Ward: Griff has not settled well at Giants

Former Western Bulldogs captain Ryan Griffen has struggled to fit in at the GWS Giants and is yet to make anything resembling an impact around the club, says teammate Callan Ward.

The pair was reunited after Griffen decided he needed to abandon the Dogs at the end of last season, three years after Ward also decided money sure beat playing at Footscray.

“He’s been really poor, he is not really enjoying Sydney, he rarely comes to training, and I think he hates all the boys,” said Ward on SEN radio.

“He has been a poor investment for us so far.”

The Giants co-captain admits he knew months before that his ex-teammate was so unhappy in the final months of his time at Whitten Oval and believes he hasn't been able to put that behind him.

“Yeah he told me in August, we all knew he was coming actually, but we had to keep it quiet,” explained Ward.

“I knew he was keen to leave the Bulldogs, and I think he just needed a club where he wouldn't have to do too much, such as speak for himself, I think he’s had that here.”

The playing group is coming to terms with the end of their break for the holidays and hoping to build on their six wins from last season.

“The boys hated going to Noosa and I think we really needed to go to a different country to train, but we keep spending cash on turncoats and losing our top draft picks,” said Ward of the Giants’ pre-Christmas training camp.

“We haven’t spoken about our goals too much, we’re just trying to manage our pay checks, but hopefully we can win enough games to activate the performance clauses in our contracts and collect a healthy bonus.”