It hasn’t all been smooth sailing for Hawthorn’s prized draftee Josh Ward in his first AFL season but he announced himself with a breakout game against West Coast.
It all “clicked” on Sunday for Josh Ward.
The promising Hawks midfielder had shown glimpses of why he was the No.7 draft pick last year but this was his statement game.
After missing five weeks mid-season with lingering concussion symptoms, Ward roared to life with a career-most 34 disposals, eight score involvements and six clearances in Hawthorn’s win over West Coast.
The round 18 Rising Star nomination deservedly followed, as well as six votes in the AFL Coaches’ Association champion player of the year award.
“It was a good feeling to play a decent game and get a bit of recognition for it,” Ward told News Corp.
“It felt like a game where a lot of the stuff I’ve been working on sort of clicked, because I’ve had a few decent games where I’ve done some good things but I haven’t really had the impact I wanted.
“I’ve just put a lot of work in to get my positioning right, playing the wing role, and I’ve watched a lot of vision with Sam (Mitchell) and Andrew Collins as well. It was good to see that pay off in a little way.”
Mitchell is already trusting the Northern Knights graduate at the centre bounces on occasion, too, with the first-year player often swapping from the wing with Brownlow medallist Tom Mitchell on Sunday.
Ward was part of the coach’s season plans from the outset, playing seven of the first eight matches – he was managed in round 7 – before being concussed in his first VFL game in a clash of heads with Tiger Sydney Stack.
The 18-year-old was previously concussed in an under-16s game, so he knew that horrible feeling. But this latest one proved troublesome for a while.
“The symptoms dragged on for a bit. To get through the protocols; you have to tick off all these sessions without getting any symptoms,” he said.
“But I was getting these random headaches, not really brought on by anything, in particular, so I was able to train and run and keep fit, which was good, but it took about five weeks for the headaches to stop.
“So that’s why it dragged on. It was a bit scary at the time, but I’m not too concerned now.
Ward, who is already one of the Hawks’ best runners, is keeping an eye on how his fellow first-round draftees are doing but especially old teammates Sam Darcy, Finn Callaghan and Ben Hobbs.
Throw in Rising Star favourite Nick Daicos and No.1 selection Jason Horne-Francis, and it’s already looking a special draft class.
But Ward’s primary focus is on helping Hawthorn climb the ladder again.
He revelled in the round 2 experience of travelling to South Australia when the Hawks beat Port Adelaide as significant underdogs and wants much more of that.
“I feel like I couldn’t have asked for a better club to come to – not just as a Hawthorn supporter myself but Sam’s been an awesome coach so far,” Ward said.
“It’s such a great group and there’s been a few opportunities to play, so I couldn’t be happier and I’m really excited for what we can do moving forward.”
Originally published as AFL: Hawthorn midfielder Josh Ward is the round 18 Rising Star nominee after breakout game against West Coast
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