Champion defender Rumble reaches 200 but focus stays on team

DARREN Rumble enjoyed his enormous success in his first six years as a league footballer with Subiaco and despite reaching his 200th match with the Lions this Saturday, his sole focus is on helping give the club a chance to again be a premiership contender.

Rumble played one league match in a Subiaco team in 2003 that lost the grand final to West Perth, but cemented his place in the side in 2004 and the next six years were remarkable.

Subiaco won premierships in 2004, 2006, 2007 and 2008 in the club’s best ever period and Rumble was a key part of it as an outstanding key defender who helped keep goals out while superstar teammates worked their magic further up the field.

On top of the four premierships he was part of, Rumble has represented Western Australia on four occasions and is a life member of the Subiaco Football Club so it has already been a remarkable career for the 29-year-old from Balga.

Rumble will become just the fourth current WAFL player to reach 200 games this Saturday when Subiaco hosts East Fremantle at Leederville’s Medibank Stadium – he sits behind East Perth’s Craig Wulff (234), his Subiaco teammate Shaun Hildebrandt (228) and Swan Districts’ Tallan Ames (203).

Given that 200 games is such a remarkable achievement for a WAFL footballer, it’s a time to celebrate Rumble’s career and even though he has never been one to hog the limelight and gets a little embarrassed by the attention, he won’t complain if people speak highly of him.

“I do feel privileged that people say so many kind words about me at a time like this, but sometimes I get a bit embarrassed about it. I’m not really one to be in the limelight and it’s a bit embarrassing when people talk so highly of you, but it is nice for people to come out and say kind things about you. I appreciate all of it,” Rumble said.

“I still feel privileged when I hear the things I have achieved and especially the last few years when you realise it’s tough to have success and to win premiership, and play in State games and that type of thing. I realise now that it’s pretty special that I was able to achieve everything that I have, but hopefully I have another couple of years left and there is more to add to it yet.”

Early on in his career, Rumble felt that reaching 200 games might come quite easy given he hasn’t had any serious injuries, started his league career relatively young and has not taken any time away from the WAFL.

However, as he nears his 30th birthday he realises just how big of a commitment it is to continue to play WAFL football while maintaining a career and starting to build a family – not to mention the toll it takes on your body.

“Initially I thought I would get to 200 games because I thought I would be able to play at least until I was 30, but as you get older you start realising that you pull up pretty sore, injuries start to creep in and the commitment side of things is huge,” he said.

“Kris Miller reached 300 games with three kids and a full-time job and I just don’t know how he did it. As I’ve got older, trying to commit to all the training sessions and having my whole weekend taken up by footy because I can hardly move now on Sundays has got tougher. Because of all that commitment required, I think it’s a pretty decent achievement reaching 200 games.”