1989 WAFL season

The return in the reserves of injury-plagued Andrew Macnish proves the sole highlight for Subiaco in the Grand Final replay – the Lions’ league team minus Breman and Georgiades has absolutely no target in attack.^[13]

• Sixteen-year-old Glen Jakovich kicks five goals to combine with Stevan Jackson in an impressive attack that East Fremantle cannot counter despite Jackson’s severely inaccurate total of 1.5 (11).^[16]
• The move of former centreman/defender Troy Ugle to the forward line and veteran defender Don Langsford onto the ball sparks 1988 wooden spooners Swans to equal top position with a ten-goal-to-two second half.^[17]

• With Perth considering a move to the southeastern Perth Hills, the WAFL plays a game in Kelmscott,^[4] but the Demons already look out of the running for the four after being expected contenders before the season started – they were never in the hunt after missing six consecutive shots late in the first quarter.^[19]
• The encouragement of fiancée Theresa helps Chris Davies return to West Perth from the Sunday Football League and he has the ball on a string in the Falcons’ first win for 1989.^[20]

• Brad Shine steels himself in the back pocket for the second half and becomes the driving force for an unexpected win after Swans were behind until three-quarter time. Eight kicks and six marks hold off most East Fremantle thrusts after half-time.^[23]
• In an effort to assess a potential move by the Falcons to the northern suburbs,
  Shire of Wanneroo. West Perth would move to Arena Joondalup
  for the 1994 season.

In a fine match watched by a figure claimed to be as high as six thousand,^[c] Claremont overcome an 8.5 (53) first quarter with four goals to Craig Edwards as Neesham’s brain and skill – compensating for his lack of size and speed – controls a torrid game thereafter.^[27]

• Greg Walker’s skill has some observers thinking his champion father^[d] is making a comeback, as his speed along with Passeri, Bazzo and the Holmes brothers lift Swan Districts to a thrilling win.^[29]
• Despite a Demon burst of 10.4 (64) to 0.4 (4) either side of half-time, Perth’s poor defence that takes only seven marks all game means it cannot hold the Tigers for the remainder of the afternoon.^[30]

• In appalling conditions, Claremont’s remarkably pin-point precision football in Brian Peake’s three hundred and fiftieth senior Australian Rules match gives a convincing win. Peake is his side’s best in an unfamiliar role tagging fellow veteran Neesham.^[33]
• Robert Wiley, having high expectation at season’s opening, is very angry at Perth’s lack of teamwork in the second half, when west Perth, led by the previously out-of-form Mifka, Madaffari and O‘Brien, score 9.11 (65) to 3.10 (28).^[3]

• Relegated Eagle forward Karl Langdon shows his toughness by being used as a tagger on Neesham and eliminating his influence to defeat the previously unblemished Tigers – who score only 1.3 (9) in the second half – only a week after the Lions lost to last-placed East Perth.^[36]
• West Perth win at Fremantle Oval for the first time since 1978, ending the longest run of failures there since East Fremantle left the ground after the 1952 season.^[37]

• In perfect weather for football fans are treated to a brilliant display, especially by Claremont whose superb disposal and marking make a good West Perth team appear second-rate.^[39]
• In a second brilliant match for the round, Neil Lester-Smith kicks six goals coming off the bench and Clinton Browning kicked the Sharks’ winning goal in the last minute.^[40] The match was compared favourably with the previous week’s VFL thriller between West Coast and top team Hawthorn.^[41]

Despite losing skipper Menaglio, Mifka, relegated Eagle Turley, plus full-forward Gavin Howlett kicking 3.9 (27) from mainly easy shots, West Perth via direct, efficient play appear a chance for the four despite their loss to the Royals the week previously.^[45]

A noisy members’ stand inspires South Fremantle to a fine victory over pacesetters Claremont, as Craig Edwards, already favorite for the Sandover, is a colossus with eighteen kicks and 27 ruck knocks.^[48]

After shaving his head to convince selectors to give him more games, Swan Districts rover Peter Hodyl looks a new player as he and his fellow rovers dominate the packs during a vital third quarter when Swans score 6.2 (38) to 3.5 (23).^[51] The win leaves Swans three games clear in the four and has WAFL official worried about potentially declining attendances.

