Callum Wilkie hitting the right numbers with St Kilda

Callum Wilkie had a calculator on hand and spreadsheets in order when he received a life-changing message in Adelaide in late 2018.

St Kilda defender Callum Wilkie has thrived in the AFL since being selected in the rookie draft at the end of 2018. Picture: Aaron Francis

Callum Wilkie had a calculator on hand and spreadsheets in order when he received a life-changing message in Adelaide in late 2018.

A couple of months after starring in North Adelaide’s SANFL premiership season, the 23-year-old was seriously invested in building a career as a taxation accountant.

Then the text arrived from St Kilda recruiter Chris Toce about 5pm on a Friday night advising Wilkie to keep an eye on the AFL rookie draft. The boyhood dream was alive again.

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Within an hour Wilkie’s accounting ambitions were on hold and by the Sunday night in late November he was familiarising himself with the surroundings of St Kilda’s Moorabbin home.

Now he is part of the furniture. As a Saints official said this week, Wilkie’s name would have been among the first selected for the clash against Collingwood at the MCG on Saturday.

Drafted as cover for the ailing Dylan Roberton, the South Australian became the first Saint since Steve Sziller in 1995 to play every game in his debut season.

Such is his awareness in matches — Wilkie led the club in intercept marks and possessions in 2019 — St Kilda defensive coach Aaron Hamill said it was like having an additional coach on the ground.

Wilkie said the COVID-19 season suspension provided him with an opportunity to assess how far he had come as he prepared for his third match of the season and 25th in the AFL overall.

“I was really enjoying (being an accountant). I find that very interesting, as much as other people might find it boring,” Wilkie told The Weekend Australian.

“Mum and dad always instilled in me that even if I did make it, an average career is four to five years and if you do play 10 years, you are only 30 … and that it was important to have a career path going forward.

“I didn’t put all my eggs in one basket. Accounting was my job to excel in but I think that actually helped me play better footy, because I was playing it more as a release from work.

“I was 100 per cent committed to North Adelaide and to winning a premiership, but not putting that pressure on myself to perform probably helped.

“I would rock up to training late after work … but I would get to Saturday really pumped and keen to play. Having a career freed me up.”

Wilkie was well aware when he arrived at St Kilda that there were shortcomings to work on.

His strength and fitness was slightly lacking, in part because he was sitting at a desk working rather than working out on a bench press. But as Hamill said, he listened and learnt.

“It is a fantastic story and credit goes to the recruiting team … who mulled over him for years, probably. He is calm, composed and he is a problem solver,” Hamill said.

“His ability to see the game, to see it unfold and to help others is valuable and he is hugely invested in the team and, because of where he has come from, he takes nothing for granted.

“The more rounded the athlete, the better. He is obviously self-driven and self-motivated to get to where he has gotten. Sometimes a player just needs an opportunity. We see that a lot.”

Wilkie is mindful that the misfortune of others opened the door for him at St Kilda.

Roberton had a heart complaint that led to missing the entire 2019 season, while Jake Carlisle was also absent through injury.

But the opportunity needed to be seized. Wilkie did not want to be another run-of-the-mill mature-aged recruit who served as a useful back-up. He wants to excel.

From playing footy for freedom, being thrust into the AFL changed his approach to the sport. Wilkie was signed on a one-year contract and needed to make the most of his time in the game.

“Last year playing footy, the best job in the world, was also the most stressful of my life, trying to perform week in, week out,” he said.

“I thought, ‘I will give it one year of everything I have and if I don’t play a game and get delisted, at least I will have given it everything’.

“Who knows what would have happened if Jake Carlisle and Dylan Roberton were fit? I may not have got that opportunity, so there was a bit of luck with that.”

As impressive as the Saint has been to date, Hamill believes he has further scope for improvement. Clearly, he has thrived under pressure but the challenge is to take his football to another level.

During the shutdown he worked hard on his endurance but also his strength in a bid to add bulk to his body.

“I know I had so much more growth in that area. I have not reached my level, my potential. It is a mindset of knowing I still have a lot to do yet,” he said.