The 300-game Brownlow Medallist who won premierships with both Essendon and the Power said Wingard had all the traits needed to also a triple-century of AFL games.
Wingard took another leap in his rise to stardom last Sunday, taking out his first Showdown Medal for a match-winning five-goal performance against Adelaide.
On the largest stage of his career, Wingard marked strongly with 28 seconds left on the clock and coolly slotted his fifth goal to seal the Power's four-point come-from-behind victory.
Wanganeen watched on in awe and told AFL.com.au he saw a lot of himself in the 20-year-old.
"I never felt that I would say this, but he's probably the only player I could honestly say reminds me of me," Wanganeen said.
"He might be a little bit shorter than me, he's not a big strong guy and yet he's strong around the hips and he makes his possessions count.
"I prided myself on my possessions, I wanted to hit targets, I wanted to make them count; I don't want to get 40 possessions and only 18 of them hurt the opposition.
"He's a serious, serious talent and that game he produced on the weekend … I mean that mark he took with 30 seconds to go, to run from about 40m away and jump high at that footy without any consequence of what's coming his way – it says so much.
"It probably says he's going to be a 300-game player, just that mark alone."
Wanganeen made a name for himself as an incredibly skillful, driven young player and won his Brownlow Medal in just his third season of AFL footy averaging almost 20 disposals a game.
In his second year at the elite level Wingard has averaged 22 touches and two goals a game and is on track for All Australian selection.
Wanganeen also gained All Australian selection in his second season while playing for Essendon in 1992.
"I don't want to pump his tyres up too much, but don't see too many players that are as clean and young and level-headed like him," he said.
"He thrives on it, he wants to be put under pressure – that's going to take him a long way.
"I've heard him say he loves playing against the top teams, he prefers it and that's how it should be.
"'Bring me your best and I'll match it', that's his attitude."
Harry Thring is a reporter for AFL Media. Follow him on Twitter: @AFL_Harry.
