George Wardlaw

George Anthony Wardlaw (born 11 June 2004) is a professional Australian rules footballer who was drafted to play for North Melbourne in the Australian Football League (AFL) in the 2022 draft.

Early life
Wardlaw completed his secondary education at St Kevin's College in Toorak. He was selected for Vic Metro in the NAB AFL Under 18 Championships and played for Oakleigh Chargers in the NAB League. Despite several injuries to his hamstring in the 2022 year, he was still considered to be among the top prospects in the 2022 AFL Draft.

As a midfielder he has been described as 'powerful' and drawn comparisons to Melbourne Demons star Clayton Oliver.

Wardlaw attracted favourable attention from the AFL community after his performance for the Australian Academy team against the Collingwood Magpies VFL side where he won the 'best on ground' award for his team with 18 disposals and 8 tackles.

He is a close friend of fellow 2022 draftee Elijah Tsatas, with the pair having played together since the age of 11 for various Vic Metro teams.

Wardlaw grew up supporting the Essendon Bombers. He first played junior football for St Peter’s Football Club in the South Metro Junior Football League.

AFL career
Wardlaw was highly rated by recruiters and deemed likely to be selected in the first 5 picks of the 2022 AFL Draft. He was selected by North Melbourne Football Club using pick number 4. In round 2 of 2024, Wardlaw became just the 18th player to earn his second AFL Rising Star nomination.

As of round six of the 2024 AFL season, Wardlaw has yet to play in a winning AFL side for North Melbourne.

Statistics
Updated to the end of round 2, 2024.

! colspan=3| Career ! 10 !! 2 !! 1 !! 78 !! 79 !! 157 !! 29 !! 53 !! 0.2 !! 0.1 !! 7.8 !! 7.9 !! 15.7 !! 2.9 !! 5.3 !! 2
 * 2023 || || 6
 * 8 || 1 || 1 || 58 || 59 || 117 || 18 || 46 || 0.1 || 0.1 || 7.3 || 7.3 || 14.6 || 2.3 || 5.8 || 2
 * 2024 || || 6
 * 2 || 1 || 0 || 20 || 20 || 40 || 11 || 7 || 0.5 || 0.0 || 10.0 || 10.0 || 20.0 || 5.5 || 3.5 || TBC
 * - class="sortbottom"
 * 2 || 1 || 0 || 20 || 20 || 40 || 11 || 7 || 0.5 || 0.0 || 10.0 || 10.0 || 20.0 || 5.5 || 3.5 || TBC
 * - class="sortbottom"
 * }