Former West Coast Eagle Isiah Winder feels ready to re-join AFL after strong WAFL season for South Fremantle

Former West Coast forward Isiah Winder has promised he will never take his football career for granted again and declared he is ready to return to the AFL if a club is prepared to give him the chance. Winder’s hopes of getting an AFL lifeline rose when he received a late call-up to Sunday’s Draft Combine testing in front of club recruiters. The 22-year-old spent the season playing for South Fremantle after being delisted by West Coast and won the club’s best-and-fairest. Having struggled with the discipline required to be an AFL player and faced charges in court, Winder said it was clear he wasn’t ready to be an elite athlete as a teenager. But he said his perspective on life has now changed. “I’m in a much better state than I was,” he told The West Australian. “It comes with age. I’m more mature as a person. I’ve grown up. Going into the real life of working, I have learnt a lot. Coming out of the system and wanting to go back in, you want it a lot more because I can’t have it. I won’t take it for granted this time. I didn’t know what I had. “Kids who are coming up at 18 are learning their life in a professional AFL environment and that’s pretty stressful.” Winder played with a knee injury during the season and followed medical advice to stop training after South Fremantle’s last game. He didn’t participate in the fitness testing on Sunday but is on track to resume running during November. Winder hopes winning the best-and-fairest on Saturday night is a timely reminder of how strong his season was. “I”m content with what I’ve shown I can do. I’ve had a good year. I’m happy with how I’m going. It was pretty thrilling to win it. And I was on the waters during the night,” he said. While Winder watched on from the sidelines during testing, Claremont’s Hugh Boxshall showcased his running ability, finishing the 2km time trial in 6:08 which was the second fastest by any of the draft prospects throughout Australia this year Boxshall said he’d worked hard to give himself every chance of impressing recruiters. “I’ve been continuous throughout the whole season in doing my running. I really like my running. It’s definitely one of the strengths of my game,” he said. “I hope they look at that. It’s a key aspect of the role I play in the team.”