“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.

AAP