Wardius kicked 39 goals as a 16-year-old in the Hume league this season and his hunger to improve is bad news for opposition backlines.

Giants coach Lucas Mellier is certain Wardius will go on to play at a higher level.

"Nath is great and he just wants to improve his footy all the time," Mellier said.

"He's quite tough on himself and to watch him go about it, it's pretty incredible for a kid of his age to have that ability.

"He wrong-foots people every time, he's got fantastic agility and pace, he can jump; he's got all the tricks.

"But to say it's all natural talent doesn't do justice to how hard he works on his game.

"I've got no doubt that he kicks footballs seven days a week, perfecting that kick.

"The way he kicks and marks and moves is not something that is just natural talent.

"There's some serious hours spent honing his craft.

"Another year older, he's going to be incredible this year I feel, not to put too much pressure on him.

"I'm sure, at some point, he'll go onto bigger and better football but while we can have him, we're going to make the most of him.

"When he wants to go into town, he'll go into town with our full support.

"There will probably be a few of us in the group claiming we played with him when he goes on to better things."

Wardius became more accurate in front of goals as the season went on, signing off by kicking nine goals against CDHBU, and his improvement mirrored that of the third-placed Giants.

"We grew as the year went on and that was always going to be the main consideration, with a lot of new faces and a lot of young guys coming into the team," Mellier said.

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"It was always going to take time for us to gel and find our best way to play football.

"We were really starting to develop well by the end of the year and I was very happy with the trajectory we were on.

"Our backline, as a collective, was fantastic.

"They got tighter as a unit, started understanding each other a little bit more and they were really good.

"Up forward, Nath was fantastic. It was great to see him kick nine, because he threatened to do that all year, he just kicked an awful lot of points.

"He'd be kicking three or four goals but kicking four or five points at the same time.

"For it all to come together for him at the end of the year was fantastic."

Mellier's contribution was recognised too.

"Lucas has been invaluable to our group," co-president Wal Collins said.

"He connects very well with the younger kids, gives them clear direction and they buy in to everything he does.

"He's taken us to another level and we're in a very strong position going forward."

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