Doug Farrant came from North Melbourne to give Perth tremendous service between 1974 and 1979, heading the goalkicking list in his first season at the club, and was a part of two premierships, in 1976 against East Perth, and 1977 over East Fremantle. It was East Fremantle who had good reason to feel aggrieved at Farrant helping in their grand final defeat, because the ruckman was almost signed, sealed, and consigned to Moss Street before a backroom deal sent him on a detour to Lathlain in 1974. Farrant had already decided to go West, but to East Fremantle, when the Kangaroos, all out to secure the services of Barry Cable, included him in a package of four players to swap for the magical maestro. “I felt like a change of scenery, and, although having decided previously on East, the process was ultimately out of my hands, so Perth it was, and the fact that the other three(Mike Redenbach, David Pretty, and Phil Doherty) were going there too was a plus,” he recalled.   Doug Farrant was recruited from the Cohuna club in country Victoria, after tying for the league goalkicking award as a sixteen year old with brother, Gary, in 1966. Both were snapped up by North Melbourne, with Gary going straight into the league side the following season and heading the Kangaroos goalkicking, and Doug taking the same award for the reserves on the way to a flag.   Doug joined his brother in the league side in 1968, and booted enough goals to ensure the Farrant name stayed on the goalkicking trophy, a feat reciprocated by his brother again in 1970. Apart from an overseas trip in 1973, he was a regular member of the North Melbourne league side, mainly as a forward and ruckman, but venturing on occasions to a wing. After seventy games,and110 goals, the Cable deal was struck, and Farrant was Perth-bound. At six foot two and a half and fourteen stone(“I was fourteen stone in Victoria but dropped to thirteen and a half in Western Australia,” he quipped. “Try as I might to get it back on, I couldn't.”)Doug Farrant was a mobile ruckman, who was just as adept in a ruck roving role, besides being a very effective full forward. A strong mark, especially overhead, and a good kick, he was also an astute reader of the play.    His first season with the Demons saw him up forward, where he headed the Perth goalkicking. On arriving at Lathlain, one of the first get togethers was a pre season training trip to Lancelin. One of the fresh faced kids who had just joined the club was a pint sized young fella who Doug noticed after a hard training session. Not realising the lad was a teammate, he said: “Hey, kid, could you get me a drink?”  He was later introduced to a little champ, Rob Wylie. A laidback character, Farrant was in the habit of turning up at training half asleep. On one such occasion the boys decided it was time to play a joke on him. As he dreamily opened his locker, little rover Johnny Doyle leaped out of his locker.     Farrant soon became an important cog in the brilliant Perth combination at that time, playing in four grand finals, winning two.  After 116 appearances with Perth, he retired after the 1979 season, at the age of thirty. “I thought the time was right,” he said. He made a return to the fold when Mal Brown was appointed coach, serving as chairman of selectors.  Full backs Bob Murray(St Kilda)and Tassie Johnson(Melbourne) were Farrant's nominations for hardest opponents, while Sam Kekovich and Rob Wylie were his picks as best he'd played with.  Doug's son, Joseph, represented East Fremantle in the Colts competition, playing in their 2001 premiership side, before a promising career was halted prematurely by a serious injury.  State manager of an airfreight company, Farrant later bought a Supermarket in South Perth. These days he  works part time, when he can get away from the golf course, and he still is a keen follower of Perth and North Melbourne. A family man, with two daughters in Melbourne, he can often be seen commuting to the old home State with wife, Julie. A trip to Mexico in November for one of their daughters' wedding is eagerly anticipated. The loss of Cable was considerable for Perth, but the recruits of 74, including Farrant, Pretty(a Simpson Medallist), Redenbach, and Doherty, plus the arrival onto the scene of the young Wylie, was the encore for a period of domination for the Perth club. Doug Farrant was an important part of that success.