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Callan Ward

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The Coon Dog

The Coon Dog

Norm Smith Medallist
Veteran Western Bulldogs - Ryan Hargrave 2007 Player Sponsor
Joined
May 15, 2006
Posts
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Location
Werribee
AFL Club
Western Bulldogs
This article may be of interest to some. It's in this weeks issue of my local paper, the Werribee Banner.

It might come out a bit big, but at least you will be able to read it.

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Interesting but having Callan Ward and Tim Callan arriving in the same year may confuse a few of us for a while.

I am sure we will get over it. No worries about being homesick :thumbsu:
 
The 'dash from defence and good skills' then add the hard at it approach we have made the right decision in trading McMahon if we draft Ward and what they say is accurate.

Still quite skinny for a 'hard at it' player at AFL level. He'd need another 5kg to compete like that in the AFL.
 

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I like his committment to his sport. I can see Westy tucking him under his wing;)
 

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Callan Ward - 10 April 1990, 183cm 71kg. Vic Metro/Western/Spotswood
"Mjp: Bottom age player who made the Vic Metro side, before injuring his knee in game one. Before that, he showed an ability in the second half of that match to 'adapt' to the increased pace of the game (after looking at sea early) and was trusted by the coaches with kick-in duties.
A fantastic reader of the play, he has played forward, midfield and back at TAC level and is regularly amongst the best players (regardless of role).
And to the love and joy of all Dogs supporters, he comes from Spotswood, just a short march from the Whitten Oval!
Please feel free to ignore this one if I have been replaced as a selector! If not, this is how it all looks:
"
"Yarraville's Callan Ward was the Jets' stand-out in his comeback game from injury, starting on half-back before pushing forward in the second half.
The bottom-aged Vic Metro representative's ball usage was so good that on occasions it even surprised his coaches.
``I remember one time where he ran with the ball and ignored a couple of teammates who were on short, so I was wondering where he was going with that,'' Sexton said.
``He then kicked it long to a player who was running into space towards goal, showing how good his vision is.''
"
"Callan Ward continued his tremendous run of form with 19 possessions and two goals, while Melton's Mitchell Banner had 33 touches and provided great run, for the Jets with his 12 handball receives.
"
"Weever: Ward started the year in the backline as a Bowden-like possesion gathering backman. Was fringe-Vic Metro, was one that was obviously going to be one to watch, but perhaps one for next year (being bottom aged). Kicked well, moved well, showed promise, but not quite there yet. Was going to be in pick 60-70 consideration as a club pinched him out of next year's draft.
As the season went on he got bigger (maybe 2-4cms), he got heavier (maybe 6-7kg). He shaved his head and went to the HFF line. He had the occasional run on the ball.
We went from a player who let the game come to him, to being a guy who would get frustrated when his team struggled and would Hird-like put himself on the ball, snatch a clearance, kick a goal (not comparing him to Hird as a player ... just that tendancy to take the game into his own hands).
By end of season he is a 185cm ruck-rover in the making. Effectively playing CHF for Western and being a one-man band at times. Shining out over the others with his marking, his attack on the ball and long kicking.
Often times what jumps a guy up the order is not 'talent' which is about as far as many people break it down. What Ward was showing was a willingness to take the game on, a willingness to take on the challenge of lifting his team.
Plenty of blokes (like Joel Bowden) take whatever the game offers them. They go to the loose man, they run where there is open space etc. Not too many make the game and try to shape the game to their will.
Ward may be a flop but his rate of improvement this season was gigantic. The draft is about where a bloke will get to in 4 years and although Ward is half a lap behind some of the 'guns' he is going at 5 secs a lap quicker than 'em. The AFL clubs won't miss that.
"
 
Wasn't Brad Johnson our last Western Jets draftee?
 
How many Jets boys have we drafted over the years, only ones I can think of are Johnno, Nicholson, Gia and now Ward.
 
