He was four months quicker than the normal Achilles rehabilitation in a benchmark recognised across the sporting globe in memory of the five-time NBA champion who was killed in a helicopter crash in California in January 2020.

But to Lions defender Noah Answerth it’s just another chapter in his eight-year AFL journey.

The now 26-year-old was precisely the same time out of action before he returned in a practice match on 7 March this year from the identical injury suffered in May last year which cost him a second AFL premiership medal.

It was a massive heart-breaker but not exactly new to a player dogged by serious injury since before he was drafted.

Still, in eight years with the Lions, Answerth has rarely been seen without a smile on his face.

He’s been tagged “a sleeves up dude” by List Manager Dom Ambrogio because whenever there’s a job to be done he’ll roll up his sleeves and get to work.

On and off the field he’s a no-fuss operator who simply gets things done, says Ambrogio.

Like in 2023 when the Lions played in their first grand final under Chris Fagan. An injured Answerth, sidelined for four months, came to the rescue after Dayne Zorko’s father Alex was told he could not fly to Melbourne due to a heart condition.

No worries, said Answerth. He drove him there and back, leaving for the 1700km round trip on the Tuesday of grand final week, staying overnight in a holiday park an hour north of Newcastle, and arriving in plenty of time for the grand final parade.

It will forever be one of football’s great stories of selflessness, and sits with many similar memories of the Caulfield Grammar and Oakleigh Chargers product claimed by the Lions at pick #55 in the 2018 National Draft.

There will be nothing but adoration across the entire club when on Saturday night Answerth posts his 100^th AFL game against Carlton at Marvel Stadium.

It’s a major milestone in a career which could have been over before it began.

In his original draft year of 2017 Answerth spent four months in a brace with a fractured vertebrae in his back, and since arriving in Brisbane he’s had an 18-month groin injury which wiped out the entire 2021 season, multiple shoulder surgeries, a facial fracture that required 11 screws, and his Achilles blow-out.

While clawing his way to 99 games, including eight of a possible 18 finals, he’s watched teammates play a further 87 times, and has seen St. Kilda captain Callum Wilkie, drafted 26 spots later in the rookie draft, play 174 games without a miss. And only three finals.

Answerth has been in and out of the Lions side 12 times, has seen 44 players debut for the club, including 18 who have since left, and set himself up beautifully for life after football.

Having worked full-time for a construction company in Melbourne and done weekend shifts at a café when football allowed, ‘Nos’ started a carpentry apprenticeship soon after arriving in Brisbane.

Not only has he completed that but he’s done a Certificate 3 in Cabinet Making and a Diploma of Building & Construction, and is part-way through an Advanced Diploma of Building & Construction Management.

Whenever there’s a handyman needed he’s quick to oblige. He even built a putting green at the home of a high-profile teammate in his early days.

Along the way, too, Answerth got engaged to Queensland Firebirds netball ace Macy Gardner, the Melbourne-born daughter of Firebirds coach Roselee Jencke, niece of 194-game Hawthorn AFL premiership player Ray Jencke, and Firebirds teammate of Lara Dunkley, sister of Josh.

Set to marry next year, Answerth and Gardner make a competitive pairing with a similar tale – after a nasty wrist injury cut short her 2023 campaign Gardner won the 2024 Laura Geitz Medal as the Firebirds ‘Most Valuable Player’.

In a weird sort of way, Answerth’s back injury in 2017, which came when he went back with the flight of the ball in a marking contest only to crash into a flying leap from Collingwood’s 2018 AFL Rising Star winner Jaidyn Stephenson, helped set him up for life in Brisbane.

Because he played virtually no football in his original draft year in 2017 he was able to focus on his Year 12 studies and in 2018 was given dispensation to play as an over-ager with the Chargers in the Talent League.

He captained a Chargers side which included Collingwood’s Isaac Quaynor, Sydney’s James Rowbottom and James Jordan, and Richmond’s Jack Ross to the Grand Final and won selection in the Victorian Metro side.

