WINGARD is working hard.

Not content to rest on his laurels, Port Adelaide’s young revelation has already hit the track to make sure his third season in the AFL is as successful as his breakout 2013.

The expectations on the 20-year-old will be high after he took out All-Australian honours and was named Port Adelaide’s best and fairest player this year.

His focus is, as with many of his teammates, on continual progress.

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With a view to playing more time in the midfield, Wingard has returned to Alberton almost every day for the past few weeks - off his own back - to get a head start on his 2014 preparations.

It’s all about maximising his potential as a future member of the Power’s midfield, according to forwards coach Tyson Edwards.

While he’ll still play up forward where he proved prolific in clutch moments throughout the season, Edwards told portadelaidefc.com.au Wingard needs to find his way into the middle of the ground more often next year.

“He’s coming off a fantastic year where he played a bit more in the midfield and that’s somewhere where we’d see him being a bit more involved in the future,” said Edwards.

“Chad’s a damaging forward with good agility and he can take a contested mark, and what he does for us as a forward works for us right now.

“His future is probably going to be mixed between playing forward and through the middle, and it will be the needs of the team at the time that probably dictate when that happens.”

Edwards says Wingard’s strong 2013 campaign was a result of his work during the last pre-season.

He needs to emulate that effort again this year with a focus on building both his strength and general fitness base.

Chad Wingard profile

“He had a good pre-season last year and got fitter and that’s why we saw him get more of the ball and be more damaging," said Edwards.

“Hopefully he’ll improve his fitness and his on field performance as a result.

“The challenge for him coming off a best and fairest and All-Australian selection is to try and do better again, but I’m sure he’ll have no troubles with that.

“He’s level-headed and capable to achieving more if he continues to work hard.”

Wingard will be part of the initial training contingent that commences pre-season training next Monday and portadelaidefc.com.au will have all the coverage from the first trials of the Power's 2014 campaign start.

Visit portadelaidefc.com.au again tomorrow for the latest in our series of STATE OF THE LSIT reviews, and tell us what you think of each player throughout the period of Facebook and Twitter using the #stateofthelist hashtag.