it was his speed off the mark that caught everyone out. You don't give him the speed, you don't give him the space in front then what else go Jaidyn Stephenson do?
"He's young but he's got to learn some new tricks. This game sorts you out very quickly and I think Jaidyn Stephenson with pressure and physicality around him, he was dropped for being timid.
"I think he's got to get a lot tougher to make it at AFL level for the next 10 years."
Port Adelaide great Kane Cornes agreed the situation was alarming.
"These are pretty confronting scenes, he's just a shadow of himself," Cornes said.
"I thought he was one of the most electric, highly skilled and had one of the biggest futures in the AFL for a young player who burst onto the scene. We're not seeing that now."
