Lucas ‘Noodles’ Walmsley’s special career continues at local level

From a Dingley debutant that made the opposition “look silly” to one of local footy’s great players. We track the growth of the man known as Noodles.

Lucas Walmsley.

Shane Morwood tells the story perfectly.

The former Dingley coach recalls a wet day at Mordialloc, where a skinny kid on debut showed his bigger-bodied opponents “a clean pair of heels”.

The debutant took a couple of bounces along the wing and sold some candy before firing a long shot at goal.

The Dingley players erupted, as did the coaches and supporters.

Each of them knew they had just unearthed a special player.

The kid? Lucas ‘Noodles’ Walmsley.

“He made them look silly at times,” Morwood said of Walmsley’s moment on debut.

“Not only he celebrated but the players on the ground and all the Dingley fans went crazy because it was great to see this young kid maturing and developing into this player we’d hoped he would.

“What we hoped also was that he would try at a higher level … yeah, I certainly vividly remember that moment in the game.”

Walmsley. Picture: Valeriu Campan

Shane Morwood (left) and Lucas Walmsley.

While aware of Walmsley’s capabilities, Morwood, a premiership player at Collingwood, made the young midfielder wait for that first real crack at senior footy.

Walmsley showed strong enough form in the reserves to be crowned the league medallist but he remained a mainstay in the midday timeslot.

Morwood, eventually a four-time premiership coach at Dingley, wanted Walmsley to “have as many tools on his belt” before he threw him into senior football.

“You need to gain a level of experience and people say ‘if he’s in the twos, he’s not experiencing senior footy’ but it’s just the way he plays the game,” he said.

“He runs all day, wouldn’t weigh much more than he did nine, 10 years ago.

“When you’ve got a young kid, a skinny kid, you know they’re (opponents) going to physically target him when he plays senior footy.

“He just needed to have as many tools on his belt before you start that senior footy career.”

Walmsley remembered the wait similarly, admitting he was “a little bit frustrated” at Morwood, who has since become his “biggest football influence”.

“I was keen to play for most of the year but I couldn’t crack into the side,” Walmsley said.

“I was getting a little bit frustrated, we had a good side, I was young and was still pretty skinny – not that I have got any bigger – but he (Morwood) told me to keep working on the things I was lacking and said I will get my opportunity.

“Then he rang me one Thursday night and said ‘you’ve been patient, now’s your time’.”

Walmsley looks for a teammate. Picture: Jam_visuals

The patience paid off for Walmsley, who took home the Ellis Medal as the Southern league’s best and fairest player in 2014 in his first full year as a senior player.

In spite of winning the medal by a landslide eight votes, Walmsley said he benefited from being unknown.

“The first year I won I was still pretty new on the scene,” he said.

“No one really knows who you are, so you can sort of go out and play whatever game you want to play.

“The second time (in 2022), maybe five or six years later, you can’t hide anymore – people pay you a bit more attention, a bit more respect.

“I was a bit older, one of the leaders in the group, so I was taking on a bit less of a selfish role and doing more of the team things while still trying to win the footy.

“I feel like the first time was young and it was a free run whereas the second time I was in a bit more of a role.

“I loved both years but they were very different seasons.”

Walmsley celebrates with his teammates. Picture : George Salpigtidis

At the end of the 2014 season, when the Ellis Medal was a consolation prize after a heavy grand final defeat, Walmsley went to the Casey Scorpions.

He stayed one year at Casey then searched for opportunity at Frankston.

Walmsley said he loved the VFL experience but the termination of Frankston’s license at the end of 2016 was all the incentive he needed to return home.

“Even though I loved it, it just wasn’t the same as playing at Dingley, the boys won flags in those two years … that hurt,” he said.

“I wouldn’t necessarily say I regret not playing in those, you say ‘oh I wish I played in them’ but I definitely don’t regret playing VFL.

“I spoke to a few (VFL) clubs after that (Dolphins folding) and, even though I was enjoying it, I would just rather play local, I preferred playing at Dingley. That was all it came down to.

“I wanted to go overseas as well, so that following year I went to Europe, did all that jazz and was happy with what I had done.

“I felt like I had proven to myself where I could get to and I just wanted to go and play with my mates.”

Walmsley flies for a mark while playing for Frankston.

The man more commonly known across the Southern league as ‘Noodles’, was able to catch the third of Dingley’s premiership run under Morwood.

After giving up the first four goals of the 2017 decider, the Dingoes kept Mordialloc goalless for three quarters to win by 41 points.

Walmsley then grabbed another premiership in 2019 with Dingley defeating a heavily-backed Cheltenham outfit by two straight kicks.

He was named among Dingley’s best in a “euphoric” day.

“Unbelievable. I don’t say this lightly, now that I am married I should say that my wedding was the best day of my life, but I reckon the second flag was probably the best day of my life,” he said.

“We weren’t expected to win it. Euphoric. It was a grind, we only just won that game.

“They were probably heavy favourites, I think they beat us by about 12 goals the game before that.

“I had a lot of good mates in the side that I am still good mates with, partly because of that. Unbelievable.”

A lot of those close mates have since left Dingley, leaving Walmsley – along with captain Jackson Peet – as the most experienced players on its list.

Walmsley, who feels he has a bit of footy left in him, sees a lot of similarities in the current group to the side that went on to win four flags in five years.

“It actually feels very similar to what we were like in 2013, 2014,” he said.

“We had a similar side for a long time, it was an ageing list but it was talented, so we held onto it until a certain point.

“We’ve had a massive list changeover, there’s a lot of young guys now and I feel like we’re sort of starting to get more footy together.

“It’s those early days, we’re definitely capable of winning the flag, it’s just getting the games and putting it all together.

“The next five years at Dingley are going to be a strong five years, I can’t see us dropping off.”