His Draft Guide profile told how he “left no stone unturned” and was “a committed and consistent performer at all levels” before ending with a glowing endorsement: “If a club wants a dedicated and hard working player that is ready to go and will give 100 per cent to an AFL career then Noah Answerth will fit the bill”.

Lions Recruiting Manage Steve Conole was always a big fan and when Answerth was still available as the draft moved into the 50’s he traded a future fourth-round pick to North Melbourne for what became pick #55 and this week’s milestone man.

“We really liked him from a long way out and interviewed him in his first draft year. He was super-competitive, is very task-orientated, and although he doesn’t get credit for it, he’s very clean with his hands. He just hadn’t played enough football at that time,” Conole said.

As recruiters do, Conole remembers a massive moment late in the 2024 preliminary final against Geelong, when the Lions kicked the last two goals in time-on to win by 10 points.

Answerth won a critical clearance in the centre, held his feet under heavy pressure and kicked long inside 50 where Charlie Cameron won a free kick. Callum Ah Chee took the advantage and goaled before Cam Rayner kicked the sealer 60 seconds later.

Answerth’s 100^th game will be special – but no more special than his first game against Gold Coast at Carrara in Round 6 2019.

It was Anzac Round and became a personal tribute to his great grandfather Mervyn George Baker, who served in Papua New Guinea during World War Two and died before he was born.

It was coach Fagan’s 50^th game and Zorko’s 150^th, and was celebrated with a 49-point win.

Answerth’s 50^th was special too – his first finals win against Melbourne at the MCG in 2022.

In his 92^nd game he went past the Brisbane record for most games in jumper #43, held by 2001-02 premiership player Beau McDonald, and on Saturday night he’ll become just the 10^th player in AFL history to play 100 games in jumper #43.

Ahead of him are Carlton’s Anthony Koutoufides (278) and David McKay (263), Adelaide’s Reilly O’Brien (147), Essendon’s Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti (133), North Melbourne/Adelaide utility Sam Gibson (130), Fremantle’s Roger Hayden (128), Sydney’s Lewis Melican (110), Melbourne’s Guy Rigoni (107) and Essendon’s Dean Rioli (100).

Ironically, the first player to wear jumper #43 for Brisbane and the only player to wear it in the Bears era was Marcus Ashcroft, father of Will and Levi. He played 10 games in #43 in 1989 before switching to #10.

McDonald played his 91 games in #43 from 1998-2007, and was followed by Rohan Bewick, who had 28 games in it in his first two seasons in 2011-12 before switching to #8, and Jake Barrett, who was 22 games in #43 in 2017-18.

The Fitzroy record for games in #43 is just 10. It was set in 1975 by ruckman John Lewis, and was equalled in 1982 in the first season of fullback Gary Pert, who later played 153 games in #3 from 1983-90 before switching to Collingwood.

TRIVIA QUESTION (1)

Noah Answerth is one of six one-time premiership players drafted in 2018. The others are Isaac Quaynor, pick #13 to Collingwood, Bobby Hill, pick #24 to GWS and later to join Collingwood, Tom Sparrow, pick #27 to Melbourne, James Jordan, pick #33 to Melbourne and now at Sydney, and Rory Atkins, rookie #11 to Geelong.

The only two-time premiership player drafted in 2018 is Brisbane’s Darcy Fort. He was pick #65 to Geelong and after eight games with the Cats in 2019-20 has played 67 games with the Lions since 2022 and shared in the 2024-25 flags.

TRIVIA QUESTION (2)

Noah Answerth is one of just six players with the Christian name ‘Noah’ to play AFL football, and the third to 100 games behind Gold Coast captain Noah Anderson (147) and Richmond’s Noah Balta (134). The others are Queenslander Noah Cumberland, who played 25 games at Richmond, West Coast’s Noah Long, who is at 36 games, and Richmond 2026 debutant Noah Roberts-Thomson, who has played three games.