Rory O'Brien proud to reach 100 games for ThunderThursday, May 12, 2016 - 11:56 AM - by Chris Pike

THERE is no more decorated current WAFL player than Rory O'Brien and he will be proud to reach another milestone this Saturday when he runs out to play with Peel Thunder for the 100th time in his career.

The prolific ball winning midfielder began his WAFL career with Peel back in 2005 and despite one year away in the SANFL with North Adelaide in 2008, he racked up 92 games with the Thunder and won two Tuckey Medals as fairest and best up until the end of 2010.

That's when he decided to join brother Brock in moving to East Fremantle and Rory put together an outstanding five years with the Sharks where he played 108 games, won a Sandover Medal and three Lynn Medal as the club's fairest and best.

He was also captain the past two years and his last game with the Sharks was the final round of 2015 when he brought up his 200-game WAFL milestone in a win over Perth.

With a Sandover Medal, five fairest and best awards, 200 games and having represented Western Australia, it was quite the resume that O'Brien had by the end of 2015 but the travel from Mandurah to East Fremantle was getting too much with his desire to spend more time at home helping wife Ebony, and with children Ivy and Hugo.

That meant he was prepared to leave his WAFL career behind him but when the chance popped up at Peel to make his return in 2016 he was more than happy to grab it and without the trouble of travelling to play and train, it has rejuvenated the 29-year-old.

He has returned to Peel in tremendous form averaging 26.7 disposals a game in 2016 and is seen as someone worth tagging by the opposition still as evidenced by West Perth's Dean Munn's close checking performance last Saturday.

And now O'Brien will bring up his 100th game for Peel this Saturday when the Thunder take on South Fremantle at Fremantle Community Bank Oval, and it's something he is tremendously proud of.

"Obviously to play 100 games at any club is a great achievement and it shows your dedication to the club, and to the game. To be able to get 100 games at the club that I first started at and who gave me my first opportunity, it will be pretty special," O'Brien said.

"To be able to do it at two clubs is something I'm pretty excited about being able to do. Doing it this way is obviously a bit different but to get to 100 games at Peel is definitely something I'm very honoured to be able to do and I'm excited about Saturday."

The time that he had to spend away from his family to travel to East Fremantle was the deciding factor in O'Brien's 108-game, three-time fairest and best winning career at the Sharks coming to an end.

He has nothing but fond memories of his time at East Fremantle but family had to come first and given they were all set up living in Mandurah and with his job at Infiniti Group, it was either Peel or bust in terms of his WAFL career continuing in 2016 and beyond.

"The main thing that led to me coming back this year was my family. I've always lived in Mandurah and commuted up to East Fremantle four times a week, and I was having to sacrifice a lot of family time," he said.

"That was starting to get a little bit hard with my wife at work and with us having two kids now. When I started at East Fremantle we didn’t have kids, but now I was missing out a lot on family time and my family is very important to me. That was the main driving factor.

"I wasn’t going to go back to East Fremantle because I wanted to be closer to my family and the opportunity arose at Peel to play back at the club I started. I had a good think about it and it fitted in with family and work, and I was excited about the opportunity. Now to look at it and be able to bring up 100 games it is exciting."

Things all fell into place nicely for his return to Peel with the retirement of captain Brendon Jones after the Thunder's maiden finals appearance in 2015.

And looking back now given the form he is in to start 2016, the way his body is holding up well and that he is rejuvenated taking the travel out of his training week, it would have been a shame if his career had to end after 2015.

"I was probably lucky in a way that the opportunity was there because I didn’t want to travel anymore because of family, so it would have been it for my career. For Peel to have that opportunity needing a senior player was just good timing for me and the club that it fell into place," he said.

"It would have been a bit of a shame if my career had ended and that was the tough thing to think about in the off-season. But knowing I could spend more time with my family was my focus. I had probably been a bit blinded the travel that I had done the last five years.

"It was OK when it was just me and my wife, but then when we had one child and then two, it got quite difficult with work picking up as well. I'm enjoying my footy still, though, and we have a great bunch of young guys at Peel and it's a much different feel than when I started there. It's an exciting place to be playing."

Saturday's game will also feature a nice symmetry with O'Brien's old derby sparring partner Ryan Cook celebrating his 100th game for South Fremantle at the same time as he brings up 100 for Peel.

The pair have had some terrific battles as East Fremantle-South Fremantle rivals, including the last two years as captains against one another, and O'Brien is full of respect for the Bulldogs skipper.

"He works with Brock and I did hear that Ryan is playing 100 on Saturday as well," O'Brien said.

"It's going to be a big game for both clubs and Ryan's a sensational player for the WAFL, and a great leader of South Fremantle. To be able to play my 100th against him is going to be a good challenge and hopefully I can be on the right end of the result but we'll wait and see what happens on Saturday.