Ward is the grandson of former South MelbournecaptainBill Gunn, who played 104 games for the club between 1952 and 1959. Leading into the 2007 AFL draft, five player managers vied to represent him, and a week out from the draft he decided on Paul Connors, who also represented Chris Judd. Ward was selected by the Bulldogs with their second selection 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 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.
On 5 September 2011, Ward announced that he had signed with the Greater Western Sydney Giants; 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. 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 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 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, ruling him out for the rest of the season. He later began assisting Giants coach Leon Cameron on the interchange bench during matches while recovering from his injury. In December 2019, Stephen Coniglio 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.
