When Perth ruck rover Bob Page began his run down the players race onto Subiaco Oval to face East Perth in the 1968 grand final, he had no idea that he was about become part of football folklore. Halfway down the race, Page pulled a hamstring, and was declared unfit to take his place in the club's attempt to win a hat trick of WANFL premierships. Noel Wilson, who was well into post match celebrations after being part of the Perth reserves flag-winning combination, received an urgent message from reserves coach Jack Ensor to keep his gear on, because he was to be Page's replacement. It's history now that Perth were successful, and Wilson played the last quarter to become the only player to play in two WANFL premiership teams on the one day.  A perfect player for the situation, Wilson was much more than a replacement from the reserves. A member of the victorious Demons side the previous year, Noel was a ruck rover who would have been a regular member at any other league club. He was virtually a regular league player at Perth, but was always in the shadow of two of the club's greatest ruck rovers, Page and Pat Astone. The perfect candidate for a backup who could fill a number of on field roles, most of Wilson's stints in the reserve side were to give him match practice. A precise tapper of the ball, his disposal was also a feature, with deceptive pace for his size.  As it was, his ten appearances in the early games in 1968 had amassed enough umpires votes to finish within two votes of the winner in Prendergast Medal voting for the fairest and best in the WANFL reserves competition.    Perth prevailed in a keen race for the Norseman baker's son's signature in1964, after starring in a match between an Esperance-Norseman-Kalgoorlie combined side and Perth Football Club at Kalgoorlie,  before winning the Norseman Football Association's fairest and best award.   “I had letters from six league clubs, and wasn't too excited, but when Alex Sueburt, from Perth, came all the way to Norseman I was impressed, and when they organised accommodation and a job they couldn't get me to Lathlain quick enough,” Noel recalled.  The six foot one and a half Wilson had been an outstanding ruckman at Norseman, but was brought back to earth when he arrived at Perth. “I was forced to change myself into a ruck rover, they were too big,” he laughed.  Although he started in the reserves with Perth, it was colts coach Ensor who saw the potential in the new recruit and pushed for him at selection level. “A bit rough around the edges, but look at his recovery and pace. He has all the basics, just needs to work on finesse,” were Ensor's comments. When Wilson came into prominence later in the year, Ensor had his way and the ruckman made his debut against West Perth.  “I was set to play on Ray Lucev,” he recalled. “Ray had the name of “Mad Dog,” and I was a little apprehensive pre match. As I nervously fronted the tough man, he held out his hand and complimented me on my first game. I thought it was a nice gesture, completely out of character for a so called “mad dog.” Wilson stayed in the league side for the remainder of the 1964 season, and carved himself a niche the following season as a back pocket/ruck rover. The arrival of Mal Atwell as playing coach in 1966 saw a toughening of a Perth side already skilled from the mentoring of Ern Henfry, and Wilson was one who suited the new coach's coaching philosophies. “I think Mal saw in me someone after his style of play, and the back pocket/onball position was mine,” Noel said. He related an amusing story illustrating the passion of Malcolm Atwell. “Mal was giving an impassioned oratory at half time of a particular game, in which we weren't doing well,” he reminisced. “As he took his false teeth out to exit the change rooms, he was talking so fast and passionately that the teeth were still chattering madly after he'd left them on the towel.”   Perth's premiership of 1966 has been well documented, but Wilson, after being a regular for most of the season, was unfortunately not part of the victorious twenty who took the field at Subiaco on grand final day. “I ran into the fence at training one night, copped a heavy bolt that was protruding, and was left with a gaping hole in the leg,”he related. “Although I had recovered by grand final day and was named in the twenty two, Richie Rigg and I were the ones who were cut.” Premiership player in 1967 and 68, Noel Wilson retired from league football in 1970.  “I had a wife and family(twin girls and a boy), was copping a few niggling injuries, the body was starting to ache on a Sunday, and it was getting to the stage where I had to think about our future,” he explained. Kelmscott coach, Ray Lawrence, a former Perth player, asked Noel to join him, and he showed his class by taking off the fairest and best for the South Suburban side in a twelve months stay.  A new job with the RAC convinced Wilson to concentrate on a life away from football, but he was enticed back to the Demons as coach of the combined district under eighteens, getting them into a grand final, before taking on the colts side for six years, where another grand final appearance was added to his resume.   After a two year absence looking after his wife, Diane, who was in bad health, Wilson was co opted by Ken Armstrong, who had taken over the reigns at Subiaco, where he coached the colts for two years, before tragedy struck when Diane relapsed and eventually lost her battle with cancer.  Wilson later became a member of the Disputes Tribunal, where his hands on experience as a player helped the operations of the board become more in tune with the on field situations behind players misdemeanours.  Noel nominated East Fremantle's David Imrie as hardest to beat. “David was a massive man,” he remarked. “However high I'd jump, he would outreach me. He was strong, and a tremendous mark. I can well understand the frustration these blokes have today against Sandilands.”Unsurprisingly, Barry Cable got his vote as best team mate. “Cabes was always spot on with his calls to his ruckmen,”he said. “The moment you had the ball, you'd hear “left” or “right,” and he'd never let you down. His ballgetting and pace were brilliant.” These days, the retired Noel Wilson, a thirty year RAC assessing manager, busies himself with his church, family, volunteer work with the Red Cross and Salvation Army Soup Run, while finding time to set sail at South of Perth Sailing Club, and is a regular at the gym. His son, Philip, played football with Woodlands, before representing Western Australia at mixed netball.           Not a Cable, Brehaut, Astone, or Shields, Noel Wilson was nevertheless an important player in Perth's hat trick of premierships in the late sixties. And his feat on the twenty eight of September, 1968, ensures that his name remains in Western Australian football folklore.