Refreshed O'Brien wants ultimate success with ThunderThursday, May 19, 2016 - 10:30 AM - by Chris Pike

RORY O'Brien is proud to have now reached 100 games at Peel Thunder and he has his sights set on earning life membership at the club he began his WAFL career at and will finish it with.

O'Brien made his league debut with Peel in 2005 and ever since has been one of the most prolific ball winners, hardest working and most consistent midfielders in the competition.

And he has been rewarded as the most decorated current WAFL player with three fairest and best awards with East Fremantle, two with Peel, the 2013 Sandover Medal, two appearances for Western Australia and being Sharks skipper for two years.

O'Brien has now played 208 WAFL matches made up of 108 at East Fremantle and 100 with Peel following Saturday's game at Fremantle Community Bank Oval when he brought up the century with the Thunder in his first season back with the Mandurah-based club.

Peel is a vastly different club in 2016 than the one O'Brien left at the end of 2010. They have now played in the finals for the first time and O'Brien is keen to be part of success with the club after it looked a long way off during his first 92 games before joining the Sharks.

The Thunder currently sits in fourth position with a 4-4 record and O'Brien is confident they can improve further in the second half of 2016.

"The club's in a good position to have an impact this year. If you compare it back to when I was there eight or nine years ago, it's a totally different place. Now that we are aligned with Fremantle and having made finals last year, the club has definitely changed in terms of professionalism and training standards, but the young guys are buying in," O'Brien said.

"And with the coaches we have in Shep, Anthony Rock, David Hale and Roger Hayden it's really good for the young guys to learn off them and I think we are in an OK position at the moment.

"I don’t think we are playing to our full potential yet but we feel like we are in an OK position at this time of the year with a lot more to give to the competition to make sure we are ready and firing at the right time of the season. Our ambition at the moment is to try and finish as high on the ladder as possible to give us a good chance in September."

O'Brien might have not played in finals at Peel yet, but he did take part in the 2012 grand final against Claremont at East Fremantle and then a 2014 preliminary final against Subiaco that the Sharks blew their chances of winning.

Having got close twice in his career has whetted O'Brien's appetite to achieve that ultimate success and he is desperate to help Peel breakthrough for a first WAFL premiership, or if he can't be part of it he would take great pride in helping to set it up.

"That's why I play footy is for that team success and win that premiership. You go back to that grand final loss and it hurt but the prelim final probably hurt even more just because I feel we lost it," he said.

"The inaccuracy in front of goal is something that still haunts me a little bit and people bring it up a fair bit. Trying to get that success is definitely a driving factor for myself and all the young guys at Peel because that's what I'm chasing.

"If it's not in my playing career at Peel, I hope that I can at least have a hand in setting up that ultimate success and I can leave a mark on this group so they can achieve it.

"If I can't achieve it, I'd like to help the young guys at the club as much as I can so they can get it because I want to see this club successful. It's a privilege to win premierships and I've seen Subiaco win plenty of them in my career, but I would just be happy with one."

The major factor behind O'Brien leaving East Fremantle at the end of 2015 as captain to return to Peel was because of the toll the travelling from Mandurah was having.

That was eating away at his time at home with wife Ebony and children Ivy and Hugo, and the only way he was going to continue playing WAFL football was if it was with Peel so that the travel factor was taken out of it.

Now that he is back with Peel, he feels rejuvenated having to spend a lot less time in the career and as a result, the 29-year-old has committed to continue playing with Peel up until the end of 2018 and potentially further if his form continues on the way it currently is.

"Taking the travel out of it now I think it's going to help me a lot in terms of how long I can play on for. Now that I'm not sitting in the car for eight to 10 hours a week just for footy, that's definitely helped my body stay fresh and I look at someone like Craig Wulff and take inspiration from him," O'Brien said.

"He has been a sensational player and I've been lucky enough to play against him for so many years, and I look up to him. I would love to get to 250 games if my body holds up and 150 for Peel to get life membership would be great as well.

"I've committed to three years for Peel and I think I'll be able to see that out and the club is very understanding with my age and experience, and tailoring training to that and my work commitments.

"That will help me keep going as well and I do feel that I have a good three years left in me and I imagine that will see me playing a variety of roles for the team. I can get that out of my body and if there's more that will be great."