Not often do the football experts highlight ‘metres gained’. It’s not one of the ‘sexy’ statistics in a game that is being analysed more and more forensically, but in Darwin last Thursday night, John Noble might have been thinking it should be. At least for 48 hours.
Noble posted a Gold Coast SUNS club record 1001 metres gained in the eight-point win over Hawthorn – at the time, the most in the league this year.
Dynamic running off half back, the 2025 newcomer also recorded a career-best 36 possessions as he topped the SUNS metres gained count for the fifth time in nine games in red and gold. He’s also ranked second twice after he was 5th in Round 1 and 8th in Round 4.
Noble’s super-slick performance on Thursday night saw him better a SUNS record that had stood since Round 10, 2012, when Gary Ablett Jnr had 939m against Collingwood at the MCG when he had a club record 53 possessions.
Yet even before Noble was back to training this week after the extended stay in Darwin his 2025 league-high mark was bettered. The Western Bulldogs’ Bailey Dale had 1016 metres gained when he had a club record 49 possessions against Essendon at Marvel Stadium on Saturday night.
Still, Noble’s run and dash off half back is a key part of a package that has quickly become a key weapon for the 7-2 SUNS, who have climbed to third on the ladder with a game in hand. With fellow off-season recruit Daniel Rioli, Noble forms one of the most potent half-back pairings in the competition.
The AFL record for metres gained in a single match is 1169m held by ex-SUN Aaron Hall playing with North Melbourne 2022. He bettered the mark of 1153 posted by Richmond’s Joel Bowden in 2009.
More significantly, Noble’s 1001 ‘MG’ on Saturday night is one of only 11 beyond 1000m in 2868 AFL games since the SUNS joined the competition in 2011.
Members of the ‘Kilometre Club’ since 2011, which include SUNS assistant-coach Nick Malceski, are:
1169 – Aaron Hall (NM) – 2022
1131 – Nick Malceski (Syd) - 2013
1125 – Heath Shaw (GWS) - 2016
1065 – Pearce Hanley (Bris) -2014
1025 – Patrick Dangerfield (Geel) - 2016
1019 – Brodie Smith (Adel) - 2022
1018 – Riley Bonner (StK) - 2024
1016 – Bailey Dale (WB) – 2025
1010 – Daniel Rich (Bris) - 2023
1001 – John Noble (GC) - 2025
1000 – Chad Wingard (Haw) -2017
Noble’s huge night against Hawthorn has seen him climb to ninth position in aggregate AFL rankings for metres gain this year with 563.6m in nine games. He sits behind Geelong’s Bailey Smith (660.7m), Brisbane’s Dayne Zorko (606.3m), Hawthorn’s Karl Amon (589.8m), Dale (574.6m), St Kilda’s Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera (573.1mm), Bulldogs’ Ed Richards (570.9m), GWS’ Finn Callaghan (570.8m), Port’s Connor Rozee (566.6m) and ahead of Sydney’s Chad Warner (552.5m).
With the SUNS having a game in hand, Noble is third on averages, behind Smith and Amon.
Skipper Noah Anderson is 11th for aggregate numbers with 542.8m from nine games, and fifth on averages, behind Smith, Amon, Noble and Zorko.
Noble, whose 36-possession feast followed his 30-possession game against Sydney in Round 7 and topped his previous career-high of 31 in his 30th game with Collingwood in 2021, is only the seventh Gold Coast player to top 800m gained in a single match.
Noble’s 36-possession feast followed his 30-possession game against Sydney in Round 7 and topped his previous career-high of 31 in his 30th game with Collingwood in 2021.
He is only the seventh Gold Coast player to top 800m gained in a single match. Jack Lukosius had five 800m games, including 836m in the shortened games of the 2020 Covid season, while Hall had four in red and yellow, and Ablett, Dion Prestia, Trent McKenzie and Jarryd Lyons one each.
The SUNS, who will play Euro-Yroke (St Kilda) at Marvel Stadium on Sunday afternoon, have returned from a fourth consecutive 2-0 trip to Darwin in entirely new territory despite having a game in hand.
- Their 7-2 record and their 3rd position on the AFL ladder is the equal of their position at Round 10 in 2014, when they’d won five games in a row.
- Their percentage of 132.0 is the club’s highest at Round 10 in club history – by a long way. Next best was 112.7% last year. It was 112.6 at Round 10 in 2014.
The SUNS’ gutsy wins over the 5th-placed Bulldogs and the 4th-placed Hawks, which rank among their best under coach Damien Hardwick, saw vice-captain Sam Collins play his 10th game in Darwin last Thursday night to equal the record of ex-Port Adelaide tagger Kane Cornes and Port Adelaide/Fremantle utility Danyle Pearce.
Ben King’s five goals in the two games saw him equal the all-time Darwin goal-kicking record of 17, held by ex-Western Bulldogs captain Brad Johnson, while Noah Anderson’s 63 possessions in the past fortnight jumped him to second on the all-time Darwin possession list with 219 – behind only Cornes’ 277.
And the SUNS’ eighth win in Darwin makes them the ‘winningest’ team at Marrara Stadium. They are now one win ahead of the Western Bulldogs.
The SUNS have fielded 35 different players in their 2022-2025 Darwin visits, with five having cleared out as the great survivors in the energy-sapping heat and humidity that makes it such a challenge – Anderson, Collins, Ben Ainsworth, Joel Jeffery and Matt Rowell.
Rowell’s tireless display at the ‘coalface’ sees him now head the SUNS tackle, clearance and contested possession list for games in Darwin, and it will be a surprise if he doesn’t add to his club-high nine Brownlow Medal votes.
And Collins stamped himself as the ultimate ironman, playing 95% game time in both games this year. He now averages 93.75% game time in his eight games for the club in Darwin.
