On 27 May 2019, for the first time in 16 years, the AFL conducted a mid-season draft which delivered a belated first chance to nine players and a second chance to another four. Twelfth chosen among the 13 mid-season draftees was diminutive West Adelaide half-back John Noble who went to Collingwood.
Noble is the son of Tasmanian Football Hall of Famer David Noble, who played two AFL games with Fitzroy in 1991 ahead of 10 years with the Adelaide Crows as assistant coach, list manager and head of football, and was three years into a four-year stint as of football at Brisbane that eventually led to 38 games as senior coach at North Melbourne in 2021 and 2022.
The slightly-built blonde speedster quickly surpassed his father’s AFL games tally, and seven years on he has surpassed each of the other 2019 mid-season draftees.
Marlion Pickett, who got his chance at Richmond under Damien Hardwick after the retirement of Shaun Grigg, was the early poster boy of the Noble draft. He debuted in the 2019 grand final at 27 and when he retired in 2024 he played 91 games and won two flags.
Two others from the same draft get a notional ‘tick’ — Port Adelaide cast-off Will Snelling played 64 games at Essendon and Geelong cast-off Ryan Gardner has had 55 games in seven years at the Western Bulldogs, although only two since July 2023.
Pick #1 Josh Deluca (6), pick #3 Kyle Dunkley (5) and pick #9 Cam Sutcliffe (9) combined for 20 games, and the other six never played at AFL level.
And then there was Noble.
He had played five games (two finals) before Pickett’s fairytale debut. Pickett pulled level in the head-to-head game count at game #6, but after Noble went back in front at game #21 in the finals of the 2020 COVID season he was never headed.
And when Pickett played his 91st and last game in the final home-and-away round of 2024, Noble played his 112th and last game at Collingwood.
It was a crossroads moment. Pickett headed back to Western Australia for a life which has had its challenges, and Noble headed to Gold Coast to grow and flourish, to take on a more senior role with the SUNS and become one of the most dynamic running backmen in the competition.
And tonight, when the SUNS play Geelong in Geelong, he will play his 150th AFL game.
The undersized kid from Adelaide was the 134th of 135 first-time draftees who make up the Draft Class of 2018, which includes the 2019 Mid-Season Draft.
And despite giving the majority of the field a 10-round start, only six have beaten Noble to 150 — St Kilda rookie #1 Callum Wilkie (168) is at the top of the games list from Geelong rookie #11 Tom Atkins (166), Sydney #10 Nick Blakey (164) and #25 James Rowbottom (153), and Port Adelaide #5 Connor Rozee (152) and #12 Zak Butters (151).
The 17 players taken in the top 20 whom Noble has beaten to 150 games are:
#1 – Sam Walsh (Carlton) – 146
#2 – Jack Lukosius (Gold Coast/Port Adelaide) – 127
#3 – Izak Rankine (Gold Coast/Adelaide) – 115
#4 – Max King (St Kilda) – 83
#6 – Ben King (Gold Coast) – 132
#7 – Bailey Smith (Western Bulldogs/Geelong) – 139
#8 – Tarryn Thomas (North Melbourne) – 69
#9 – Chayce Jones (Adelaide) – 100
#11 – Jye Caldwell (Greater Western Sydney/Essendon) – 99
#13 – Isaac Quaynor (Collingwood) – 146
#14 – Jackson Hateley (Greater Western Sydney/Adelaide) – 28
#15 – Jordan Clark (Geelong/Fremantle) – 139
#16 – Ned McHenry (Adelaide) – 70
#17 – Sam Sturt (Fremantle) – 31
#18 – Xavier Duursma (Port Adelaide/Essendon) – 123
#19 – Liam Stocker (Carlton/St Kilda) – 92
#20 – Riley Collier-Dawkins (Richmond) – 11
After five games in his first season at Collingwood in 2019, Noble played 107 of a possible 113, including seven finals.
But the moment for which he was remembered best in black and white was not his dashing run off half-back, but his gut-wrenching omission from the 2023 finals side after he had played all 23 home-and-away games. He watched as Collingwood beat Brisbane in the grand final.
It was the bittersweet moment which, 12 months later, prompted him to seek a trade to the SUNS.
And now, at last, his career is about much more.
Since donning the red and yellow, he has played 37 games without a miss in his now trademark #2, lifting his average possession tally from 18.5 per game at Collingwood to 25.8.
And he has lifted his average player rating from 6.84 at Collingwood to 10.28 at Gold Coast. He finished eighth in the SUNS’ best and fairest last year and will be among the mid-point leaders this year.
He played in the SUNS’ historic first finals campaign last year and now will be a key figure as the club looks to bounce back from back-to-back losses to North Melbourne (away) and Brisbane (home) in a rare Friday night game at a venue where they have never won.
The SUNS are 0-9 at Kardinia Park and have lost there three times by more than 100 points in 2016-18.
And this week’s side, which sees the inclusion of Charlie Ballard, Zeke Uwland, Sam Clohesy and Ben Jepson, has a combined 1-47 record at the ground. Christian Petracca is the only player to have tasted success there. He is 1-6.
But, more relevant to this week, the SUNS have only played at the ‘Cattery’ once since 2021, when they lost by 24 points in Round 13 last year. Tyson Stengle kicked four goals while Max Holmes was best afield with 40 possessions and 10 tackles.
And more than half the side will go in against the fourth-placed Cats, coming off a one-point loss to Adelaide in Adelaide last week, with few or no misgivings.
Six SUNS will have their first look at the unusually long and narrow ground which is the Cats’ headquarters — Ned Moyle, Oscar Adams, Zeke Uwland, Lachie Gulbin, Ben Jepson and Jai Murray.
And a further seven have played there only once — Noble, Bodhi Uwland, Mac Andrew, Jed Walter, Leo Lombard, Bailey Humphrey and Clohesy.
