TOPIC:

I think I did a '1983' topic on the Subi thread a fair while ago, here is one for the whole league.

SD; recovered from the loss of players, won back to back flags and cementted the start of the black and white Todd era; my favourite SD player, Mike Smith, returnned and kicked a miracle soccerred goal, one which Wayne Rooney never managed for England

CL under-perfommed as usual; remember Moss leaving the ground at the end of the grand final a visiblly tormentted man.

SF disappearred in the finals after leading the competition for a time

EF made a late successful run for the finals and probalblly saved Alexander's career as a coach -- a good effort by such a young side

EP fought manfully for most of the year given their palyer losses

WP startted off well -- fell away badly -- perhaps Dennis had a go at them?

Subi-- the Perter Daniel experiemnt -- Micheal Mort goes down injurred

Demons -- poor year -- a little unlucky to get the wooden spoon, losing some close games.

The 3 giants of that era all had their moments in 83 AR.
SF & CL were at times dominate during the home and away series kicking some big scores but Souths in particular fell away at the business end of the year whilst SD timed their run to perfection after a somewhat slower start than the previous few years.
EF after winning the Red Rooster Cup (remember that mid season mini comp) also gained some confidence in the second half of the year to make a 1st Semi appearance after a few lean years knocking EP out whilst WP proved their 3rd placing the year before was a fluke by dropping well down the table.
SU after starting like a house on fire under the Taswegian Daniel fell in a big heap and Perth continued to struggle under Ian Millar who inherited a poor side left by the Joyce years.
It was great to see Mike Smith make a comeback that season after 2 years out of the game due to a terrible knee injury and a well deserved Premiership before he went off to Carlton.

BH Daniel was from WA, believe it or not, at least according to the internet biography. I did not know that either, relying too much on the paper of the day. Apparently, too, he is the father of the ABC jounalist, zoe.

WP: i think 1982 was largely a fluke, all seemed to go you know what up' when they ran into an out of form EF and lost. Also, they did their usual red and blue thing, which was to lose a few games by less than a kick at the final siren.

Was the mid season competition well attended? I re-call the 1982 version, which the Falcons did win, because in one game Subi kicked an incredible 3.17

It is funny how sides lose momentem, whether they are good or bad. EP kicked 30 gaols in one game against Old Easts -- there were sixteen goals kicked in the first quarter, eight each -- and yet could not win at EF Oval in round 21 to make the four.

My fondest memory of 1983, apart from the obvious Grand final victory was the week before in the preliminary final where we stitched up the Doggies in the same way that they had done to us in the corresponding game in 1981! Revenge is sweet! ( no offence Southerner and other SF fans.....)

mikeh: I was thinking about that myself: SD set the record score in 1980, and yet, for about the next five or six years, clubs came very close to beatting the record. When you think about it, it was an amazing run of prelimanry final resutls in the 1980s.

Yes in the years 1980 - 1985, Swans played in 5 of the 6 preliminary finals for 3 wins and 2 losses. The only exception was 1982 when they won the 2nd semi final. The scores in the 1980, 81 and 83 preliminary finals are remarkably similar with the winning teams scoring 28 goals twice and 26 in 1983,and the losing teams scoring 15 goals on all 3 occasions. The 1985 preliminary final was a bit of a handing over of the baton as it signalled the end of Swans golden era and the start of Subiaco's

mikeh -- all true -- even Subi kicked 26 goals in 1986, had to in fact as Perth managed twenty goals themselves. Even just discussing the scores from back then give you a hint of how much the game has changed over the years.

Back in 83 it was a shootout every game bar V Claremont. You had to shut down there midfield because of there power fwds.Remember Cmt v SF Freo oval .1 minute left and Claremont lead by 9 points.And South's won.From memory thoes teams played some great matches,in 83.And looked liked GF opponent's.
Swans timed there run well and easily beat both Freo teams in the finals.Remember the GF about 4 goals.But that match seemed a lot closer all day.Did Solin close down Ralph.Skirowski closed down Daniels.Simpson Medalist Shine with his head over the footy all day.Shaker Baker full forward.

Grassy wrote: Dis PERTH really say NO that year to Geoff and Gary Ablett,plus Derek Kickett in 1983?

That would go a long way to explaining much of our situation now if that really did happen.

Derek Kickett did come from Tammin which was in Perth's country zone Grassy I must admit I always wondered how he ended up at WP instead although he did have a stint at Central Districts in the SANFL in the early 80s and actually went back there in 88 after the Sandover fiasco the year before.
Never heard the one about the Ablett brothers tho sheesh what a forward line that would have been!

Beasley Hutton wrote: The 3 giants of that era all had their moments in 83 AR.
SF & CL were at times dominate during the home and away series kicking some big scores but Souths in particular fell away at the business end of the year whilst SD timed their run to perfection after a somewhat slower start than the previous few years.
EF after winning the Red Rooster Cup (remember that mid season mini comp) also gained some confidence in the second half of the year to make a 1st Semi appearance after a few lean years knocking EP out whilst WP proved their 3rd placing the year before was a fluke by dropping well down the table.
SU after starting like a house on fire under the Taswegian Daniel fell in a big heap and Perth continued to struggle under Ian Millar who inherited a poor side left by the Joyce years.
It was great to see Mike Smith make a comeback that season after 2 years out of the game due to a terrible knee injury and a well deserved Premiership before he went off to Carlton.

Yep Subi had a great start that year winning the first two. Remember the third game was a blockbuster against SF. Biggest crowd I have ever seen for a Subi home and away game and we were smashed. Turned out to be one of subi worst season on a par with .82