Stunning form the evidence of Wingard's wizardry Port Adelaide's Chad Wingard shows his fine balance and skills. CHAD Wingard is The Natural.Port Adelaide's teenage sensation is in rarefied company despite showing scant interest in the AFL until he was drafted. Only Carlton champion Chris Judd has averaged more Champion Data rankings points in his second AFL season than Wingard. Judd averaged 110 with West Coast in 2003. Wingard is averaging 109 in five games with the Power this year. Judd has gone on to win two Brownlow Medals. Whether Wingard can go close to reaching those heights remains to be seen. But his potential is great. Of drafted players, few have as big an upside as him. Port's forward line wizard has revealed until he was drafted at pick six 18 months ago he had little or no interest in the AFL. While most AFL players are hooked on the sport from a young age, Wingard - born and raised at Murray Bridge - only ever watched two AFL games. And both were forced upon him. The first was between the Power and North Melbourne at AAMI Stadium when, as a 13-year-old, he represented Murray Bridge in an exhibition game at half-time. The other was the 2009 grand final between Geelong and St Kilda when he was a member of the AIS-AFL Academy squad which attended the clash as part of its education. Wingard cannot ever recall watching more than "five minutes here and there" of any AFL game on television. And he didn't listen to any games - AFL or SANFL - on radio either. He had no football heroes, although he admired the Kangaroos' Daniel Wells after meeting him at the North-Port clash, and he didn't know too many players names. The wonderful skills which have helped ignite the Power's shock 5-0 start to the season do not come from studying Judd, Hawthorn's Cyril Rioli and Lance Franklin, Collingwood's Dale Thomas and Wells. They are the product of countless hours of "mucking around for fun" with balls of all shapes and sizes in the back yards of his and his best mate's (Sean Samblich) Murray Bridge homes. "I wasn't interested in watching footy, I didn't like it too much," said Wingard, 19. Dad (Trevor) played a lot of (country) footy but when I tagged along with him I'd spend the whole day doing my own thing on the playground. And when Dad, who was a big Crows fan, watched footy on television and used to get quite up-tempo and loud in the loungeroom, I'd go and play a bit of Pokemon or something. If I wasn't doing that I was outside playing with a ball. I was more into basketball and didn't really understand too much about footy, so me and Sean (who now plays football for Sturt) used to catch up and just throw different balls around. I guess that's where my journey started. Like the famous Michael Jordan's Playground video, Wingard honed his exceptional skills away from the bright lights. "Whether it was basketball, football or cricket, me and Sean used to try everything," Wingard said. We'd shoot for goal, dribble from the boundary line, juggle, basically do anything to make a competition of it. You name it, we tried it. We learnt a lot from each other and that's why we're still such good mates. Being a country boy, Wingard, at age 11, felt obliged to play football for his local club, Imperials. But basketball was more important to him. However, his brilliant skills quickly shone out in both sports. He was chosen as captain of SA's under-16 basketball and football teams. If he was taller, Wingard would have pursued basketball as his No. 1 sport. Unlike football, he does have basketball heroes - Miami Heat superstar LeBron James and San Antonio Spurs' Australian ace Patrick Mills. But at just 181cm, football became the better option to showcase his enormous sporting talent. He soon captained the SA under-18 team and debuted at league level for Sturt. When GWS surprisingly overlooked him with the first five selections at the 2011 national draft, Port pounced because of his incredible skill level. "He's capable of doing some freaky things and making things happen for his team," Power recruiting manager Geoff Parker said at the time. SA under-18 coach Brenton Phillips describes Wingard as one of the most naturally gifted athletes he has seen. "He's unique and is just one of those rare kids who is able to pick things up relatively easily," he said. Wingard is so highly-skilled his trick shots, including kicking footballs into basketball rings and garbage bins, have been posted on YouTube by local company Spimoni Productions. "Previous coaches have told me I've got a fair bit of natural talent, that a lot of skills seem to come naturally to me," he said. I'm lucky in that way. But I've still worked very hard - and I'm very competitive. I try to do things better than the next person with everything I do in life, including my football. As for watching the game, Wingard's perspective hasn't changed. "I'm happy to play, I love it, but I still don't like watching," he said. I know that's unusual but it's just the way I am. And, given Wingard's on-field exploits so far this season, excited Power fans aren't complaining.