Callan Ward (born 10 April 1990) is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the

Greater Western Sydney Giants The Greater Western Sydney Giants (officially the Greater Western Sydney Football Club and colloquially known as the GWS Giants or simply GWS) are a professional Australian rules football team based in Sydney Olympic Park, which represents th ...

in the Australian Football League (AFL). He previously played for the

Western Bulldogs The Western Bulldogs are a professional Australian rules football team that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier competition. Founded in 1877 as the Footscray Football Club, and based in West Footscray in the ...

from 2008 to 2011. Ward received a nomination for the 2009 AFL Rising Star award in round 18 of the 2009 season. He was one of three inaugural Giants co-captains, leading the club for eight seasons, and is also the club's games record holder with 210 games.

Early life

Ward is the grandson of former

South Melbourne South Melbourne is an inner suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, 3 km south of Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, Central Business District, located within the City of Port Phillip Local government ...

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

Bill Gunn, who played 104 games for the club between 1952 and 1959. Leading into the

2007 AFL draft The 2007 Australian Football League draft consisted of four opportunities for player acquisitions during the 2007/08 Australian Football League off-season. These were trade week, the national draft, which was held on 24 November 2007, the pre-s ...

, five player managers vied to represent him, and a week out from the draft he decided on Paul Connors, who also represented

Chris Judd Christopher Dylan Judd (born 8 September 1983) is a former professional Australian rules footballer and captain of both the West Coast Eagles and Carlton Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). Widely regarded as one of the b ...

. Ward was selected by the Bulldogs with their second selection (number 19 overall) after being a mere 20 days old enough to nominate for the draft.

AFL career

Western Bulldogs (2008–2011)

Ward made his debut against in round 11 of the 2008 season, collecting 12 disposals and finishing with one goal. In his debut year, he played six games while juggling full-time football and his last year of high school. Having earned a regular spot in the team in 2009, Ward went on to have a breakout season, playing 22 games and earning an

AFL Rising Star The AFL Rising Star is an Australian rules football award presented annually to the player adjudged the best young player in the Australian Football League (AFL) for the year. It was first presented in the 1993 season, and was won by Nathan ...

nomination for his performance against in round 18. Ward missed the first half of the 2010 season through injury, but returned to play the rest of the season and finals series. Ward had his best season for the Bulldogs in 2011, playing in all 22 games and averaging 21 disposals, including a 29-disposal, best-on-ground performance against in round 13.

Greater Western Sydney (2012–present)

Callan Ward - 2019 Grand Final Parade (cropped)

On 5 September 2011, Ward announced that he had signed with the

; he was the second player to publicly announce his commitment to the new franchise club. Ward was also announced as one of three inaugural co-captains for the club, alongside Phil Davis and

Luke Power Luke Power (born 8 January 1980) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Brisbane Lions and Greater Western Sydney Giants in the Australian Football League (AFL). A member of the Brisbane Lions's 2001, 2002, and 2003 premie ...

. On 24 March 2012, in the Giants' debut AFL match against , he kicked the Giants' first ever goal. Ward went on to win the Giants' inaugural best-and-fairest award, named the Kevin Sheedy Medal after their coach, Kevin Sheedy. Ward enjoyed a solid season in 2013, despite the club winning only one game for the year; Ward was named best-on-ground for his 31 disposals and four goals in that game, against . Ward followed up with another consistent season in 2014, in which he polled fifteen

Brownlow Medal The Charles Brownlow Trophy, better known as the Brownlow Medal (and informally as "Charlie"), is awarded to the "best and fairest" player in the Australian Football League (AFL) during the home-and-away season, as determined by votes cast by ...

votes. This included four best-on-ground performances, two of which were narrow seven-point losses to and . Ward had a career-best season in 2015, playing all 22 games and averaging 25 disposals, and polling a club-record nineteen Brownlow votes. Ward had another consistent season in 2016, during which the Giants made finals for the first time, securing their first finals win against Sydney, and fell six points short of making the Grand Final after losing to Ward's former club, the Western Bulldogs. Ward played all 25 games the following season, averaging 27 disposals. In 2018, Ward played his 200th game in round 8 against , and played his 150th game for the Giants (becoming the first player to do so) in round 19 against St Kilda. Ward sustained a knee injury during the 2019 pre-season, meaning that he would miss the first few rounds of the season and his consecutive games streak would end at 95 games. He returned against in round 4; however, five minutes into the game, he suffered an

anterior cruciate ligament injury An anterior cruciate ligament injury occurs when the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is either stretched, partially torn, or completely torn. The most common injury is a complete tear. Symptoms include pain, an audible cracking sound during inj ...

, ruling him out for the rest of the season. He later began assisting Giants coach

Leon Cameron Leon Cameron (born 2 September 1972) is a former Australian rules footballer who is the former senior coach of the Greater Western Sydney Giants (GWS) in the Australian Football League (AFL). His AFL playing career lasted from 1990 to 2003 and ...

on the interchange bench during matches while recovering from his injury. In December 2019,

Stephen Coniglio Stephen Coniglio ( ; born 15 December 1993) is a professional Australian rules footballer and the captain of the Greater Western Sydney Giants in the Australian Football League (AFL). Drafted with the second pick in the 2011 AFL national draf ...

took over the captaincy of the Giants from Ward and Davis. Ward made a successful return from injury in round 2 of the 2020 season against . He missed the round 5 match against Hawthorn due to soreness, before suffering a right knee injury upon his return against the following week.

