{"id":866878,"date":"2026-08-24T16:38:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T16:38:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/866878\/"},"modified":"2026-08-24T16:38:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T16:38:13","slug":"afl-2026-carlton-defender-billy-wilson-wins-rising-star-nomination","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/866878\/","title":{"rendered":"AFL 2026: Carlton defender Billy Wilson wins Rising Star nomination"},"content":{"rendered":"

They must be having the best pesto pasta in Melbourne.<\/p>\n

Billy Wilson was announced as Carlton\u2019s fourth Rising Star nominee of the season after an eye-catching performance against ladder-leader Fremantle in Round 24.<\/p>\n

Wilson is alongside Jagga Smith, Harry Dean and Talor Byrne as Carlton\u2019s exciting next wave of young talent.<\/p>\n

But the dashing defender, thriving under new coach Josh Fraser, lives with three of those four players at home.<\/p>\n

Wilson, Byrne and Dean all live a stone\u2019s throw from the club with fellow Blue Flynn Young.<\/p>\n

The secret to their success? A ritual pre-game pasta, of course.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know, we\u2019ve had the same one. We\u2019ve won having this pasta; it\u2019s just a pesto pasta, rigatoni,\u201d Wilson said with a laugh.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a bit of chicken in there; I jump in (the kitchen) here and there (but) Flynn Young is definitely the main cook in the house \u2013 he loves it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Byrne and Dean are known to get a second wind late in the day and need to zoom around to burn off excess energy.<\/p>\n

But, other than that, Wilson says they\u2019re a \u201cpretty measured\u201d group.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re a pretty cruisy household, we end up watching the footy the night before so that will be a good game to watch,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re all pretty quiet, we don\u2019t get up to too much that\u2019s for sure. It\u2019s just exciting for all of us, we can\u2019t wait.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am sure there\u2019s going to be a bit of nerves but nothing crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carlton sparked back to life after Michael Voss and Wilson has played a key part in the Blues\u2019 resurgence.<\/p>\n

Wilson played just one game before Fraser took the reins this season, but has evolved into one of the Blues\u2019 most important players across halfback.<\/p>\n

He admits a wildcard final against Melbourne this week is more than a normal game but says Carlton is ready to draw on the renewed support from the fans.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt probably isn\u2019t, but us looking at what we need to do, all our job is is to play football,\u201d Wilson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSupporters that come, support, as long as they can get behind us, that\u2019s what really drives us at the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Originally published as AFL 2026: Carlton defender Billy Wilson wins Rising Star nomination<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"They must be having the best pesto pasta in Melbourne. Billy Wilson was announced as Carlton\u2019s fourth Rising…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":866879,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[435782,435790,435784,435807,435765,376963,435781,435786,394035,435802,435797,435773,435780,435792,435769,435772,638,231397,435779,435767,64,63,55,639,14382,3925,435776,6856,435794,38129,435787,435778,400532,596,301315,435795,2536,435788,435775,435777,3489,435808,435801,8280,647,435798,435785,16949,435774,43961,435800,435793,435791,435804,435768,94288,85,22410,109384,14478,435796,211101,382205,435805,379738,404000,400086,242592,419989,435783,225862,377486,376436,435766,435771,356269,435770,435789,380519,199184,435803,435806,57056,435799],"class_list":["post-866878","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-s-coaching-change","tag-s-exciting-next-wave","tag-s-fourth-rising-star-nominee","tag-s-throw","tag-a-pretty-measured-group","tag-a-bit","tag-a-good-game","tag-a-key-part","tag-a-laugh","tag-a-pesto-pasta","tag-a-pretty-cruisy-household","tag-a-rising-star-nominee","tag-a-ritual-pre-game-pasta","tag-a-second-wind","tag-a-stone","tag-a-wildcard-final","tag-afl","tag-afl-2026","tag-all-our-job","tag-an-eye-catching-performance","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-billy-wilson","tag-blues","tag-byrne-and-dean","tag-carlton","tag-carlton-defender-billy-wilson","tag-chicken","tag-excess-energy-but","tag-fellow-blue-flynn-young-the-secret","tag-flynn-young","tag-football","tag-fraser","tag-halfback-he","tag-harry-dean","tag-his-pre-game-secret","tag-home-wilson","tag-important-players","tag-jagga-smith","tag-just-one-game","tag-ladder-leader-fremantle","tag-life","tag-melbourne","tag-michael-voss-and-wilson","tag-more-than-a-normal-game","tag-nerves","tag-new-coach-josh-fraser","tag-newswire-sport","tag-resurgence","tag-resurgence-wilson","tag-rigatoni","tag-rising-star-nomination","tag-round-24-wilson","tag-secret-weapon","tag-sports","tag-support","tag-supporters","tag-talor-byrne","tag-the-best-pesto-pasta","tag-the-blues","tag-the-club","tag-the-dashing-defender","tag-the-day","tag-the-fans","tag-the-footy","tag-the-house","tag-the-kitchen","tag-the-main-cook","tag-the-moment","tag-the-night","tag-the-reins","tag-the-renewed-support","tag-the-same-one","tag-the-season","tag-their-success","tag-this-pasta","tag-this-season","tag-this-week","tag-those-four-players","tag-three-teammates","tag-wilson","tag-young-talent-but"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/866878","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=866878"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/866878\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/866879"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=866878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=866878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=866878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}