Now that the NAB AFL Draft is approaching, everyone’s comparing the class of 2022 to current AFL stars.

 

Following his successful NAB League season with the Sandringham Dragons, Will Ashcroft have been promoted all year. He is widely regarded as a moral to pick one on November 27.

 

The midfielder has been nominated to represent his father, Marcus, by choosing to represent Brisbane.

 

Having won the Larke Medal as Vic Metro’s top player in the Under 18 championships and averaging 34 disposals per game at the NAB League level, Ashcroft is well-positioned to contribute right away at the AFL level.

 

George Wardlaw, a top-five prospect who attends Ashcroft’s academy, appears likely to join North Melbourne, with the Kangaroos holding the second and third overall picks on draft night.

 

The inside bull has endured persistent soft tissue injuries during his draft season, but Wardlaw believes the hamstring issues were more a result of poor luck than anything else, as he said on SEN’s Sportsday on Tuesday night.

 

According to Cal Twomey of AFL Media, Wardlaw will be acquired early in the evening, and he would be astonished if he didn’t wind up at North Melbourne.

 

At this time, Twomey told a source, “I’d be astonished if Wardlaw wasn’t at North Melbourne with pick two or three.”

 

To be honest, he would have been as talked about and discussed as Will Ashcroft has been for number one if he played the whole year.

 

Twomey thinks Sam Walsh and Clayton Oliver are two of the greatest midfielders in the league, and the pair are comparable.

 

We’re seeing the Sam Walsh in Will Ashcroft, and we see the Clayton Oliver in George Wardlaw, but they’re different players, he continued.

 

“It’s that he suffered three hamstring injuries virtually back-to-back, and some weren’t as bad, especially the last one, but those certainly stopped his momentum,” the article writes.