The names of Cable, Brehaut, Jenzen, Mills, Millson, Astone, Miller, Leuzzi, Davis, Chittleborough, and Dalton as part of  Perth’s triple-premiership winning combination of the late sixties give some indication of how powerful a side it was.

But if these players provided the flair and brilliance, then surely the engine room of the outfit was coach Mal Atwell and Bob Page.

Page’s value to the side was summed up by Atwell when he commented on the ruck rover’s omission from Perth’s Team of the Century as “extremely unlucky.”

A tough, bullocking player with good pace and kicking skills, Page had the knack of usually being in the right place, at his best in the scrimmages, plus a regular supplier of the ball to the fleet footed on ball brigade of the Demons. He was a fixture in State sides from 1966 to 1970, playing in two Australian Carnivals and consistently among Western Australia’s best. Such was his versatility that he performed equally as well at the highest level as ruck rover, back pocket, half back, and centre half forward.

Page entered Western Australian football folklore when he was forced to pull out of the 1968 grand final side after suffering an Achilles injury in the players race as he was running out onto the ground. Good mate Noel Wilson, who was in the throes of celebrating a seconds premiership win, was pressed into service as a reserve, and when he took the field in the final stages of the league game became the only player to have played in a seconds and league grand final on the same day.

“My Achilles had been sore in the weeks leading up to the big game,” Bob recalled. “Mal had been nursing me, obviously not wanting any disruptions to the team, and I’d had some injections, but it felt alright. Fortunately for the side, it went prior to the game rather than later.”

Perth can thank former player Reg Cribb for the acquisition of Bob Page.

“I was playing football on Saturday mornings with Narrogin Agriculture College and hockey in the afternoon in the mens league before lining up at Pingelly under Cribb when I was eighteen,” he said. “Cribby grabbed me one day and said: “I reckon you’d get a run at Perth.”

Cribb, who was also responsible for the recruitment of ruckman Barry Chittleborough, proved to be a good judge.

It was a big move for a country boy without many expectations, creating a significant impact on his life, and his first meeting with coach Ern Henfry wasn’t exactly re-assuring. “Like many country blokes, I had a packet of Havelock tobacco hanging out of my shirt pocket,” Bob told us. “You can start by throwing that away,” Ern quickly told me.

Page debuted for Perth early in the 1965 season against East Fremantle, along with two other new recruits in Max Jancey and Graham Jenzen, playing on a half forward flank and kicking four goals. He went on to play all season in the league side.

The arrival of Mal Atwell as coach the following season transformed the Demons into a formidable combination. “Mal was a coach before his time,” Bob remarked. “He was a hard taskmaster who set the examples and perimeters, breeding a commitment to the jumper, and with Jack Ensor as his right hand man started an era of change at the club.”

Page became the workhorse of the side, ruck roving and resting on a back pocket or forward pocket. “There were plenty of tough opponents running around at the time, blokes like Dinny Barron, Kevin Clune, and Tony Nesbit, and it was always a rough and tough Saturday afternoon playing on the ball,” he said.

A key part of Perth’s triple premierships, Page made his State debut in the 1966 Australian Carnival at North Hobart, against South Australia, where he started in a back pocket alongside Brian Sarre, but proceeded to venture further forward and ended up with three goals and a mention as one of WA’s best in a good win over the Croweaters. He then played at centre half forward in a victory over Tasmania. Page went on to play eight times for his State, and was fittingly among the best players in the last, against South Australia in 1970, playing in a back pocket.  

Given his displays in interstate football, it was to be expected that there would be interest shown from Victorian clubs, and it was Richmond who made a bid for Page, paying him two hundred dollars to sign a form four, but he never seriously considered moving.   

The hard tackling, heavy bullocking, and constant running  every Saturday afternoon took it’s toll on Page, and by the end of the 1970 season, in which Perth lost the grand final to South Fremantle, he was a tired man. When brothers Ron, Ivan and Lesley told him it was time he got back to the farm he didn’t put up much of an argument. Bob Page retired from league football at the end of the 1971 season, after a hundred and thirty two games in which he kicked seventy five goals as a resting forward to match the effectiveness he had as a defender.  

Bob went on to coach Pingelly for two years as well as the Upper Great Southern League. The League side won two inter-league carnivals in that time as well as country week successes.

Ron, Ivan, and Lesley Page all played country football, while Bob was also a better than average cricketer, taking part in three premierships for local side Taylors Well and participated at Country Week. Son Shane has inherited the Page cricket ability, representing Western Australia at Australian Country Cricket Championship level as a bowler.

After buying a farm at Dudinin, where he played a couple of games, Page moved to Bunbury in 1995, and is now enjoying semi retirement in the South West. Involved with the ACTIV Foundation, he also gives two days a week of his time driving a bus for Community Home Care, and is a keen Freemason.

Two knee replacements prevent much in the way of active sports, but he still follows football. He is still good mates with Noel Wilson. “Noel was quite aware that we were competing for the one spot from the day I arrived at the club,” Bob said. “He never bore any grudges about the fact that he was forced to play second fiddle, he was still a big part of the footy team, and the way it turned out in 68 was probably justice.”  

Barry Cable was Bob’s choice as best he played with, while also extolling the talents and toughness of Swan Districts rover Billy Walker, and put forward the names of three East Perth players as toughest opponents. “Jim Haines, Laurie Kennedy, and Kevin Murray were very good players.”

Bob Page was one of those blokes you would like to have in your side. A hundred per cent, committed, team-focused ruck rover who could be used anywhere, his value to the Perth Football Club and Western Australia in the late sixties was significant, and highly rated by team mates and opposition alike. He is well regarded at Lathlain Park by the club and it’s supporters.