Given all the hurdles Matthew Scharenberg has been faced with during his first 18 months at the Westpac Centre, you would think the prospect of winning the AFL Rising Star Award is the last thing on his mind.

But his talents haven’t escaped his peers, with one of the AFL’s 18 club captains nominating him as their tip to take out the coveted award.

Scharenberg has not yet made his senior debut after dealing with operations on both feet and a knee reconstruction in the space of seven months.

Fortunately for both player and club, Scharenberg’s return may be closer than some had predicted.

"We just need to get three or four weeks of genuine full footy training into him before we take a risk of playing him, but in a physical sense he’s probably ready to go," Director of Football Neil Balme told CollingwoodTV last week.

Learn more about the career of Matthew Scharenberg.

"Watch this space with him. It is really good news."

Once described by Mark Williams as the best schoolboy talent he had seen since Wayne Carey, Scharenberg arrived at the Westpac Centre via the sixth overall selection in the National Draft of November 2013.

He managed five VFL games late last season before rupturing his anterior cruciate ligament during the final home and away game of the campaign.

NEWS: Full steam ahead for top draftee.

His junior credentials are faultless, having secured a berth in the Under 18 All-Australian teams of 2012 and 2013 as well as finishing runner up in the Larke Medal (awarded to the best player in the National Under 18 Championships).

Scharenberg wasn’t the only Magpie to receive a nomination from a club captain.


Jordan De Goey, the fifth overall selection in last year’s National Draft, showed enough glimpses of his undoubted potential during the NAB Challenge to earn a vote ahead of the league’s annual captain’s day.

De Goey, 19, caught the eye with his courage and work inside the packs during Collingwood’s 44-point win over Hawthorn in Tasmania last month.

Like Scharenberg, his junior pedigree can’t be questioned. He kicked three goals in Oakleigh’s TAC Cup Grand Final victory last September and represented Victoria in the National Championships midway through the year.

Geelong youngster Nakia Cockatoo and Sydney onballer Isaac Heeney were the two leading Rising Star nominees amongst the captains, receiving four and three votes respectively.

Others to receive nominations were Hawthorn’s Jed Anderson (two), Melbourne's Angus Brayshaw, Carlton's Patrick Cripps, Adelaide’s Matt Crouch, Gold Coast’s Jarrod Garlett, St Kilda's Patrick McCartin, Brisbane’s Jaden McGrath and North's Kayne Turner.