SWFL men’s: Bunbury champion Jesse Gribble to break club’s all-time games played record with 269th appearance

Bunbury champion Jesse Gribble will break the Bulldogs’ all-time games played record when he makes his 269th appearance for the club this weekend. Gribble will surpass Mick Shinner when he pulls on the yellow and black for the 269th time in his side’s clash with Harvey Bulls at Payne Park on Saturday. The veteran is the owner of a glittering individual trophy cabinet which features a Pike Medal from the club’s 2020 premiership triumph, two Hayward Medals, two country championships fairest and best awards and six Bunbury best and fairest gongs. Remarkably, Gribble will break the record despite spending three of his prime seasons away from the club, playing 2015 and 2016 with Peel Football League side Halls Head and 2017 in the Perth Football League with Scarborough. While still contributing at a high level, Gribble said he was having to put more work into his body to get up for game day than he had in his younger years. “It’s been hard not training a great deal, as much as I used to,” he said. “There’s a lot of recovery during the week and by the time the weekend comes I feel just alright enough to play again. It’s a bit of a vicious circle, but I’m getting through. “To get through unscathed with not many injuries has been good, touch wood it stays that way.” Looking back on his career, Gribble said his premiership win was “100 per cent” the proudest moment of his career after missing the 2017 triumph while away from the club. “To win a premiership for the Bunbury footy club was something I’d dreamt of as a little kid,” he said. “I’d played all my junior footy for Bunbury and pretty much all my senior footy too. “To finally hold the cup up, that’s the highlight of my career. To do it again this year would be really nice.” The Bulldogs have made a strong start to the 2024 season, sitting second with a 7-2 win loss record and going the closest of any side so far to beating undefeated ladder-leaders South Bunbury. Gribble said the club’s current crop would be “right up there as one of the better teams we’ve put on the park for a while”. “We’ve got good chemistry at the moment,” he said. “The boys are keen to make an imprint on the year. “If we go close to winning it, that’d be a nice way to finish, I think.”