Opinion
Kangaroos young gun George Wardlaw is the Round 13 Rising Star nominee, impressing again on the weekend in just his fourth game after an injury hit couple of years.
Off the back of only a handful of NAB League, Vic Metro Under 17 and school football matches in 2021, Wardlaw entered 2022 in the discussion – along with Will Ashcroft – for the number one selection and whilst Ashcroft put together the sort of Under 18 season that recruiters’ dreams/nightmares are made of, Wardlaw was barely able to get on the park.
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But on the few occasions he did – once when taking on and arguably getting the better of Ashcroft head to head in round one, and another when being awarded the BOG medal in an Academy match against Collingwood’s VFL team – he showed the hardness, power and athleticism that had him right up the top of draft tables despite the hamstring injuries he was forced to deal with throughout 2022.
Wardlaw was eventually taken at #4 on draft night, just after now teammate and fellow Rising Star nominee Harry Sheezel, and the Kangaroos were quick to temper expectations regarding his potential impact in 2023, ensuring that their supporters understood that the focus would be on getting him healthy rather than playing 23 games.
And that has proven to be the case with both Wardlaw and the club being very patient as he has built up his fitness and even though he suffered a minor knee injury in the VFL earlier this year – causing him to miss a couple of weeks – he found himself promoted to the senior team to play Sydney in Round 10.
Standing 182cms tall, Wardlaw is at the shorter end of the scale compared to modern day midfielders, but his relative lack of height is hardly a concern given his excellent leap and acceleration from the contest.
These attributes, as well as an extremely strong appetite for the contest – especially when tackling – have been on show in each of his four matches. He hits contests hard and his tackles stick, he reads the ball well off hands and is willing to take his time and pick the right option to kick or handpass to.
In pre-draft interviews he made it obvious that he took pride in winning the ball at the coalface and delivering it to outside runners, and this trait is one that is sure to endear him to both supporters and teammates – he strikes as a selfless, team first type.
Another pleasing aspect of Wardlaw’s play is that he is building week to week with possession counts of 16, 12, 17 and 22 in his four matches. These are healthy for a first year mid, especially when coupled with very high tackle (25 in four matches) and clearance (23) numbers.
There have been question marks regarding his endurance, and he is subject to limited game time, but given his injury history and lack of a full preseason it is too early to judge whether this will impact him negatively as his career develops.
Chances of winning the Rising Star
He’s very unlikely to play enough games to overtake his teammate Sheezel, or others like Ashcroft, Amiss and Humphrey who are all playing at a consistently high level.
Plays like
An ability to escape tackles, lay tackles, hit contests with no care for his own welfare as well as a penchant for overhead marking? Joel Selwood with more dynamism but less natural ball winning.
Ceiling
It’s hard not to anoint all these nominees as 200 gamers, but with Wardlaw it seems unlikely that – provided he stays healthy – he won’t be a very good AFL player for a long time.
Whether he can take that to the next level will depend on his ability to win more of the ball in transition, which is likely to be a product of a greater base of endurance. In any case, he’ll be a great player to watch and a firm crowd favourite for a long time.
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