Quite the journey to 100 games for Brayden Noble

Brayden Noble might have been a late bloomer but has been a mainstay of the Swan Districts' forward-line since his arrival and now will reach his 100-game milestone this Saturday.

Having grown up on a farm and then even when attending boarding school at Aquinas, playing WAFL football was never really on Noble's radar and if it was, it was going to be as a small forward or midfielder.

That all changed with a growth spurt late into his teens that helped him build the frame that now allows him to be a key forward with Swan Districts and a back up ruckman, but it was still a long journey before playing WAFL.

Noble played in colts, reserves and A-grade premierships with Trinity-Aquinas when by the end of 2016, it came time to give WAFL a try.

He signed with Swan Districts and has never looked back, now having played 99 games since, kicking 104 goals and becoming a husband to Nicole and father to Oliver and Flynn along the way.

Noble will become the 98th player to reach 100 games with Swan Districts this Saturday against South Fremantle at Fremantle Community Bank Oval, and it's something that means a lot to the 30-year-old.

"It means a lot. Obviously I've had an unusual route to WAFL footy where I wasn’t part of any development squads or anything like that," Noble said.

"I was at Trinity-Aquinas in the Amateurs for seven years before I came down to Swans so I was fairly late to it all. When I came down I was just hoping to play a game of WAFL, I never thought I would get to play 100 that's for sure.

"Unfortunately we haven’t had a huge amount of success in my time and that's obviously been the main goal. In my first year we won a final against West Perth but apart from that we've been starved of too much success.

"That's been the main priority, but it has sort of flown by really and managing to tick over 100 games means a lot to now know I'll be part of the club's history.

"To see my name on the locker will be pretty cool and I've got two boys at the moment so it's going to be a pretty cool little milestone to tick off that they can see as well. I would give away 99 games and just play one for a premiership that's for sure, though, and that's still the goal and hopefully it's still possible this year."

Football journey that nearly never was

While Noble always enjoyed playing football, the simple physical reality of being relatively small throughout his school years meant that he never expected to really take the sport anywhere.

Even throughout school at Aquinas he mostly played thirds football and while he moved onto colts at Trinity-Aquinas, it was really only until his second season there when his growth spurt was in full swing that things started to advance with his football.

He was part of some strong success with Trinity-Aquinas too with premierships at colts, reserves and A-grade level but still he was almost until his mid-20s when he fully felt comfortable with his game and body out on the field.

"I was a really late bloomer so that obviously kept me out of playing a high level growing up. I went to school at Aquinas and played 8As but then after that wasn’t in any of the A sides," Noble said.

"The highest level I played in Years 11 and 12 was thirds, I couldn’t even crack into the A sides. That was mainly just due to size and I didn’t really hit puberty until I was uni so I was always very small when I was at school.

"Then once I got to TAs in my first colts year I couldn’t get into the As but that was the year I stated to grow. I went from being one of the smallest year in my whole year at Aquinas and then grew about a foot in 18 months so I went from a forward pocket/midfield role to being a tall forward in the space of a year.

"It probably took me a while to find my legs after that and there was lots of learning and growing early at TA's. I still wasn’t playing at the highest level I could but then the second year of colts with Daniel Spencer as coach was when I got into the team.

"They had just won a premiership and went back-to-back which was able to be part of. After that colts premiership in 2011, I went into reserves and won a couple more premierships as I was learning how to play the game at a senior level which culminated in the first A-grade premiership in 2016.

"That's when I was playing my best footy and I was lucky enough to have Quinten Lynch and Ryan Murphy in the forward-line with me."

Making the leap to give WAFL a try

It was following that A-grade premiership with Trinity-Aquinas that at the end of 2016 Noble felt that it would be likely now or never to give WAFL a try.

While he did have discussions with Peel Thunder and Perth, it was Swan Districts who seemed the most keen and appeared to have a clear role for him there in the forward-line.

When there was the chance to reunite with Ricky Cary, that helped sway his decision and really he has never looked back.

"Throughout that year I spoke mostly to Peel Thunder and that was sort of the first contact I had with a WAFL club," Noble added.

"Then later in the year I spoke with Smarty down at Swans and a little bit with Perth too just at the end. I'm not really 100 per cent sure why I chose Swans but Peel felt like it was a bit far away and we were living in Vic Park at the time so Bassendean was a bit closer.

"I actually went to school and played thirds footy with Ricky Cary so it helped that he was there at Swans too so it was funny how our journeys panned out.

"But Swans showed a bit more interest so I was happy to come down to have a crack, and then I might have got a bit lucky position wise where they were looking for that second or third tall forward at the time.

"I wasn’t expecting to play straight away but I must have done enough over pre-season to crack a game for Round 1 that year and that was the start of the journey. It was a pretty steep learning curve but I was 24, turning 25 by that stage so I think that helped me deal with a little bit more because I was that bit more mature."

Noble has cemented himself as a key player in the Swan Districts team from Round 1 of the 2017 season onwards. Whether it's the main target in attack, being the second or third option, and then being able to play as a backup ruckman, he's been such a valuable player over his 99 games.

"Since then it's pretty smooth sailing but I did play two ressies games twice along the way," he said.

"That had a bit to do with form and injury as well, I had some stress fractures in my foot at the end of my first year but for the most part I've managed to sort of hold down a position which has been good.

"I'm probably a little bit lucky along the way too where we were struggling a bit we might not have had much depth in that position which might have helped me play a few more games than I otherwise might have."

Sharing the milestone with family

Noble now can't wait to share his milestone on Saturday with his wife Nicole and two young sons Oliver and Flynn, but what it does do is put in perspective the commitment it takes to play 100 WAFL games, but also the sacrifices and support he has had from his wife to get there.

"Obviously it's pretty hard and there's not too many guys playing WAFL footy with kids just because of the time commitment of it all trying to balance footy with a full-time job and a family, there's just not enough time in the week to do it all, and give enough time to everyone," Noble said.

"I feel like there's times you don't give enough time to footy, definitely don't give enough time to my family especially during the season, and then work misses out on a fair bit too at times. Obviously my wife has made some pretty big sacrifices so I can play out my WAFL footy dream I guess with the two kids at home.

"That period of 4 o'clock until I get home at about 8 o'clock is probably the hardest part of the day to get the kids fed, bathed and down to sleep.

"She does that three or four nights a week while I'm at footy so to be able to share a milestone like this with her, it makes you realise she's made a bigger commitment than me so I can do it.

"So that will be special and to run out with my two little boys, I've got Oliver who is two, almost three and then little Flynn who is nine months. Being able to look back on that will be pretty cool in the future."

Whether it's his wife, young sons, his parents, parents in-law or the friends that will be there, Saturday is going to be special on a number of fronts for his milestone day for Noble at Fremantle Community Bank Oval.

"Mum and dad live on a farm about two and-a-half hours north near a little town called Watheroo and they are down pretty much every weekend as well," he said.

"So for them to share that with me will be special and my in-laws will be there too. They have jumped on the bandwagon too to follow Swans since I've played WAFL footy, and they pretty much haven’t missed a game either and travel up from Secret Harbour.

"I'll have quite a few mates there as well and it feels like a special day to celebrate with them and the sacrifices they've all made along the way to help me to get to 100.

"We've got a dinner booked afterwards with a few friends and family to hopefully be celebrating a win first of all, but maybe look back on the footy career a little bit so far. Hopefully it can still culminate in a premiership this year but we need to get that first win first and foremost."