Nick Ward (footballer)

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Personal information
Nick Ward
Full name	Nicholas Andrew Ward
Date of birth	March 24, 1985 (1985-03-24) (age 23)
Place of birth	Perth, Australia
Height	1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Playing position	Attacking Midfielder, Central Midfielder
Club information
Current club	Melbourne Victory
Number	22
Youth clubs
2000–2002 2003	Kingsway Olympic ECU Joondalup AIS
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
2003–2004 2004 2005–2006 2006–2007 2007 2007–present	Perth Glory Stirling Lions Perth Glory Queens Park Rangers → Brighton & Hove Albion (loan) Melbourne Victory	02 (0) 23 (5) 23 (1) 08 (1) 06 (2)
National team²
2004–2005 2006–present	Australia U-20 Australia U-23	16 (4) 11 (2)
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 20 December 2007. ² National team caps and goals correct as of 20 December 2007. * Appearances (Goals)

Nick Ward (born March 24, 1985 in Perth, Western Australia, Australia) is an Australian football (soccer) player. He last played as a attacking midfielder for Championship side Queens Park Rangers before signing for A-League club Melbourne Victory.

1 Club career
2 International career
3 Honours
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Club career

His efforts in the inaugural A-League season of 2005-06 resulted in him becoming the first player to win the A-League's Rising Star Award with Perth Glory, along with also winning the Perth Supporter's Player of the Year, and also the Smokefree WA Coach's Award.^[1]

Following the end of the first A-League season, Nick Ward had trials with Leicester City however, much to the annoyance of Football Federation Australia,^[2] he joined QPR in the English Championship prior to the 2006-07 season.

On January 31, 2007, the last day of the transfer window, Ward joined Brighton on loan for the remainder of the 2006/07 season. On 17th February, 2007, Ward scored his first goal for the Albion in their 2-1 home win over Nottingham Forest before returning to QPR.

On 4 December 2007, Ward's contract with QPR was terminated by mutual consent. He joined Melbourne Victory and his contract runs until June 2008. On 11 January 2008, Ward scored his first goal for the Melbourne Victory in their 3-0 home win over Wellington Phoenix.

[edit] International career

After his season had concluded with Perth Glory, Ward was selected by Australia in an extended squad for its opening Asian Cup qualifier with Bahrain.^[3] Ward was named on the bench, but did not get used.

In December 2006 the then Socceroos manager Graham Arnold believed that Ward (lacking game time under the management of QPR at the time) should be playing either in the English Premier League or elsewhere in the top tier leagues in Europe, where there was (in Arnold's opinion) better ball delivery and midfield play than in the English Championship.^[4] Those comments could be interpreted as a preliminary reason not to select Ward in forthcoming Socceroos friendlies however since Ward has returned to the A-League and Arnold is no longer part of the international set-up, any such barriers to selection have been removed. Moreover Ward's inability to force his way into a QPR side which struggled for survival during his spell at the club and his failure to make any impact in the Championship would appear to be more rational explanations for his limited international experience.