Oakleigh Chargers draft prospect George Wardlaw will likely be one of the top five selections in the upcoming draft and believes he has overcome the hamstring injuries that have held him back recently.
The inside midfielder has dealt with ongoing soft tissue injuries in his draft season, but Wardlaw feels the hamstring problems were more bad luck than anything.
“I’m not injured anymore so I can fully train. Obviously don’t have a club to train at at the moment so I’m just doing my own stuff,” he told SEN’s Sportsday.
“The hamstring is feeling really good and this year there has been a lot of precautions and I’ve taken it pretty seriously because it is an important year, but obviously next year is even more important.
“The precautions were huge, but it’s looking pretty good.
“I spoke to one of the Giants players, Conor Stone. He’s a St Kevin’s boy, who told me about his trip over there.
“I think (the injuries) were a bit of bad luck, maybe I returned too early and looking back I probably wouldn’t have played that game. Where I am right now I’m pretty happy and comfortable.”
Stone, along with teammate Brent Daniels, spent part of their off-season in the United States in pursuit of building a program to help them overcome soft tissue injuries.
Wardlaw will likely end up remaining in Victoria, with North Melbourne holding picks two and three, or Essendon at four and Hawthorn at six.
However, this looked less likely before the trade period when West Coast and GWS held picks two and three respectively.
The midfielder said he remains mentally prepared to move away from Victoria if required.
“I think before the big trade went down with all the picks and stuff West Coast had the second spot so there was obviously a possibility I’d go up there, and there still is, or even GWS or wherever,” he said.
“Definitely during that period of time I had to comprehend it.
“It’s absolutely something (we talk about). I was fully comfortable with the idea of moving over there and I did understand it might be hard not having that social and family support, but I understand the clubs look after you pretty well so I was comfortable with that idea and knew wherever I ended up I’d work pretty hard.”
Wardlaw grew up an Essendon fan and said he would “absolutely” wish to be selected at four by the Dons.
“I’ve had an interview with the Bombers. I think it went pretty well,” he said.
“The questions were a bit harder than the other clubs.
“From the start they asked me off the bat to tell them my life story in chapters like a book which was a bit unusual.”
The National Draft remains a few weeks away, with the trading of draft picks now restricted until it kicks off on November 28.
Listen to the full interview with George Wardlaw below: