Emerging defender Ryan Gardner and yet-to-debut ruckman Jordon Sweet have signed one-year rookie contract extensions with the Western Bulldogs.

Gardner enjoyed a breakout season at the highest level in 2020, playing 10 AFL games including the Bulldogs’ elimination final.

The 23-year-old key defender joined the club in the 2019 NAB AFL Mid-Season Rookie Draft after spending the first half of that year with Footscray in the VFL.

“Ryan started to establish himself at senior level throughout the 2020 season,” General Manager of List and Recruiting, Sam Power, said.

“The more games he played, the more his confidence grew. Over the last month of the year, he started to look at home in our back line and showed strong form against some of the competition’s best forwards.

“We know Ryan has more development in him and look forward to seeing him take another step forward in 2021.”

Sweet continued his development in scratch matches in 2020 and was named as an AFL emergency on multiple occasions.

The 22-year-old big man joined the Bulldogs with pick 23 in the 2018 NAB AFL Rookie Draft.

“We’ve been pleased with Jordon’s continued development as a player over the past two years,” Power said. 

“He has continued to work hard on his game, which we saw at scratch match level this year. We believe Jordon will again be pushing to play AFL football in 2021.”