No. 1 draft pick Sam Walsh setting records as second-hardest runner in AFL, behind only GWS Giant Lachie Whitfield

Has Carlton got another Craig Bradley in its midst? After five games, No. 1 draft pick Sam Walsh is already the second-hardest runner in the AFL.

Sam Walsh has emerged as one of the AFL’s hardest runners after only five games. Picture: AAP Image/Julian Smith.

Craig Bradley played 98 SANFL games before he arrived at Carlton to become the AFL’s great running man.

Sam Walsh has turned into the 2019 version with a single pre-season and a remarkable genetic gift.

In the first five weeks of the AFL season Walsh has emerged as the second-hardest runner in the AFL.

Only Lachie Whitfield has logged more kilometres than Walsh, who is also the first person to boast 24 possessions or more in his first five AFL games.

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GWS star Whitfield, set to turn 25 this year and with 119 games under his belt, has logged 79.4km in his five games — .16km, 16.5km, 16.9km, 15.1km and 14.9km.

Walsh is a picture of consistency in his five games — 15.3km (Round 1), 16.1km, 16.2km, 15km and 15.9km.

Plenty of players run around like a headless chook and rack up big numbers.

But want to know why Walsh bobbed up like a pop-up sprinkler in space to kick the goal that broke a 60-match 100-point hoodoo?

Sam Walsh has emerged as one of the AFL’s hardest runners after only five games. Picture: AAP Image/Julian Smith.

Old-fashioned hard work combined with an innate sense of where to run.

Bradley was at Marvel Stadium on Sunday with good mate Peter Motley, whose VFL career was cut short by a serious car accident after 19 games at Carlton.

He was blown away by Walsh’s maturity for a player still yet to turn 19.

“He looks fantastic, doesn’t he. Very impressive straight out of the blocks and he’s taken to it pretty well. He is going to be a ripper.

“I had 98 AFL games before I came over and didn’t come to Carlton until I was 22. Peter Motley was over so we went and had a look. His running capacity was just brilliant.

“You always look at the young guys to see how they are going to come on and he works hard and clearly has a good footy brain and a sense of where to run.

“It’s not just running for the sake of it. He has got an instinct of when to go and where to go and it’s as important as the running itself. He has certainly got that.

“He works hard and uses the ball well so it’s all good to things to come as far as Walshy goes.”

Carlton legend Craig Bradley has lauded Sam Walsh’s work ethic.

Clearly pure running numbers are only side element of being an AFL player in a time when repeat sprint efforts can be just as important.

The AFL only reveals the top five runners per game so getting exact numbers is problematic.

But Port Adelaide first-year star Xavier Duursma has the highest distance covered — 17.4km in Round 2 — as well as an average of 15.88km over five rounds.

Ben Brown is second on that table with a 17.3km game in Round 2, channelling Nick Riewoldt as a surging runner who gets up and down the ground.

Tom Scully’s last two games as he reaches full fitness have seen him hit 16.1km, then 16.5km in the loss to Geelong.

At Carlton Marc Murphy regularly hits 15km, while Michael Gibbons cashed in this week but kept his role in the side with distances like a 16.9km game in Round 2 as a high half forward.