By Joel Gould
Brisbane goal-kicking whiz Jesse Wardlaw sought the best technical and conditioning coaching available to turn herself into one of the finest forwards in the AFLW.
The 22-year-old will play for the Lions against Melbourne in the AFLW grand final in Springfield on Sunday after a stellar season which earned All-Australian team selection.
Jesse Wardlaw celebrates a Lions goal earlier this year.Credit:AFL Photos
Wardlaw was the AFLW leading goal kicker for the year with 19 goals, equalling the record set previously by Adelaide’s Ash Woodland.
The 2021 premiership winner has shown maturity beyond her years to recognise where she needed to improve.
“Coming into the AFLW I knew I wasn’t great to start with,” she said.
“I was a pretty small body and didn’t have much footy smarts so I have worked on those things and seen specialist coaches for my kicking and strength and conditioning.”
Wardlaw credits Lions coach Craig Starcevich for bringing out the best in her, and adds Lions Academy coach Ben Stanley has been a huge influence.
“I saw Ben out at Enhance Football on the Sunshine Coast and he does a lot of kicking analysis. We especially looked at my goal-kicking technique and why I wasn’t getting the distance or wasn’t as accurate,” she said.
“We broke it down and saw some things we needed to tweak.
“He even said to me at the start of the season, ‘You are going to get leading goal kicker’.
“Credit to Ben. With a lot of the youth here he puts a lot of work into their early years.”
Wardlaw’s enhanced technical aptitude has been complemented by increased physicality.
“I saw my coach Dylan [Fowler] at The Evolved Gym at West End and I was training with him four times a week in the gym just to put on some mass because I was getting pushed around too much,” she grinned.
She’s not getting pushed around any more. Her All-Australian selection was proof of that.
“That was massive. All-Australian for me is something I’ve always wanted to strive towards as a player,” she said.
“As soon as I got drafted I would watch the awards night and think I wanted to be on that stage.
“I definitely didn’t see this coming so early in my career. Hopefully I can stay in the A-A team for years to come.”
Wardlaw came through as a youngster idolising former Lions star Tayla Harris, now with Melbourne.
“It is kind of ironic I will be versing her this weekend but she has been a player I’ve looked up to from a young age and always had a lot of respect for,” she said.
As for Sunday, Wardlaw is expecting a fierce contest.
“I think it is going to be a four-quarter battle from the start to the very end,” she said.
