Ward jumps Bulldog ship to join GWSJake Niall
August 31, 2011CALLAN Ward will be a Greater Western Sydney player next year, with the emerging young midfielder having decided to leave the Western Bulldogs to take up a massive five-year offer with the AFL's expansion team.
Ward, linked to GWS for much of this season, is expected to announce his departure within the next week, most likely after the Bulldogs' final game against Fremantle on Saturday.
Ward will join GWS on a five-year contract believed to be worth $750,000-$800,000 a year, or between $3.75 million and $4 million over the life of the contract. This is expected to be front-ended in the manner of Gary Ablett's five-year deal with Gold Coast.
While disappointed to lose a player of Ward's calibre, the Bulldogs have been prepared for the worst, having made a strong pitch for Ward and upped their offer to the midfielder in recent weeks.
Officials met Ward last Thursday to try to persuade him to stay, but sources have confirmed that Ward has decided to take up the GWS offer and become a key player in establishing the AFL's 18th team.
Club president David Smorgon acknowledged on Monday that he was ''not confident'' of retaining Ward, whom the Dogs offered a three-year deal believed to be worth $400,000-$450,000 a season, or close to $1.3 million, a long way short of the GWS contract. Ward is a genuine local player at the Bulldogs, having grown up within walking distance of Whitten Oval. His imminent departure will mean the Bulldogs become the second club to lose two players to the expansion teams, having already lost Jarrod Harbrow to Gold Coast at the end of last season.
Ward's exit is considered likely to be followed by that of Melbourne's 2009 No. 1 draft pick, Tom Scully, who has been offered an even more substantial long-term contract than Ward. Almost no one within AFL circles, outside of the Demons, believes Scully is much chance to stay with Melbourne.
http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/ward-jumps-bulldog-ship-to-join-gws-20110830-1jk5s.html#ixzz1WWzq7ZlX