• Willie Rioli kicks a 55-metre goal after a fifty-metre penalty on the siren to win the match, whilst the move of his elder brother Maurice’s move to the half-forward line proved decisive in energising a previously decrepit Bulldog attack.^[54]
• Again-relegated Eagle Langdon provokes Dawson of East Perth into a fifty-metre penalty and with three third-quarter goals leads the Lions to win a battle of the tailenders following a slow start.^[55]

The on-ball combination of Mark Watson and Willie Dick suggests the four may not be sealed as the pair demolish Swan Districts and atone for several previous costly Demon lapses.^[58]

West Perth are the first WA(N)FL team goalless at half-time since Swan Districts against South Fremantle in Round 15 of 1976. Their only three goals are during the first few minutes of the third quarter, and it is West Perth’s lowest score since 1950 and only the second time since 1928 they have scored just three goals in a match.^[61]

• In a hard, physical game from when Tony Evans and Mick Grasso tangle at the opening, Claremont’s greater accuracy in the second half ensures it a critical victory over the tenacious Swans to stay on top.^[63]
• East Fremantle record their biggest win over Perth,^[64] who kick the third-lowest score ever at East Fremantle Oval and the lowest since 1964.^[65] The Demons, without Watson, are never in the hunt after scoring the first goal within a minute of the start.^[66]

Despite playing some of their best football during 1989, Swan Districts move into a precarious position via a loss to a powerful, systematic East Fremantle team – led brilliantly by Brian Peake in the centre.^[69]

• A brilliant burst to get within eleven points after West Perth had previously kicked fourteen of fifteen for a fifty-point lead fails to give the Sharks the win needed for a second semi-final berth – Falcon Williams kicks a brilliant goal to seal East Fremantle’s fate.^[70]
• Claremont kick the final seven goals of a match its coach said was “equal in pressure to a VFL game” after South had jumped them with six goals to one in the first quarter, but the Tigers are worried about a hamstring injury to coach Neesham and a should problem to wingman Mark Hann.^[71]
• Despite having to use an obviously injured Brad Shine to replace Kevin Caton after a collision with Subiaco’s Brad McDougall, Swan Districts – with Shine helping exceptionally well – kick 15.16 (106) to 9.2 (56) after a tight first half to be a game and 6.5 percent clear inside the four.^[72]
• Perth ensure East Perth cannot repeat its late escapes from the wooden spoon in 1986, 1987 and 1988 vis a convincing with after an even three quarter led again by defender-cum-centreman Willie Dick.^[73]

Despite being the victim of a severe bump that was expected to keep him off the field, ex-St. Kilda wingman Jon Riggs recovers to lead West Perth to a critical win that leaves them 3.83 percent behind Swan Districts in fourth – and with a much easier last-round match.^[76]

• Swan Districts fall out of the four for the only time all season as West Perth thrash Perth, whilst the Swans cannot counter raging Sandover favourite Edwards’ 23 kicks, 13 marks and five goals or Maurice Rioli’s 31 kicks and eleven handballs.^[78]
• Despite not kicking a goal between the eight-minute mark of the second quarter and the corresponding point of the last, East Fremantle expose numerous flaws in Claremont’s ruck and forward divisions to make a second flag look doubtful.^[79]

In his three hundredth WA(N)FL game, Brian Peake goaled from 40 metres out to produce the first senior WA(N)FL finals draw since the 1938 Grand Final.^[40] As of 2014, it is East Fremantle’s only draw since 1974.^[81]

• The replay was played as a double-header with the second semi-final, starting a tradition established in the WAFL during the 1990s.
• West Perth’s woeful inaccuracy costs it dearly in the end after the two teams were deadlocked following six quarters of football. In the second half the Sharks’ rucks and rovers took over completely.

With the motivation of winning for former champion coach Clive Lewington who was dying of cancer, South Fremantle get away in the final ten minutes with three remarkable goals from Peter Matera^[83]

Despite ridiculously taking to a criss-cross short-passing style after kicking the first nine goals, 31-possession Neesham and Rowland hold off East Fremantle after the Sharks kick five straight at the beginning of the final quarter to be only twelve points behind.^[84]

In a game expected to be close, Claremont record a crushing win via a superb defence and brilliant tagging. South Fremantle kick the lowest open-age WA(N)FL Grand Final score since 1934, with all their goals coming between the 28-minute mark of the second quarter and midway through the third. Neesham, who was superb in the packs,^[85] Peter Thorne and Warren Ralph retired as players after the game.^[86]