PORT Adelaide's Chad Wingard says he looks up to Jay Schulz as a shining example of how an AFL footballer should attack the ball.
Schulz drew great praise from interim coach Garry Hocking for the way he threw his body at the contest against the Brisbane Lions last Saturday, highlighted by a courageous contested mark.
Unable to see what was coming at him, Schulz dived and marked the ball, only to be crunched by charging Lion Joel Patfull.
His ferocity at the football is made even more laudable given the battering Schulz's body had endured in 2012, including a potentially life-threatening stay in intensive care after a collision with teammate Justin Westhoff left him with a severe abdominal injury.
On Monday Schulz said he wouldn't change the way he played and 18-year-old Wingard was clearly impressed.
"We've got nearly all our team like that. We've got 'Schulzy', we've got some players who just throw their bodies over the ball, so I've learned from them and that's what it's got to take to play in this team," he said.
"On-field and off-field, he's a great bloke, he's a competitor, that's all I can say -he's a great competitor and he just wants to make people better and that's why we've got him at this club and that's why he'll be around for a long time."
At 77kg, Wingard is no heavyweight, but he too has put his body on the line at times in his rookie season.
He said such an approach was necessary to guarantee a spot in an AFL side.
"I think that's what every player in this competition should pride themselves on. If you're not going to be 100 per cent in, you're probably not going to get a gig every single week," he said.
As well as a hardness at the footy, Wingard's elite skill level has been on show at various times in 2012, most noticeably in a trick shot video he made with friends during a day off at Alberton earlier in the year.
Wingard's effort followed in the footsteps of former Power star Daniel Motlop, who wowed audiences around the country with his bag of tricks in a video shot in 2009.
Wingard said it took 90 minutes to shoot his video, but he wouldn't try to incorporate any of the amazing tricks into his game anytime soon.
"That was on a day off, just a bit of a muck around … it was just a bit of fun," he said.
"I've made plenty of videos, mainly basketball videos with my mates, so it's just a little bit of fun that we have, we've got to make sure we're always having fun with what we do.
"Just got to do the simple things on the field and whatever's right for the team, you don't need anything special."
Harry Thring covers Port Adelaide news for AFL.com.au. Follow him on Twitter: @AFL_Harry.
