TOPIC:

Senior Seagull wrote:

mikeh wrote:

Senior Seagull wrote: I watched all those great final series in the late 70's and into the eighties being a Subi supporter it was the only decent footy we got to watch until Bunton came back to the fold.

Those Swans teams were the best footy teams I have seen in my time watching WAFL footy pre- Eagles, they were a perfect balance of skill and brawn with the big mean enforcers that teams of that era needed to win flags, 80-81 Souths teams a very close second.

The other feature of those Swans teams of the early 80's was how they recruited players from other clubs who became integral members of the team. There was Mick Johns and Ken Marshall from Subi, Leigh Brenton and Kevin Taylor from East Freo and Barry Kimberly from Perth to name just a few.

So Mike are you saying the wealthy and successful club that Swans was back then raided players from dirt poor struggling clubs like Subi!!

What goes around comes around I guess.........

Mick Johns was an interesting one, we got him out of Subi reserves that year and he went straight into our league team and had a good year but got dropped for the GF, big Roo then broke down in the first 5 minutes with a knee and Alan Cransberg got thrown into the ruck and in his last game for Swans played a blinder.
after the game Toddy gave Johns his medal.
then in 84 Toddy didn't play big Roo in the GF and Johns rucked and deservedly won a medal.

Marshall played in a flag in 84 and was in and out a bit, could kick a goal when on song.

our recruiting networks spread far and wide in those days - Canberra produced a flag winner in Peter Kenny, the Bunbury, Esperance and Collie connection - Narkles, Rance, Skira, Renfree, Baker, Fogarty. Darwin - Caton, Ahmat.
a player that I always loved watching was Tom Mullooly - what a skilled player he was kicking out from full back

Kevin Taylor was pretty ordinary for you guys from memory wasn't he?.....reckon Melrose and Neesham were more integral to SD success in the 80's than anyone else, especially from EF....obviously the Todd factor played a huge part in them going to SD....how many games did Broadbridge and Hetherington play for you guys?....fark did SD ever give EF anything half decent in return? ....besides Mark Olsen

Tommy Bell ?
Toddy started Neesham on the bench in 1984 and after the game Neesham said it was his last game at Swans, went back to East Freo and won a flag in 85.
Hethrington broke his leg in the 84 2nd semi but stayed at Swans and got a flag in 1990.
Broadbridge came in 91.
Melly played in the 82 flag and won the Simpson, top player.
Sqizzy Taylor only played at Swans in 85/86

Freezin wrote: Kevin Taylor was pretty ordinary for you guys from memory wasn't he?.....reckon Melrose and Neesham were more integral to SD success in the 80's than anyone else, especially from EF....obviously the Todd factor played a huge part in them going to SD....how many games did Broadbridge and Hetherington play for you guys?....fark did SD ever give EF anything half decent in return? ....besides Mark Olsen

Former Swans boys Treleven, Symonds, Moss, D & J Morgan et al were handy for your beloved Old Easts were they not Freeze?

mikeh wrote: My personal view is that the 1980 team was the best all round Swans combination that I have seen in my 40+ years supporting the club. They were just awesome early in the season when they won 13 games in a row. Unfortunately they lost a bit of momentum late in the season and were overtaken by South Fremantle. Still it was no shame to be beaten by Souths in the Grand final when they had such legends of the game as Maurice Rioli and Stephen Michael!

1981 they were also very good and I remember they belted inferior teams but again had problems when they came up against Claremont and South Fremantle and we ran out of steam in September. I can't remember being so disappointed after a finals loss than when we got thumped by the doggies in the Prelim that year because I thought we had wasted a golden opportunity to win a flag.

1982 they were not April premiers, they timed their run so that they were at their best in September. I remember the last qualifying game at Fremantle Oval when they smashed the Bulldogs who were fighting for a place in the four. I was thinking at that stage that we were going to be very hard to beat, so it proved.

1983 - Swannies played in the shadows of Claremont and South Freo and had to come through the first semi, but again they were at their best at the business end of the season. I stand to be corrected but I think that this is the last time a team has won a flag from a first semi final.

