Soccer: Goal to Ward off recent ills

Nick Ward. Photo / Getty Images

Last year, Nick Ward thought his career was over. Lying in a hospital ward, coping with the acute pain of a serious staph infection, the 25-year-old thought he was finished as a professional footballer.

The pain was so intense it made him throw up. A spin-off from that was the loss of considerable weight from his already lean frame.

Ward made it back and ended up making 19 appearances for the Melbourne Victory last season, including three in the playoffs. But he fell out of favour with coach Ernie Merrick and there seemed little hope of fighting his way back in.

The midfielder played two minutes off the bench in Melbourne's first game of the season against Sydney but hasn't been sighted since.

Wellington moved quickly to sign him last weekend. They have long courted a creative midfielder who could unlock opposition defences.

They hoped diminutive Argentinian Roberto 'Toto' Cornejo might be their man, but he seems to have neither the size nor the class to shine in the A-League. Ward is their latest project.

The Phoenix have a history of picking up players on the periphery of other clubs, including Diego, Royce Brownlie, Adrian Caceres, Ahmad Elrich, Adam Kwasnik, Kristian Rees, Michael Ferrante and Vince Lia.

Some have proved a success. Others haven't.

Ward has a good pedigree, having won the 2008-09 A-League with Melbourne and playing for Australia at schoolboy, under-20 and under-23 levels. He also played for QPR in the English Championship as well as Brighton in League One.

But he has had a difficult last 12 months, certainly not helped by ill-health, and there seemed little chance of him getting a consistent run with the Victory.

That's what he wants the most. He was looking at options back in the UK but they "went cold" as the European transfer window closed before Wellington made an approach.

Ward first met his new team-mates at Perth airport on Thursday when he flew in from Melbourne and the Phoenix arrived 10 minutes later.

He's been included in today's squad to face the Glory and, while a start is a possibility, should at least see some time off the bench.

"For some reason this year Ernie Merrick just decided I was out of favour," Ward says. "I wasn't even on the bench. I don't understand why.

"I was quite happy to move on because I'm not the kind of player who wants to hang around. I want to be playing football.

"If I can get an opportunity, I believe in my ability and I believe in my form at the moment."

Herbert has talked about employing a 3-4-3 formation once Socceroos defender Jade North arrives next week, which will put pressure on the make-up of the midfield.

It could result in Ward, Tim Brown, Lia, Manny Muscat, Tony Lochhead, Leo Bertos, Daniel, Diego, Toto and Troy Hearfield all battling for four spots.