It is helping establish an AFL club and its culture that Callan Ward is most proud of as he reflects on the doubt, grand-final heartache and 171 games preceding Saturday's milestone.
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Ward will overtake Jeremy Cameron and reclaim his status as GWS's all-time games record holder when tackles Essendon at Giants Stadium.
The no-nonsense midfielder has been the heart and soul of the Giants since age 21, when Kevin Sheedy helped convince him to leave Western Bulldogs and become a co-captain at the start-up.
A lot has changed since for the 31-year-old, whose selflessness is best summed up by the support he instilled in teammates throughout the 2019 finals series despite bring sidelined with a serious knee injury.
Ward is now a father and former skipper, while GWS are no longer training on a baseball diamond nor based out of the Rooty Hill RSL.
"It's definitely not mission complete because we haven't won a grand final," Ward said.
"But as far as establishing a football club, it does feel like an elite, professional sporting club.
"We've had a lot of players sign long contracts.
"Whenever I think about where we've come from ... and where we are now, it fills me with pride and happiness.
"There's not too many people that could probably understand just how far we've come. It's very hard to understand, unless you were actually there."
Ward has no regrets about shifting to Sydney, but admitted to moments of doubt during the expansion club's loss-laden second year.
"I kind of thought 'we've gone backwards here'," he said.
"You do question yourself. You hear things externally 'the Giants aren't going to survive, what have they done, the AFL has stuffed up'.
"You do doubt it a little bit.
"The playing group stuck really strong ... (in the fourth season the side felt they could) compete with the top AFL teams, and that's when you really start to realise you've made the right call."
The GWS life member feared the end was nigh, having undergone his knee reconstruction in 2019 then suffered more setbacks and struggled to find form in 2020.
But, having enjoyed a promising start to this season, Ward is a long way off contemplating retirement and keen to play on beyond the end of his current contract that runs until the end of 2022.
"There's no doubt that I'm keen to play for as long as I can," he said.
"I've definitely got confidence that I can play a lot longer than just the two more years."
MOST AFL GAMES FOR GWS
171 - Callan Ward, Jeremy Cameron
165 - Toby Greene
161 - Phil Davis
152 - Stephen Coniglio, Heath Shaw.
Australian Associated Press