1984 was a even season and we finished on top with 13 wins! However we lost the 2nd semi and were down by over 20 points at half time in the preliminary. I still shake my head in disbelief when I think that they were able to fight back from that and snatch their 3rd flag in a row.

Was a wonderful time to be a Swans fan

That is a pretty good summation of all of those glorious years Mike and it was done against some outstanding opposition sides in C, SF, EF, WP, EP at that time who all read like a who's who of WAFL footy champions amongst their playing group and were all very hard to beat on their day!

Beasley Hutton wrote:

Freezin wrote: Kevin Taylor was pretty ordinary for you guys from memory wasn't he?.....reckon Melrose and Neesham were more integral to SD success in the 80's than anyone else, especially from EF....obviously the Todd factor played a huge part in them going to SD....how many games did Broadbridge and Hetherington play for you guys?....fark did SD ever give EF anything half decent in return? ....besides Mark Olsen

Former Swans boys Treleven, Symonds, Moss, D & J Morgan et al were handy for your beloved Old Easts were they not Freeze?

Treleven might of come from SD zone of Esperance BH, but pretty sure he never played for SD ....that's like me saying Roger Hayden and Harry O'Brien are more EF products to play AFL because they came from EF zone .....might as well say Jeremy Wasley was another EF product that did well at SD and won a Sandover medal then BH....how he won that Sandover, still is a mystery to me to this very day.....33/1 from memory.......

as for EF having a strong side in that era of SD BH?.....naaagh mate the 80/81/82 years were the worst in EFFC history pre AFL mate.....83 was a smidgen better, 84 yeah but only young, after that SD were heading south (85) and deep deep south in 86 before WCE ruined the party in 87....

Senior Seagull wrote: I watched all those great final series in the late 70's and into the eighties being a Subi supporter it was the only decent footy we got to watch until Bunton came back to the fold.

Those Swans teams were the best footy teams I have seen in my time watching WAFL footy pre- Eagles, they were a perfect balance of skill and brawn with the big mean enforcers that teams of that era needed to win flags, 80-81 Souths teams a very close second.

Claremonts 81 side deserves a mention. Averaged 155 points a game, still the highest scoring team in wafl history I think. Losing the krackouers bought us back to the field in 82 and 83.
People often say that era of ours should have won another flag or two and that strong South side also only won one flag. Yet swans won three when their squad was perhaps weaker than earlier years! Magnificent irony and the beauty of finals footy.

Tiger of old wrote:

Senior Seagull wrote: I watched all those great final series in the late 70's and into the eighties being a Subi supporter it was the only decent footy we got to watch until Bunton came back to the fold.

Those Swans teams were the best footy teams I have seen in my time watching WAFL footy pre- Eagles, they were a perfect balance of skill and brawn with the big mean enforcers that teams of that era needed to win flags, 80-81 Souths teams a very close second.

Claremonts 81 side deserves a mention. Averaged 155 points a game, still the highest scoring team in wafl history I think. Losing the krackouers bought us back to the field in 82 and 83.
People often say that era of ours should have won another flag or two and that strong South side also only won one flag. Yet swans won three when their squad was perhaps weaker than earlier years! Magnificent irony and the beauty of finals footy.

Agree that side was a great side but the 81 GF you really did steal it off the Doggies, I think Souths kicked themselves out of it with 6.15 in the second qtr with Rioli doing whatever he wanted. A couple of massive donnybrooks as well with big Basil and Benny Vigono squaring up against the Krackour boys and big Beecroft. Vigona was very handy in the clinches being an ex golden gloves I believe.

I would have Claremont's 1981 side as the best; I will never forget the 18 straight wins by SD; the three SD premierships were won of the great achievements of WAFL history because of the competition; the SF side had exceptional talent, but on the whole, under-achieved; they used to muck around with the ball a wee bit, taking long shots at goal and so on. 12.22 proved to be very costly in 1981. EF spent most of this period down near a club I won't mention for most of the era, as Freeze has pointed out with aplomb. WP and EP had ability, but not enough to really threaten the others. Interestingly, in 1980, WP failled to make the finals, but had they won all the games which they lost by less than a goal, the club would have made second spot.