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“The squad was perhaps the strongest in the club's history.  It simply glistened with talent, and some of those who served most of their time with the reserves were unlucky.  In ordinary years they would have been regular League players”

East Fremantle and South Fremantle historian Jack Lee had this to say about the East Fremantle 1986 side, which, incidently, didn’t win the premiership that season. But given the amount of flags the Sharks have won over the history of the Western Australian Football League, it was still a big statement, and one that would suggest that the team who did win the 1986 premiership, Subiaco, could well lay claim to the title on that basis.

Subiaco were at their peak in the late eighties, winning premierships in 1986 and 1988.

But which was the best WAFL side of all time, and which era?

There is no doubt that the competition has suffered a drop in standard since the AFL system began  drawing the best of the talent out of the local competition at the end of the eighties. But previous to the nineties, the standard of the game here was very high, and one only needs to look at the strength of the sides to see that.

Most clubs have had their years of domination of the competition.

East Fremantle gave notice of what was to come, with five premierships in six years, between 1906 and 1911, but this was topped in the twenties by East Perth, who astonishingly racked up seven flags, five of them in succession, between 1919 and 1927, and it still stands as a record.  Interestingly, in those days, a side finishing on top after the qualifying rounds was entitled to challenge if losing the grand final, and the Royals took full advantage of this on three occasions in that winning streak. 

Even today, some of the names donning the royal blue in those years are familiar, in their day they were all stars....Staunch Owens, Larry Duffy, Val Sparrow, Nashy Brentnall, Bonny Campbell, Nugget Gepp, Ike Allen, Alby “Nails” Western, Paddy Hebbard, Digger Thomas, and Jackie Guhl to name a few.

East Fremantle returned to prominence immediately after, winning four flags between 1928 and 1931. In that side were names like Sheedy, Dolan, “Judda” Bee, Gabrielson, Jarvis, and Strang. 

West Perth came to the fore as the East Fremantle star dimmed, taking the honours in 1932, 34, and 35, the result of meticulous planning. A playing coach (Cashman) and a star player (Niven) were recruited from Victoria, and joined star forward Ted Tyson, Don Marinko, McDiarmid, Hopkins, and Rainoldi.      

When the open competition was resumed immediately after World War Two, in 1945, it was East Fremantle to the fore again, and, although not successful in that year, a winning game on July 28 started a record run of thirty five wins in a row, which took in the 1946 flag. The Sharks at that time were a formidable outfit, with two legends in George Doig and George Prince at centre half forward and full forward respectively, along with another champ in Vic French. 

The end of the Sharks winning run on May 17, 1947 was effectively the handing over of the baton to their conquerors on that day, South Fremantle.  In front of a record crowd of 17,538 for a home and away game, they were beaten by a side captain coached by a former East Fremantle and West Perth captain coach, Ross(later Sir Ross) Hutchinson.  South were to go on and win a further six premierships before their “golden years” ended in 1954.

A star studded combination, South Fremantle played and beat top clubs and combined sides in both South Australia and Victoria, as well as at home.

The then WANFL secretary, Bill Orr, said that this was the best club side he’d seen in WA.

Names like Naylor, Smith, Colgan, Parentich, Richards, Hillier, Ingraham, Treasure, Jenkins, Lewington, Erikkson, Carbon, Western, Murray, Reilly, Marsh, Tyson, Crabbe, White, Green, Wares, and Kelly were stars of the day, and all represented Western Australia.

West Perth also boasted a treasure trove of players at that time, and it was unfortunate for them that they struck a team just a little better over the period. That they were superior to South Fremantle in 1949 and 1951 bears testament to their class.  Among the stars for the Cardies at that time were:  Heal, Schofield(2), Scott, Kelly, Loughridge, Porter(2), Humphries, Buttsworth, Larcombe, Price, Harman, Ashdown, Wylde, London, Marinko(2), McBride, and McNamara.

Swan Districts triple premierships in 1961, 62, and 63 were completely unexpected. Cellar dwellers in 1961, and not much better previous to that, the arrival of Haydn Bunton at Bassendean was to ignite the club and transform it into a power of the competition. Stars were born overnight, with players like Walker, Maynard, Lawson, Turnbull, Castledine, Bagley, Manning, Slater, Gorman, and Nesbit becoming household names.

Perth had been around the place without any chocolates for some seasons, with a sprinkling of stars, but in 1966, under a new playing coach in Malcolm Atwell and a sensation in Barry Cable, they took the competition by storm. They  won three in a row, in 1966, 67, and 68, with Brehaut, Page, Shields, Mills(2), Millson, Pyke, Leuzzi, Astone, Chittleborough, and Dalton among their best.

Swan Districts had gone back to the bottom of the table almost as quickly as they’d risen after their 1963 success, but it seems they don’t do things in halves at Basso. Coaching maestro, John Todd , had been overseeing some changes in personnel on the way to unveiling a rejuvenated Swans eighties version.  After a disappointing first couple of years in that decade with a very good side, it all happened for them in 1982. They went on to take their second hat trick of premierships, and all of a sudden Baker, Melrose, Mullooly, A.Sidebottom, Narkle(2), Richardson, Shine, Sartori, Skwirowski, Rance, Fogarty, Langsford, Nowotny, Beasley, Boucher, Holmes, Solin, and Taylor were the talk of the valley.

Claremont had never had a long period of strength in any era, but in the late eighties and early nineties they were premiers four times in seven years. Successful in 1987 and 89, they won again in 1993 and 96.  A glance at the names in the Tigers ranks at that time tells the story of the changing of the times in the WAFL, with McKenna, Kickett, Annear, Allen, Melesso, and Brayshaw all headed for the VFL(later AFL).  Subiaco surrounded those Claremont flags with their 1986 and 88 wins, and it was the same scenario, with Macnish, Lamb, Breman, Dean, Keene, Zanotti, Langdon, and Scott picked up by VFL clubs.

East Perth’s triple premierships in 2000-2002, and Subiaco’s dominance of the last few years were  convincing also.

So was Billy Orr on the money with South Fremantle, was Jack Lee’s assessment of the eighties East Fremantle correct, was it the Subiaco team of the same era, was it the East Perth twenties side, the Swans of the sixties or eighties, Perth of the sixties,or  any of the East Fremantle combinations of the early days, the thirties, or the team of forty six?  Or any of the West Perth or Claremont combinations?

Any of those  could lay claim to being the best ever club side to have played in WA.  Which one would you pick?

 

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