Amber Ward (born 12 October 2001) is an

Australian rules footballer Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

playing for

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

. She was selected by the

West Coast Eagles The West Coast Eagles are a professional Australian rules football club based in Perth, Western Australia. The club was founded in 1986 as one of two expansion teams in the Australian Football League (AFL), then known as the Victorian Football ...

as an undrafted free agent following the

2020 AFL Women's draft The 2020 AFL Women's draft consists of the various periods when the 14 clubs in the AFL Women's competition can recruit players prior to the competition's 2021 season. Signing and trading period A significantly delayed trade period was anno ...

, and made her

AFL Women's AFL Women's (AFLW) is Australia's national semi-professional Australian rules football league for female players. The first season of the league in February and March 2017 had eight teams; the league expanded to 10 teams in the 2019 season, 1 ...

debut in round 1 of the

2021 AFL Women's season The 2021 AFL Women's season was the fifth season of the AFL Women's competition, the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Australia. The season featured fourteen clubs, ran from 28 January until 17 April, and comprised ...

Career

Ward formerly played soccer, only beginning to play Australian rules football three years before being signed with West Coast in 2020. She represented

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

in the

2018 AFL Women's Under 18 Championships The 2018 NAB AFL Women's Under 18 Championships, AFL Women's Under-18 Championships was played between May and July 2018, with six teams competing in the main 'Series 2' round robin tournament and with a further four playing in a two-match on-on- ...

, and the Central Allies (South Australian and the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...

) in the

2019 AFL Women's Under 18 Championships The 2019 NAB AFL Women's Under-18 Championships was played between May and July 2019, with six teams competing in the main 'Series 2' round-robin tournament and with a further four playing in a two-match one-on-one exhibition as the competition' ...

. In the

SANFLW SANFL Women's League (also known as the SANFLW or the Hostplus SANFL Women's League) is the major state-level women's Australian rules football league in South Australia. History The league was launched in February 2017, initially comprising ...

, Ward played for

North Adelaide Football Club North Adelaide Football Club, nicknamed The Roosters, is an Australian rules football club affiliated with the South Australian National Football League (SANFL) and SANFL Women's League (SANFLW). The club plays its home games at Prospect Oval, ...

. She nominated for the

2019 AFL Women's draft The 2019 AFL Women's draft consisted of the various periods when the 14 clubs in the AFL Women's competition can recruit players prior to the competition's 2020 season. At the conclusion of the period clubs were required to have 27 senior-lis ...

, but wasn't picked. She nominated again for the

, and was selected by the

as an undrafted

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

. Players that are not drafted from their nominated state by the end of the draft can be approached and signed by clubs outside of their state as undrafted free agents, as long as those clubs have room on their team. She made her

debut in the first round of the

, on 30 January 2021, playing against . Ward was one of three former North Adelaide players making their debut in 2021 for West Coast. She continued through the season to play all nine matches. In June 2022, she was traded to

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ward, Amber 2001 births Living people West Coast Eagles (AFLW) players North Adelaide Football Club players