He’s yet to turn 23 but Lachlan Wilson has already won the three most prestigious awards in Meadows Greyhounds Division 1 after taking out the 2021 Frank Rosbrook Medal.
The gun midfielder became one of the youngest players to win the medal after edging out ineligible North Heidelberg star Jesse Tardio and 2019 winner Tom Bell for this year’s best and fairest.
Wilson burst onto the scene back in 2016 when at just 17 years of age he was best afield in Heidelberg’s grand final win over Macleod in his fourth senior game.
He has since gone on to win Heidelberg’s best and fairest in 2018 and earned selection in the 2019 Meadows Greyhounds Division 1 Team of the Year.
Now, he has added the NFNL’s most prestigious individual honour to his trophy cabinet.
Speaking to NFNL.org.au, Wilson said he was honoured to claim the award.
“To beat Jesse Tardio and Tom Bell, who’ve been two of the best players in the last couple of years, I was pretty happy,” Wilson said.
“I thought I would’ve polled some votes, but because of the whole COVID season I didn’t really know how it was going to go.”
Following the departure of several experienced players from Warringal Park at the conclusion of the 2019 season, Wilson said he had adapted his game this year under new coach Danny Nolan.
“I had much more attention on me than I had in previous years,” Wilson said.
“Michael Brunelli and Ryan Stone would usually get attention, I’d fly under the radar, now it’s changed.”
Nevertheless, it was a very impressive year for Wilson in the eyes of the umpires.
He polled votes in seven games, which included four best on ground performances, to finish on 17 votes – one ahead of Tardio and three ahead of Bell and leading goal kicker Ahmed Saad.
Despite taking out the best and fairest this year, Wilson believes there are areas of his game which he can still improve upon.
“I want to improve my fitness,” he said.
“I want to be able to run off taggers, take it to the next level.
“I feel like as a club Heidelberg are coming in pretty red-hot in the next couple of years.
“I can feel the growth in the club and we’re a pretty young side. It’s very exciting times for Heidelberg.”
Wilson said he had enjoyed being able to lace up the boots again this year following the cancelled 2020 season, but conceded it was disappointing the campaign ended prematurely due to Melbourne’s lockdown.
“We’re such a young side and we competed pretty well with most of the teams this year,” he said.
“We got Tom Bellchambers towards the end of the year and I thought that could be a real game changer, maybe even see a premiership added in an underdog season for us.”
However, he believes that with continued improvement from the club’s emerging list, Heidelberg can challenge again in 2022.
“For next year the belief around our club and the commitment that everyone’s shown, I think that we could be contenders,” he said
“We have a lot of people wanting to come to the football club and it’ll be exciting times.”
