Ryan Gardner Biography

Ryan Gardner will miss the start of the 2023 season after suffering an elbow injury.

"Ryan sustained a small crack to one of the bones in his elbow and we’ve decided that the best course of action to fix the injury is to undergo minor surgery," Bulldogs Head of Sports Medicine Chris Bell said.

"This operation will repair the area of bone damage and be completed this afternoon."

Ryan Gardner makes his AFL debut for the Western Bulldogs at Perth Stadium with 9 disposals (3 kicks and 6 handballs), 2 marks, a tackle and a goal in a 61-point loss to West Coast.

After being drafted by the Bulldogs with pick 6 in the 2019 Mid-season Rookie Draft, former Cat Ryan Gardner says has no regrets about the way he committed himself in his first AFL life, but that his departure taught him plenty.

"It was a bit of an eye-opener because I went from obviously being in school, straight onto an AFL list, so it was a bit of an eye-opener to be in the working world," Gardner said.

"Just to have to do that kind of stuff, then go and train and try and play football (was tough), so looking at it now, I'm definitely going to do a lot more study and try and give myself the best crack for after footy as well.

"It still feels surreal and to be giving myself an opportunity is pretty incredible and I just have to make sure now that I do everything I can to get my chance, hopefully, at AFL level."

It's been a crazy 24 hours for Bulldogs mid-season recruit Ryan Gardner, with the key position player told he will make his AFL debut against West Coast this week after not managing a senior game in three years with Geelong.

Western Bulldogs select Ryan Gardner with pick No.6 in the 2019 Mid-Season Draft.

Stewart Crameri, Aaron Black, Ryan Gardner, Cory Gregson, Matthew Hayball and Timm House are delisted by Geelong.

"We sincerely thank all six players for their service to the club, whether it be over a short or a long period, these players have all made a contribution to Geelong as footballers and as quality people," Cats head of football Simon Lloyd said.

"The club wishes them all the best as they embark on their future endeavours."

Jake Kolodjashnij made a costly bet to pay for the end-of-season trip flights for Ryan Gardner if the defender-turned-forward kicked six goals against Northern Blues in the VFL.

After taking on the nickname of 'Plugger' since his move forward in the past fortnight, Gardner will soon be laughing all the way to the USA.

"Joel Selwood's talked about passing the hat around for poor old Kola because he's made the big call he'll pay for his (Gardner's) trip away if he kicked six," Cats coach Chris Scott said.

"I think Jake's on reasonable money, but that's going to hurt him a little bit."

Ryan Gardner wanted to be thrown in at the deep end this season and so far the first-year Geelong key defender has not been disappointed.

Gardner said playing on the competition's best forwards was daunting at times, but invaluable for his development.

"I've found it pretty challenging playing on guys like Travis Cloke," Gardner said.

"But I basically said to 'Cheese' (VFL coach Shane O'Bree) I'd like to play on their best player each week just to boost my confidence and even if I did have a bad week I'd know it's going to help me improve.

"I'd rather throw myself into the deep end than play on guys that I know I can beat."

Gardner is focused on finishing 2016 strongly in the VFL, knowing he has plenty of work ahead of him before he can think of making his AFL debut.

"My body is still not up to AFL standard and I'm still learning a fair bit about some of our structures as well," he said.

"The club has said I'm a long-term player in that it will take me a while to get there.

"I just want to learn all the craft so when it comes to getting my go I can hold a spot in the AFL team."

Geelong select Ryan Gardner with pick No.65 at the 2015 NAB AFL Draft.

"We wouldn't have drafted a tall defender just for the sake of it but we drafted Ryan because we feel like he can develop into an AFL player," Cats recruiting chief Stephen Wells said.