David Noble (born 15 May 1967) is a former Australian rules football coach, administrator and player, best known for his tenure as the senior men's coach of the North Melbourne Football Club in 2021 and 2022. He is the

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especial ...

Dick Johnson Racing Dick Johnson Racing (formerly DJR Team Penske), is Australia's oldest motor racing team competing in the Supercars Championship. The team currently fields the #11 and #17 Ford Mustang (sixth generation), Ford Mustang GTs for Anton de Pasqu ...

Playing career

North Hobart

A rover from Tasmania, Noble began his senior football career at North Hobart in the Tasmanian Football League in 1985. He soon was made vice-captain of the club, and won statewide premierships in 1987 and 1989.

Fitzroy

Noble was recruited to the Australian Football League by in the 1989 draft with the 111th pick. He played mostly in the reserves at Fitzroy. His senior debut in Round 6, 1991 was the first of four premiership matches which Fitzroy played on his former home ground,

North Hobart Oval North Hobart Oval is a sports venue in North Hobart, Tasmania, used for Australian rules football. History North Hobart Oval started its existence as Hobart Town's brickfields in 1844 before becoming a convict women's housing site, an immigr ...

, between 1991 and 1992 – but it was a disaster for Fitzroy, losing to by 157 points. He played only one more senior game for Fitzroy. He played two state of origin matches for Tasmania during his career.

Prahran

In 1992, Noble played for

Prahran Prahran (), also pronounced colloquially as Pran, is an inner suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 5 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Stonnington local government area. Prahran recorded a po ...

in the

Victorian Football Association The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football league in Australia serving as one of the second-tier regional semi-professional competitions which sit underneath the fully professional Australian Football League (AFL). It ...

. He then served a successful captain-coaching position at the Upwey-Tecoma Football Club in the

Yarra Valley Mountain District Football League The AFL Yarra Ranges was an Australian rules football and netball organisation based in the Yarra Valley and Dandenong Ranges within Victoria. The organisation operated the Yarra Ranges Senior Football league and the Yarra Ranges Junior Footba ...

in 1993 and 1994, winning two premierships and two best-and-fairest awards at the club. Noble retired from playing at the end of 1994.

Coaching career

Following his successful captain-coaching stint at Upwey-Tecoma, Noble began a coaching career in the

TAC Cup The NAB League Boys (also referred to as simply the NAB League and formerly known as the TAC Cup) is an under-19 Australian rules football representative competition held in Australia. It is based on geographic regions throughout country Vict ...

, serving as assistant coach at the newly established

Oakleigh Chargers The Oakleigh Chargers is an Australian rules football club playing in the NAB League, the top statewide under-18 competition in Victoria, Australia. They are based at Warrawee Park in Oakleigh, Victoria, representing the southeastern suburban ...

, then senior coach at the NSW/ACT Rams. He then joined AFL club the

Western Bulldogs The Western Bulldogs are a professional Australian rules football team that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier competition. Founded in 1877 as the Footscray Football Club, and based in West Footscray in the o ...

for five years from 1998-2002, serving as an assistant coach over that time as well as the reserves coach in 1998 and 1999, winning one reserves premiership. In 2003, Noble moved to South Australia, and served as senior coach at Glenelg in the

SANFL The South Australian National Football League, or SANFL ( or ''S-A-N-F-L''), is an Australian rules football league based in the Australian state of South Australia. It is also the state's governing body for the sport. Originally formed as the ...

in 2003 and 2004, but did not take the club to finals. He then joined the AFL's

Adelaide Crows The Adelaide Crows (officially the Adelaide Football Club) are a professional Australian rules football team based in Adelaide, South Australia. Founded in 1990. The Crows has fielded a men's team in the Australian Football League (AFL) since ...

and spent more than a decade at the club, serving as assistant coach (2005-10), list manager (2011-13) and head of football (2014-16). He was an integral part of the club’s eight finals campaigns over that ten year period.

North Melbourne Football Club senior coach (2021-2022)

In 2021, after ten years in administrator, Noble returned to coaching and became the senior coach of on an open-ended staff contract. Taking over a club from previous senior coach Rhyce Shaw after Shaw resigned for personal reasons and the club under Shaw had finished second-last in 2020. Noble led the club to the wooden spoon in 2021 with a 4–17–1 record. He became known for a tough coaching style, with it being said that in just his first season he delivered more sprays than former coach Brad Scott had delivered in a 9½ year tenure; and drew such condemnation for the spray he delivered after his team's "embarrassing" 108-point Round 3, 2022 loss to at

The Gabba The Brisbane Cricket Ground, commonly known as the Gabba, is a major sports stadium in Brisbane, the capital of Queensland, Australia. The nickname Gabba derives from the suburb of Woolloongabba, in which it is located. Over the years, the Ga ...

, that he apologised days later. Noble was sacked as senior coach of North Melbourne with six weeks remaining in the 2022 season, after a disastrous 1–15 start to what was eventually a second consecutive wooden spoon; after the club's internal review had concluded it would dismiss Noble as a result of his poor win-loss and negative feedback towards his coaching style from staff and players, he and the club agreed to part ways immediately. Noble was replaced by assistant coach

Leigh Adams Leigh Scott Adams (born 28 April 1971 in Mildura, Victoria)Oakes, P.(2004). ''British Speedway Who's Who''. is an Australian former motorcycle speedway rider. He is a multiple Speedway Grand Prix winner and World Team Champion. He also w ...

as caretaker senior coach of North Melbourne for the rest of the 2022 season.

Administrative career

In September 2016, he left Adelaide and moved to become the

Brisbane Lions The Brisbane Lions is a professional Australian rules football club based in Brisbane, Queensland, that plays in the Australian Football League (AFL). The club was formed in late 1996 via a merger of the Melbourne-based 1883 foundation VFL c ...

General Manager of Football, serving there for four years and overseeing the Lions' return to finals football. In December 2022 Noble was appointed

of motor racing team

.DJR brings Roo onboard
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Auto Action ''Auto Action'' is an Australian motorsport magazine. The first edition was published on 24 February 1971. It became part of Australian Consolidated Press and was included in its 2012 sale to Bauer Media Group Heinrich Bauer Publishing (german ...

'' 1 December 2022

Accolades

Noble was inducted into the AFL Tasmania Hall of Fame in 2016. His son

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Secon ...

has played senior AFL football for Collingwood since 2019.

References

*Holmesby, Russell and Main, Jim (2007). ''The Encyclopedia of AFL Footballers''. 7th ed. Melbourne: Bas Publishing.

External links

*
"David Noble: The journey"
from North Melbourne Football Club {{DEFAULTSORT:Noble, David 1967 births Fitzroy Football Club players North Hobart Football Club players Glenelg Football Club coaches Living people Australian rules footballers from Tasmania Tasmanian State of Origin players Tasmanian Football Hall of Fame inductees North Melbourne Football Club coaches Australian motorsport people