Old Collegians stalwart Nathan Forth set to break all-time club games record against Allansford

The 41-year-old will enter the history books against Allansford on Saturday when he overtakes the late Marty Ryan as the Warriors' all-time games record holder in what will be his 287^th senior match.

The former coach, who walked through the doors of the proud football netball club almost two decades ago said it was a milestone which had crept up.

"It's a bit out of my comfort zone all this attention, I'm not a huge fan of the limelight to be honest," he said.

"I haven't thought much about it (the record), it'll be something I'll look back on proudly when I retire. It's an honour to pull on the jumper that many times."

Describing his journey at the club as a "wild ride", he says he wouldn't have it any other way.

"When I first came in I met a lot of great people and just never wanted to leave. For me, it's something I never set out to do (breaking the record), it's kind of ticked along in the background," he said.

"I think we've played in five grand finals in my time, and been on the bottom a few times, it's been a wild ride but it's been a blast the whole way."

He said the COVID-19 pandemic, which robbed community sport for a couple of years, had reignited his passion for the game once again.

"I think through COVID it got taken away from us so in a way you appreciate it a bit more and what it does mean," he said.

"You get very stuck in life and not catching up with mates is hard and it's a real social thing for me to play with my mates, the banter that goes with it and I just love running out with them every week."

Having seen it all since his first game at the club in 2004, Forth said despite the club's tough season on-field, success was never as far away as you think.

"It kind of feels like 2008, 2009 right now when we started to build a core group of young mates and they bring mates and we then had a pretty good run," he said.

"There's a similar feel right now, they're all good mates and hopefully they bring more mates and we can build again."

So is senior game 300 within reach for the humble Warrior?

"This'll probably be my last year of seniors but maybe I'll throw a couple in there next year, we'll see how it goes. It's not something I necessarily have to do," he said.

The club will hold a special celebration of Forth's achievement on Saturday with a pre-game address and guest speaker as well as a post-game presentation.

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