Ward, who recently signed a contract extension until April next year,has flourished at the club since returning to Australia from a frustrating spell in England.

Following Football Federation Australia’s announcement earlier this month, each Hyundai A-League club can now have a maximum $150,000 salary for one Under 23 player exempt from the salary cap, allowing Victory to hold on to Ward.

“We’ve announced Nick Ward as our new Under 23 marquee player, which is a great decision by FFA to enable that,” Victory Football Operations Manager Gary Cole said.

“The way it’s structured, with clubs being able to spend up to $150,000 outside of the salary cap, gives you an opportunity to keep players in the country, albeit for maybe only another year or two, and establish them.

“For Nick, he’s almost back to full fitness now and I think we’ve seen him do a great job for us in the last few games of the Hyundai A-League and he’s done a great job throughout the AFC Champions League as well.”

Ward said his decision to stay in Melbourne was made easier following the medical treatment he’s received since arriving at Victory from English side Queens Park Rangers in December last year.

“It came down to my groin injury as well, that played a big part in it,” Ward said.

“The treatment I’ve got down here has been first class and I haven’t missed a game, so they’ve monitored it and taken me out of training when they’ve had to and I get treatment everyday.

“That played a massive part because I didn’t want to head overseas not fit and Melbourne’s been great.

“You get the lifestyle back in Australia and also, in my case, better treatment than what I was getting in the UK.

“It’s still something on my mind and it’s an aspiration of mine to go back (to Europe), but I’m happy in Melbourne at the moment and I want to be successful in Melbourne and win some trophies.”

The attacking midfielder, who turned 23 in March, played a pivotal role in the Qantas Under 23s campaign to qualify for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and is confident of securing a spot to represent Australia in August.

“That’s the plan for me, the Olympics is a massive thing.

“I didn’t go to the last camp because of my injury and I wanted to be fit, so I took six weeks off from training, just working in the gym so I could be ready for the AFC Champions League.

“It’s going to be a tough time because I’m not going to get an off-season, but the Olympics only come around once in a lifetime.”

Ward added the team was looking forward to its final AFC Champions League 2008 match against Thailand’s Chonburi FC at Telstra Dome on Wednesday, 21 May and is determined to finish second in Group G.