QUEANBEYAN Tigers player and co-coach Kade Klemke will celebrate a historic milestone this month when he becomes the 95th member of the prestigious “Tigers 100 club”, following his 100th first-grade match in a thrilling win against Ainslie.

The 31-year-old defender will be honoured on August 21 at the Tiger’s Annual 100 Club Function after a string of events saw him delayed in getting out on the field for his century game.

“I had to pull out of one game due to a tight hamstring, the next game was a washout and then I actually hurt my knee the following week on a training run and wasn’t sure whether I should play,” said Kade.

“But my wife told me I gotta do it, so I put the boots on and got it done.”

A goal in the dying moments of the game saw Queanbeyan take the victory after being 23 points behind at third quarter time, keeping the Tigers on the top of the ladder with only one loss so far this year to Belconnen.

“It’s definitely a highlight of my footy career,” said Kade.

“It’s exciting to get 100 games for a club with a lot of great players, and a club I’ve played a lot of my senior footy with.”

Kade’s career with the Tigers began in 2012 when he was offered a job coaching and playing with the club at 21, a season where he would help lead the team to a grand final victory over the Sydney Swans in the North East Australian Football League (NEAFL) championship.

On top the 2012 win, Klemke has taken out two other premierships with the Tigers and has been awarded the first grade’s best and fairest award in 2013, 2014 and 2015.

From 2017 to 2020 he coached the Canberra Demons, but the cancellation of the NEAFL competition last year due to covid saw him return to the Tigers in a season where they took out a grand final victory over Eastlake.

“It was great to come back to Queanbeyan with a few other Demons boys and get the win and it’s exciting to be playing this year and coaching with Adrian Pavese,” he said.

Now the Tigers have their eye on back-to-back premierships, with Klemke saying this weekend’s game against Belconnen will be “tough but exciting” as they move into the tail end of the season.

“Winning back-to-back premierships is something I haven’t done but it would be a great thing to achieve,” said Kade.

“We’re confident our best is good enough. If we win one of the next two games we should finish in the top spot.

“Last time we played Belconnen we didn’t bring our best and this week will be a tough game but we’re looking forward to it.

“When it comes to coaching and playing I’m a big believer in preparation, you can’t make big decisions for guys on the day. Getting ready in training is the best way to get ready for the game.”

While Kade is feeling in good form this season, he says in the future he’ll be taking his footy career one year at a time as he’s keen to spend time with his wife and their three-year-old son and continue with his role as a pastor of the Divergent Church in Canberra.

“I’d love to play as long as I can but at the end of the day it also depends on what my body tells me,” says Kade.

“Regardless, I want to be involved with the footy footy club as much as I can whether its playing or not.”