Well spotted from Spotswood "TCD"

If the youngster had of ended up at Collingwood after that article and picture of him on a Jet and the Spotswood association.

I would have been gunning for them.
 

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Western solution makes difference to player with Spotty past


Peter Hanlon - November 25, 2007 - The Age
mbs_ward_wideweb__470x326,0.jpg
Callan Ward, pictured at home in Melbourne's inner west with twin sister Aysha (left) and older sister Mickayla, just a few decent torpedo punts from his new home at the Western Bulldogs.
Photo: John Donegan





THE street is small and unexceptional. The house is a classic inner-west weatherboard. Out front sits a weathered car with an L-plate fixed to its windscreen.

For so many at draft time, an L-plate is an apt metaphor. Not only Callan Ward, but his family and friends are learners in a week that young men begin as sons, brothers and mates, only to come out the other side AFL footballers. It is a transformation that can change not only a teenager's bank balance and address, but his very self.

All a parent can do is lay the foundations, and hope their boy has taken in enough to make the adjustment. All a sister or mate can do is hope they don't lose him forever. It is a heady time — for everyone.

The mum
KERRI Ward was having a meal with friends in Williamstown last Saturday night when her only son walked past with three mates. They joined her for a while, and before leaving she told him she didn't like to see him walking the streets at night. Soon after, he sent her a text message: "Mum, this is probably the last weekend I'm going to have just chilling with my mates."

Yes, she thought, come next weekend, things are going to change. At the Western Jets' 2007 presentation night, Kerri's admiration grew as they built up to announcing the winner of the inaugural trainers' award. The winner was described as a kid who was always well mannered, always thought of the trainers, never rushed them and simply appreciated what they did for him. What a lovely kid, she thought.

"Then they said, 'and that's Callan Ward'. I was so proud, that he's a really nice kid to everybody, whether they're wrapping his ankles or they're his coach."

Kerri says she doesn't know much about football, even though her father, Bill Gunn, played 104 games for South Melbourne in the 1950s. "I'm pretty hopeless, and here I am the mum of someone who's potentially going to be an AFL footballer."

People have been asking, what if he goes to West Coast? Kerri worries, but backs her boy to cope. "He's a smart kid, he knows the danger of drugs. He doesn't drink now, very few times has he had a drink. He is strong, and all you can hope is that common sense will prevail."

Kerri thinks Callan has gone a bit quiet since last weekend, a little subdued, not quite himself. (Cal scoffs at this, although he did lose his phone on the train on Monday, which was not like him).

The dad
GREG Ward lives around the corner. He and Kerri separated a few years ago, and their children split their time between the two houses, carrying their things in plastic tubs. Greg works at a pulp and paper mill in Reservoir, two days, two nights, then three days off. When he's not working, Cal stays over. "It's been hard, frustrating for him because he's got to pack up and shift. But there's lots of families in that situation." Both Greg and Kerri have left Cal's choice of player manager up to him. Five pursued him, and a week out from the draft he decided to go with Chris Judd's man, Paul Connors.

This presented a problem — he had to ring the others back and tell them no.

"I said to him the other night, because he was in such a quandary, 'I'm feeling a bit guilty that I put the pressure on you to handle this yourself',"

Greg says. "You do wonder whether, with everything else going on, it's the last thing he needs." Cal appreciated that it was hard, but also that it was his job to do.

Greg played under-19s at Footscray, then more than 100 games for Yarraville in the old VFA before finishing with Spotswood. He is a lifelong Essendon member. "Pick 23 to the Bombers sounds pretty good to me, but I'll just be rapt if it's a Melbourne-based club," he says, then thinks again and rules a line through Carlton, Collingwood and Richmond — "just because I hate them".

It's amazing how quickly things happen, Greg thinks; Cal began 2007 unsure if he'd make the Western Jets' final cut of 36, then raised the bar to simply trying to get a game in the 22. A week from draft day, he was being touted as a possible first-round selection. "It doesn't really matter … At the end of the day, it's just a game, and if you don't play AFL football, it's not the end of the world. You've still got a life to live."

