Rumble shoots for historic fifth flag with SubiacoFriday, September 19, 2014 - 9:45 PM - by Chris Pike

DARREN Rumble has the chance to become Subiaco's most successful ever player with a fifth premiership on Sunday and he will have a big job to do on East Perth full-forward Josh Smith to help that cause.

Rumble shared the 2004, 2006, 2007 and 2008 premierships with Alistair Pickett, Luke Newick, Marc Webb, Chad Cossom and Mark Haynes but is the last remaining player with four flags to his credit at the Lions giving him the chance of the rare feat of a fifth flag if they beat the Royals this Sunday.

He was in his first full season of league football in 2004 cementing himself as one of the best full backs in the league and now a decade later not only has he played in three more flags, but amassed 210 matches as he prepares for his sixth grand final and 18th final overall.

Subiaco's only other premiership players are Shaun Hildebrandt (2007, 2008), Kyal Horsley (2008) and Wayde Twomey (2010, Swan Districts) while Jason Bristow, Scott Worthington, Horsley, Chris Phelan, Hildebrandt, Brad Stevenson, Clancy Wheeler, Rumble and George Hampson played in the 2011 grand final loss to Claremont.

Despite Rumble's vast finals and grand final experience, he won't be doing anything out of the ordinary this week instead hoping that those who were there in 2011 have learnt from the experience.

"I won't be speaking too much, I'll just tell them to keep level-headed and enjoy the week because that's part and parcel of it, and it's why you play," Rumble said.

"Last time we played in a grand final it might have got to us a bit and we didn’t quite perform on the day, but that's a lesson learnt because quite a few of these guys did play that day. Hopefully they can take something out of that game to bring it into this one."

Subiaco looks set to regain captain Horsley, full-forward Matt Boland and half-forward Hampson for the grand final, but Rumble also hopes that the Lions have learned from 2011 that no player should line up unless 100 per cent because they have already proven they can win without their stars.

"If those guys get up, they get up but the thing we learned from 2011 even though we have a new coaching staff, is that you can't go in with guys who are half done. You need blokes who are fully fit and ready to go," he said.

"We showed at the start of the year when he (Horsley) wasn’t playing that we could win without him as well, and everyone has been playing their role.

"We haven’t had anyone who has won the game off their own bat this year, so we knew we could win without him but it would be great to have him back with all his leadership and the way he sets up the midfield. When he comes back next week we'll be so happy for him."

Subiaco was the only team not to lose to East Perth during the home and away season winning both encounters, but the Royals prevailed in the second semi-final to the tune of 32 points.

However, the Royals certainly hold no fears for Rumble and his Subiaco teammates but he himself is gearing up for yet another battle with East Perth's full-forward Smith. The pair have locked horns in most East Perth-Subiaco clashes since Smith returned from North Melbourne in 2011.

"I think we know how to play against them but in the second semi we didn’t take our chances when we had them," Rumble said.

"If we did that, we might have evened things up but they are just a good team and don't have any weaknesses across the board at all. We'll need to be at our best to win and if we're not, things might not go our way. We'll just freshen up this week and see how we go.

"He (Smith) is a very good player obviously and you don’t get to play on too many out and out forwards these days, but he is one. He is strong, he works hard and he knows when and where to lead, and his marking ability is amazing so if you get caught behind you won't mark it and it's hard to spoil him.

"I'll be prepared for him if I play on him, but there will be a couple of other blokes a chance to play on him as well and I might get rotated on to some other guys too."

After losing the second semi-final, Subiaco had to win through to the grand final the hard way and the task of beating East Fremantle became all the tougher when Horsley, Boland and Hampson were all missing.

However, the Lions stood firm and showed great fighting qualities to withstand what the Sharks threw at them, capitalise on their inaccuracy and grab their own chances when presented.

Rumble certainly rates it highly in terms of wins during his career and the brave second half efforts of small forward Chris Deluca to get hurt while putting his body on the line to set up a goal, and then return after being taken off on a stretcher gave all his teammates a huge lift.

"It was probably one of the toughest games I've played for a few years. As a defender it felt like the ball was coming in all the time, but the boys stood pretty tall," Rumble said.

"They did get a few shots on goal obviously, but some of them were due to our pressure and a few rushed behinds as well. It was just a good team effort across the board in the end. We just put in and got the win.

"When I saw him (Deluca) go down I was just hoping it wasn’t anything too serious but then when I saw him go off on a stretcher I thought it might have been. Then to be honest I didn’t realise he'd come back on until he started tackling blokes in the forward-line.

"It was just good to see him up and about, and that it wasn’t anything too serious. It gave us all a lift because his pressure is enormous and we rely on it so much from him and his brother. I'm just glad that it wasn’t another injury to what we've got."

While Subiaco's forward-line of Boland, Andrew McDougall, Shane Yarran, Hampson, Rhys Waters, Chris and Josh Deluca, and Lachlan Delahunty, and midfield of Horsley, Bristow and Phelan might receive most of the attention, the back-line is looking rock solid.

Led by Rumble, there is the emerging Daniel Leishman along with youngster Charlie Le Fanu, and Stevenson and Worthington who have come back in over recent weeks along with the experience and class of Twomey.

Rumble has been impressed with the continued development of Leishman who has transformed from an erratic, running defender to someone who can still provide dashing run, but is strong defensively evidenced by two shutdown jobs on Brett Peake in the last three weeks.

"Just his athleticism helps him out so much. He has improved his kicking and decision-making as well even though I still get into him a bit on the ground and he gets a bit annoyed at me, but that's just part of learning a bit of white line fever, and he understands that," he said.

"It's just good to see him keep developing because he has only played in the back-line for a few years now after always being forward. It's just great to see him and blokes like Charlie keep developing, and Stevo as well who also started as a forward."

Another major factor in the success of Subiaco this season has been having an experienced, skilful and composed player to set up play from defence in the form of Twomey with the former Simpson Medallist, premiership player and Carlton player arriving from Swan Districts.

"We probably haven’t had that for quite a while, probably since Greg Broughton played. He is good at zoning off and helping out as a third man, and he has just been enormous for us," he said.

"His leadership has been great as well, he always thinks about the game and the knowledge he passes on is enormous. I've learned a lot off him this year and we are happy to have him, and glad he chose us to come to."

Following a host of retirements from the WAFL this year including Claremont's Luke Blackwell, Trinity Handley, Matt Orzel and Andrew Foster, East Fremantle's Steven Dodd, Perth's Nick Kane, South Fremantle's Kris Miller and West Perth's Dan Hunt and Anthony Tsalikis, Rumble sees no reason why he will be joining them just yet and he's already looking towards 2015.

"I'm feeling alright and I think I can cater for work and things outside of footy, and my wife isn’t giving me any grief so I can't see any reason why I won't go on again," Rumble said.

"I'm enjoying it and while you are doing that, you might as well keep going because you are a long time retired. If you can keep playing and work the things out outside of footy, then why not go on again."