CNRU: Brendan Rixon celebrates his 200th game for Pirates

More than two decades after he first pulled on the black and gold, Brendan Rixon became just the fifth person to play 200 games for the club, joining Trappel brothers Simon and James, Dave Barnett and Bart Leach.

On 178 games at last record on the club's website, which was the start of the 2020 season, he had no idea until he turned up at the ground for their clash with Walcha on Saturday.

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"I walked in the gate and a couple of boys said do you know it's your 200^th today?" he said.

"I was like nah."

Not one to get too caught up in all of that, all he knew was it was "more than 150", having celebrated that a few seasons ago, and "less than 200".

One of Tamworth's best sporting allrounders - he is regarded as one of the city's finest cricketers - the man affectionately known as "Ricko" played his first game on July 14, 2001, at Inverell.

Over the ensuing years he has become one of the club's favourite sons.

Mat Kelly played with, and later coached Rixon, and said he is "just a proper clubman" and someone who would "do anything for the team".

"It's not so much the actual games but at training he held everyone to account," he continued.

"He is an ultimate professional."

He also "understands what it takes to win competitions" and "set the standard for everything".

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He is tough too, Kelly recalling their grand final rematch against Walcha in early 2018. He played most of the game with a broken arm that would end up ruling him out until just before the finals series.

Coaching Pirates at the time, Kelly said then he hadn't "played with much tougher than him."

He is also one of those players who you knew what you were going to get from, he said.

And "you could put him anywhere". Even in the forwards.

These days established as a key cog in the midfield, in his younger years Rixon, on occasion, packed down in the backrow.

He hasn't done that for a long time now, but his versatility is still one of his strongest attributes. This season he has been shuffled between five-eighth, and inside and outside centre.

The only club he has really known since he was a teenager - he did play a few seasons for West Harbour while he was living down in Sydney - Pirates means a lot to him.

"It's a pretty good club and it does mean a fair bit and I'll probably look back when I finish playing and say this was pretty cool," he said of the milestone.

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It almost didn't happen, with the 38-year-old father of three - Oscar is seven years old, Arabella is five and Archie is two - retiring after their 2018 triumph.

But, like many before him, he discovered he wasn't ready to hang up the boots just yet.

Part of six premierships, when asked if there were any particular games that stood out, he couldn't go past the grand finals to win those.

"They're pretty special," he said.

"It's always good (too) to play here (Ken Chillingworth Oval) in front of friends and family."

He celebrated with a win, with Pirates beating Walcha 50-12.

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