Sport
17 April, 2026
Milestone approaches for Arnold
CAMPERDOWN will welcome a new member to the 100 game club tomorrow when defender Billy Arnold lines up for his 100th senior match at Hamilton.
This milestone has been a long time coming, with Arnold making his senior debut back in 2014.
“It has taken me a little bit to finally get here, it does mean a lot, to be honest,” Arnold said.
“I've got obviously my brother and my dad, who’ve reached 100 games, as well as my brother-in-law and many mates who have reached 100 games.
“It’s just one of those things that I really wanted to tick off, you get your name on the locker and on the honour board at the footy club, so yeah, it’s just one of those things that I really wanted to do.”
Injuries have been a constant across Arnold’s career.
His 2015 season was finished with a pre-season knee injury, then after putting together 52 games in three seasons, a quad injury ruled him out of the 2018 Hampden league grand final.
Shoulder and wrist injuries have hampered him in recent seasons.
“I didn’t miss many games throughout those couple of years and then all of a sudden I was doing injuries left, right and centre.”
After the Covid interrupted seasons of 2020 and 2021, Arnold headed north, where he lined up for the Noosa Tigers in 2022 and 2023.
“It was good fun up there; the footy club feels a lot like a country footy club.
“There might not be as many supporters but the game still felt very country, and it was good playing in 23 degree weather.”
But the lure of home saw Arnold return in 2024.
“I got a bit homesick and was missing the family.
“It was getting a bit expensive up there and it sort of got to the stage where I had to choose whether to stay up there and try to buy a house, or just come down and be a bit closer to family.”
Camperdown coach Clinton Thomas had praise for his star defender.
“Billy’s a fantastic clubman, he’s one of these guys that if he’s not injured, his magnet just goes straight on the board, he always does a job, there’s no fanfare in the way he plays.
“He doesn’t accumulate a heap on the stats board, but the way he plays his footy, he actually impacts the game so much more than just going purely by the stats.”
Thomas said Arnold was always a team first player.
“We played him out of position last year due to balance, but he’s a highly, highly competitive defender who has the ability to play against the talls or smalls, but it’s not often I've seen him challenged a lot, that’s for sure.”
When asked how he is going to celebrate his milestone, Arnold is planning on keeping it simple.
“Hopefully with a win, and being in Hamilton, I'll probably just grab some KFC and head home.
“That sounds like my perfect night,” he laughed.
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