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Not a lot to do in the age of the Great Plague, so I watched a reply of that great day in 1986, the greatest day of my life (Don’t tell me wife).
Just a few observations:
1. Did the great Laurie Keene have a Hitler type moustache? Was quite a grainy reply on Youtube. Always thought Laurie was a great guy (in fact he is my all-time favourite player), not a Nazi sympathizer.
2. No one of the great team could kick on their non-preferred. Watching Dwayne trying to kick on his right is like watching Steady Eddie on a tight rope.
3. Which begs the question, would any team of Subi’s teams between 2003 and 2019 beat our 86 team. I think 86 had great talent but with skills, fitness, physical strength from today’s teams and better ground conditions, the 86 team may struggle.
4. Hayden Bunton was always to me the wise old man, or maybe the YODA of Australian Football. Actually he was in his late 40s, several years younger than I am now. Maybe he should have been considered for the Eagles job, had still plenty to offer.
5. Which begs the question, where is Bunts today? Must be in his mid to late 80s. Last I heard he was living in Mandurah. Love to know how he is doing.
6. How ordinary were Peake and Wrensted that day. Peake was always a big game player (see 80s state of origin) and did Wrensted ever achieve the heights of his Sandover win?…can’t remember.
7. Bushel was the Hayden Ballantyne of his time….someone we love to hate….was he that annoying off the field? Come on, someone must know him.
8. Peter Featherby just had to touch the ball to put it in subi’s advantage…My second favourite player of all time.
9. How good is Dennis Commetti…miss him, Eric Sarich wasn’t bad either. (oh and what happened to his brothers orbital engine?)
10. Did not realise how well Phil lamb played that day.
11. Stephen Sells last game for Subi, should have stayed instead of returning to Geelong. (Another favourite)
12. Dennis alluded to some issue between Wilkinson and Bunts. What was that all about? Good servant to the club was Wilkinson…fixed my dog once so I am forever grateful to him.
13. Remember the week leading up to this game. Subi were out and out underdogs having been thrashed by EF two weeks earlier, an announcement that WA would field a team in the VFL and channel 7 would televise live, the WAFL GF for the first time. This combined with a wet day forecast had the hallmarks of being another miserable day for the long suffering subi follower. How wrong I was. Great end to a decade (first game was in 1976) of following the lions for me and the perfect end to an era. Football has never been the same again.

nice work oobi...I've got every premiership from 73 onwards on dvd so I had a fabulous time last weekend reminiscing.

Must have been a long weekend to get through them, BC.

oobi:

good post

1 Bunton was approached but refused the Eagles, whom appointed Big Ron
2 Wilkinson had a form lapse mid season which annoyed Bunton because it unballanced the back line
3 We played one short because Crutchfield went off injurred early on in the game
4 Featherby and Keene were the two genuine greats out there for Subi

Thanks oobi - just finished watching it (again - I was there in 86).

Gee, that Gerard Neesham was a piece of work wasn't he. For Cometti to single him out twice for a dog act was pretty unusual (for Cometti, not Neesham).

jackspratt wrote: Thanks oobi - just finished watching it (again - I was there in 86).

Gee, that Gerard Neesham was a piece of work wasn't he. For Cometti to single him out twice for a dog act was pretty unusual (for Cometti, not Neesham).

Yes Jack, you are absolutely right about Neesham, suffered terribly from the white line fever. Big Ron A. was much the same. Lucky he had retired by 1986, or it could have been very ugly.

Got to meet both these men years after their football careers finished in a professional capacity. Absolute gentleman the both of them. Who would of thought....

Neesham was a piece of work...well a piece of something...EF fell for the rough tough approach in 86 and Claremont did likewise in 88. why they did that I'll never know as they must have thought Subi were a bit soft. I loved Keeney taking out that germ Bushell very early on...classic stuff.

I also knew big Ron in civvy land, when he was climbing the ranks at the (then) Dept of Sport and Recreation. A really nice guy.

He was extremely helpful to my sport during the the 90s, and possibly thereafter once I was no longer involved.

Back to the game - I forgot what a talented side that 86 mob were. Many of them ending up with the Eagles or other VFL/AFL teams, and others who didn't having very successful WAFL careers.

Thanks Oobi. I’ve always considered it to be my greatest day ever as well. I missed seeing 73, and of course saw the 85 loss. So it was pretty special.
What a night in the club rooms! Somehow by nights end I ended up drunkenly sharing a taxi with Mick Malone to somewhere. Made it home eventually, then back to the club to be next day feeling worse off.

I was living and working in Dampier and watched it on tv. When we won I drove around town tooting the horn waving a scarf out the window and wearing my Subi jumper then retired to the Mermaid Hotel for a very big drink.