The twin sister
"I'M ACTUALLY really upset now," Aysha Ward said last Sunday, as she finished packing to fly to London the next day. "If I'd thought about it earlier I would have booked my flight after the draft." Aysha is flying around the world for six weeks with her best friend Bridget. She and Callan are close, as people who have shared a womb tend to be, and the realisation that when she returns just after Christmas, her twin might already be with a football club in another state has hit hard. But, "that's his dream".

The older sister
"IF HE goes to Collingwood, I won't talk to him," says Mickayla Ward, Cal's 21-year-old sister, who reckons being the only other sibling in Melbourne on draft weekend will be no bad thing. "Because I'll be getting all the attention." A state league netballer with VU Flames, Mickayla got downwind of the discussions her brother had with potential managers about the money in AFL life. "It's just amazing." But no, she says, it won't change him.

The oldest sister
FRIDAY night drinkers at The Wick Inn in Brighton, south England, must have wondered what hit them as the pub's manager, 23-year-old Kiandra Ward, her partner Nick, little sister Aysha and travelling buddy Bridget gathered around a laptop computer to follow the AFL draft. "We've got a 2am licence, so we'll definitely make the most of Friday night over here," Kiandra said on Wednesday, having just picked Aysha and Bridget up from Heathrow. "But yes, I'd like to be home about now."

The mate
JAMES "Jimma" Hinds and Callan Ward have known each other since prep, and share the easy rapport of lifelong friends. On Tuesday they caught the train to Werribee to retrieve Cal's phone, getting off at Spotswood on the way home so they could walk through Westgate golf course, because "there's plenty of targets to kick the footy at there". Jimma reckons his friend has always had something in his hands. "There's no rocks left between here and the station, Cal's picked them all up to chuck around."

His mate's reluctance to phone the managers he has decided against doesn't surprise Jimma. "He's always hated to disappoint people."

Sitting across from each other in Cal's mum's living room, Jimma says Cal "always takes people along with him". Cal smiles, and shoots back: "Yeah, I might even take you along to training one day."

He's good at telling stories, says Jimma. "You saying I'm cocky?" Cal shoots back. "No, he's not cocky. Just a good story teller."

Emerging from the pre-draft camp medical to see a nervous Rhys Prismall in the waiting room, Cal told him, "You have to get totally nude in there, it's freaky." He's still laughing at the look on Rhys' face.

Jimma is a Western Bulldogs fan. "But I'm changing if he goes somewhere else." Cal is mortified. "No you will not! You've been a member for 10 years!"

The outcome
AT 10.12am yesterday, Western Bulldogs recruiting manager Scott Clayton announced: "Pick 19, player 112791, Callan Ward, Western Jets." In a small, unexceptional street, the roof was almost lifted off a weatherboard house.

Kerri Ward gave thanks that her son would be able to finish his schooling at Williamstown High, and wondered if it was too early for a chardonnay. Jimma and another mate, Ben, couldn't stop crying. Phones started ringing, and would not stop all day.

People talked of it being another Rohan Smith story, the local boy making it with the local club. Preparations were made to adjourn to the clubrooms at Spotswood, where a crowd in the hundreds would celebrate into the night.
Callan Ward, just 17 and only eligible to be drafted by 20 days, leapt in the air. "I'm so happy right now, just over the moon."

Then he was off, to take another call, to hug another mate, to start a new life.
 
Great pickup by the Dogs, would have been happy for the Hawks to take him with 12. Although it's nice to see him going to the local club.
 
well done doggies fans. You have picked up absolute quality in Callan Ward. Was wrapped to be picked up by club so close to home. Even though he was so happy, still found the time to ring his mate Steven Gaertner and console him as he was overlooked. Absolute quality footballer and human being.
 

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