A regular trip to Adelaide wouldn’t normally warrant any additional fanfare for the GIANTS, but this week’s journey South-west is a significant moment in the club’s history.
It is a landmark.
Co-captain Callan Ward will play his 100th game for the club, becoming the first GIANT to do so.
The 26-year-old midfielder has missed just five of the GIANTS' 104 games since making the move from the Western Bulldogs.
"To come to a new club as a 21-year-old from the Western Bulldogs I didn't know what to expect, so to play 100 games is something I'll forever be proud of," he said.
“It feels like only yesterday I played my first game for this club, it’s flown by.
“I actually watched it last night and it’s just amazing to see how far the boys have come and it did feel like we were kids back then.”
For Ward the club’s development on the field over the past two seasons has been a highlight, while the GIANTS growth off field hasn’t gone un-noticed.
“We’ve come a huge way, in the first year I got here we had hardly any rooms,” he said.
“Four or five years later we’re actually playing good, competitive footy and we’ve got a great football club here with terrific facilities.”
Ward’s career at the GIANTS has been packed with firsts; He’s an inaugural co-captain, kicked the club’s first goal and won the inaugural Kevin Sheedy Medal.
“Hopefully when I have a few kids I can show them a few highlights of the first goal the GIANTS ever kicked and it’s me and the first player to reach 100 games and it’s me,” he said.
“I think when I’m 40 or 50 years old that’s something I can be really proud of but for now it’s strange.”
The GIANTS can expect an early physical onslaught from the Power if Port Adelaide's win over North Melbourne last Saturday is anything to go by, with that result leaving the door slightly open for Port to make a late charge for a finals berth.
Port sit two games behind the eighth-placed Kangaroos on the ladder with six games remaining in the home-and-away season, and Ward is prepared for a furious start to this week's clash.
"This is probably the most finals-like game we've come across in the last month or two," Ward said.
"Port Adelaide are playing really good, tough footy, which is what we like to play against, good contested footy.
"I'm expecting a really hard contest at their home ground. I think they'll start really hard early and think they're right to get us."