Statistics

''Updated to the end of the 2022 season''. , - ,

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing ...

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2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

, , , , 14 , 22 , , 18 , , 13 , , 178 , , 184 , , 362 , , 70 , , 86 , , 0.8 , , 0.6 , , 8.1 , , 8.4 , , 16.5 , , 3.2 , , 3.9 , , 0 , - ,

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

, , , , 14 , 10 , , 1 , , 4 , , 76 , , 97 , , 173 , , 36 , , 34 , , 0.1 , , 0.4 , , 7.6 , , 9.7 , , 17.3 , , 3.6 , , 3.4 , , 0 , - , 2011 , , , , 14 , 22 , , 12 , , 11 , , 204 , , 253 , , 457 , , 74 , , 96 , , 0.5 , , 0.5 , , 9.3 , , 11.5 , , 20.8 , , 3.4 , , 4.4 , , 6 , - ,

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

, , , , 8 , 20 , , 8 , , 11 , , 278 , , 210 , , 488 , , 86 , , 100 , , 0.4 , , 0.6 , , 13.9 , , 10.5 , , 24.4 , , 4.3 , , 5.0 , , 5 , - ,

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment ...

, , , , 8 , 21 , , 11 , , 6 , , 247 , , 242 , , 489 , , 95 , , 94 , , 0.5 , , 0.3 , , 11.8 , , 11.5 , , 23.3 , , 4.5 , , 4.5 , , 4 , - ,

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

, , , , 8 , 20 , , 7 , , 10 , , 240 , , 258 , , 498 , , 75 , , 115 , , 0.4 , , 0.5 , , 12.0 , , 12.9 , , 24.9 , , 3.8 , , 5.8 , , 15 , - ,

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the April ...

, , , , 8 , 22 , , 10 , , 7 , , 253 , , 303 , , 556 , , 103 , , 115 , , 0.5 , , 0.3 , , 11.5 , , 13.8 , , 25.3 , , 4.7 , , 5.2 , , 19 , - , 2016 , , , , 8 , 24 , , 16 , , 12 , , 272 , , 287 , , 559 , , 82 , , 109 , , 0.7 , , 0.5 , , 11.3 , , 12.0 , , 23.3 , , 3.4 , , 4.5 , , 12 , - ,

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

, , , , 8 , 25 , , 14 , , 10 , , 353 , , 324 , , 677 , , 90 , , 98 , , 0.6 , , 0.4 , , 14.1 , , 13.0 , , 27.1 , , 3.6 , , 3.9 , , 11 , - ,

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

, , , , 8 , 24 , , 8 , , 15 , , 318 , , 324 , , 642 , , 92 , , 95 , , 0.3 , , 0.6 , , 13.3 , , 13.5 , , 26.8 , , 3.8 , , 4.0 , , 13 , - ,

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

, , , , 8 , 1 , , 0 , , 0 , , 1 , , 0 , , 1 , , 0 , , 0 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 1.0 , , 0.0 , , 1.0 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 0 , - ,

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in ...

, , , , 8 , 7 , , 3 , , 1 , , 56 , , 48 , , 104 , , 16 , , 11 , , 0.4 , , 0.1 , , 8.0 , , 6.9 , , 14.9 , , 2.3 , , 1.6 , , 0 , - ,

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

, , , , 8 , 24 , , 15 , , 5 , , 278 , , 267 , , 545 , , 90 , , 71 , , 0.6 , , 0.2 , , 11.6 , , 11.1 , , 22.7 , , 3.8 , , 3.0 , , 8 , - ,

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretariat; The global monkeyp ...

, , , , 8 , 22 , , 8 , , 7 , , 248 , , 229 , , 477 , , 103 , , 58 , , 0.4 , , 0.3 , , 11.3 , , 10.4 , , 21.7 , , 4.7 , , 2.6 , , 1 , - class=sortbottom ! colspan=3 , Career ! 270 !! 133 !! 112 !! 3030 !! 3058 !! 6088 !! 1030 !! 1092 !! 0.5 !! 0.4 !! 11.2 !! 11.3 !! 22.5 !! 3.8 !! 4.0 !! 94 Notes

Honours and achievements

* Greater Western Sydney Giants co-captain: 2012–2019 * Greater Western Sydney games record holder * Kevin Sheedy Medal: 2012 * Robert Rose Award: 2018 * 2× Brett Kirk Medal: 2014 (game 1), 2017 (game 2) * Australia representative honours in

international rules football International rules football ( ga, Peil na rialacha idirnáisiunta; also known as international rules in Australia and compromise rules or Aussie rules in Ireland) is a team sport consisting of a hybrid of football codes, which was develop ...

: 2011 * 22under22 team: 2012 *

nominee:

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ward, Callan 1990 births Living people Australian rules footballers from Victoria (Australia) Western Bulldogs players Western Jets players Greater Western Sydney Giants players Kevin Sheedy Medal winners Australia international rules football team players