Perth-born Ward, 27, who won the A-League's inaugural Young Player of the Year award as a 21-year-old at Glory, has returned to his home city for the 2012-13 campaign after spells at QPR, Brighton, Melbourne Victory, Iraklis and Wellington Phoenix.

Ward was previously hailed as a national team prospect but never managed to take the next step in the green and gold nor in Europe and told au.fourfourtwo.com he hopes his return to Perth can help him “enjoy football again”.

“It's a fresh start for me, I felt like I'd gone a bit stale in Wellington,” Ward said, having left the Phoenix for Perth in the off-season. I never really adjusted to Wellington. "It probably wasn't the best move for me, with the lifestyle and I didn't really give it the chance. That's where my headspace was at the time.”

He added: “I wouldn't be the first footballer to have gone somewhere and not settled and got a bit stale and gone off football.

“It wasn't right for me. I can't fault the boys or anyone at Wellington. It was just a personal thing and I was counting down the days to get out and try something different.”

Ward burst on to the scene in the A-League's inaugural season, scoring five goals in 21 appearances for Perth and taking out the Young Player award before winning a dream move to QPR. However, Ward never quite made it abroad and has returned to Perth looking to find his best form again.

“It's a good way of life over here, the sun is always shining. I've got all my friends and family,” he said, before laughing: “I'm going surfing as much as I can, dodging sharks.”

Ward has signed a one-year deal with Glory and said his immediate goal was to get back to some form to win a longer term contract with the club.

“The biggest focus is to have a good season,” he said. “The last few seasons after I left Victory I was in limbo. I wasn't starting week in, week out, I've had a few injuries, so the last two seasons haven't been great for me.

“I want to get my name back out there and playing some good football and start enjoying it again.”

Ward, who had a slow start to pre-season after an Achilles problem, will battle with Jacob Burns and Liam Miller for a role in midfield at Glory.

He admitted he had been impressed by the 2011-12 grand finalists' squad in pre-season and hoped to be part of a successful side this term.

“A lot of the players who've come  in, like myself, (Michael) Thwaite, Adrian Zahra and Chris Harold, they've brought in good players and they've retained the core of last year, like Liam Miller and Jacob Burns,” he said.

“I've been really impressed with the squad. We'll be there or thereabouts.”

He added: “Liam Miller is someone I've been very impressed with. He reads the game well, he's got a great touch.

“(Shane) Smeltz as well, he hasn't trained much with us due to international duty, but you can see the class he's got, he makes great runs, he's always tucking away chances.”

As for his own future, Ward said he hopes to convince Glory boss Ian Ferguson he's worth a new contract beyond this term after a busy pre-season.

“I think I've shown I'm a starting XI player, I've been training well and Ian seems to like me,” he said. “So I need to make sure I do the business this season and hopefully get an extension.”

Meanwhile, Ferguson told au.fourfourtwo.com he had been impressed by Ward's work ethic and expected him to bring something to the line-up this term.

“Nick has been great. He is one who has settled in really well. He's a good lad, he works very hard and I don't think people give him the credit he deserves," Ferguson said.

"He's a very good footballer. Technically he is good, he's got great energy to get him up the park and that's something we're looking for. He's done well at times in pre-season for us.”