1977 WANFL season

• Swan Districts’ off-season emphasis on physical conditioning has a surprise reward when – with Garry Sidebottom moved onto the ball – they overpower the 1976 second semi-finalists.^[2]
• Despite the unexpected return of Peter Featherby, 12 goals and five behind from youngster Jim Sewell allows Old Easts to run over the Lions in amazing fashion with 13.7 (85) in the last quarter.^[3]

• Two brilliant bursts of goalkicking by David Hollins and Bruce Tschirpig give East Fremantle an impressive upset over the reigning premiers.^[4]
• Basil Campbell single-handedly pushed South Fremantle close to East Perth when he misses a shot that would have levelled the scores after the Bulldogs were behind all match. Archie Duda kicks nine for the Royals.^[5]

• Jim Sewell’s second twelve-goal performance has him seen as potentially the biggest spectator drawcard in the WANFL since Gerovich^[6] – a critical asset when WANFL crowds were no longer increasing as they had in the 1950s and 1960s.
• South Fremantle show tenacity and skill to hold off a West Perth team that finished very strongly against the wind.^[7]

A record third quarter of 15.3 (93)^[8] sees Perth kick their highest-ever WA(N)FL score, beating their previous record from 1968 against Swan Districts.^[9] The Demon rovers create a “shuttle service” to nine-goal full-forward Couper. South were without Campbell and Mal Brown.

• Despite losing a tight game to West Perth, Perth find future Simpson Medallist Wim Rosbender as the replacement they needed for 1976 premiership ruckman Dean Herbert, who returned to Victoria.^[10]
• Swan Districts, after an expensive over-summer recruiting campaign,^[11] win their second game but it would be their last for sixteen weeks.

Subiaco, after being wooden spooners in 1976 and losing their first five by large margins, has coach Brian Douge allow the players to select their own side and let them off training – this unorthodox move wins the Lions their first game and sets them on their best run between 1975 and 1984.^[12]

West Perth’s win against East Fremantle was the biggest in the WAFL with fewer scoring shots until the same round of 1994^[13] beating a record from the 1969 Preliminary Final.

South Fremantle in a tricky wind kick 1.12 (18) before kicking ten goals straight and crushing Swan Districts ^[14]

On the one wet day of the season, South Fremantle kick an exceptional 10.3 (63) with the wind, with future star Stephen Michael dominating the ruck^[15]

• Cardinals won high-scoring game with a brilliant fifteen-minute spell before half-time^[16]
• When Ray Bauskis got his 100th goal in Round 19, a goal was added over those originally credited from this round^[17]
• Robert Wiley has 36 kicks and five goals in a display that attracts the attention of Richmond^[18]

Star Perth rover Robert Wiley has an amazing match with 10 goals, four behinds and forty-two possessions,^[19] as the Demons kick their second highest score on record.^[9]

Don Haddow kicks winner with last kick of day on best-afield Doug Green, in a manner compared at the time with the 1964 Grand Final.^[20]

• Robert Wiley kicks nine goals after half-time for his second double-figure haul of the season
• Bold moves by Graham Farmer help East Perth cope with the loss of spearhead Archie Duda to defeat rivals West Perth^[21]

Archie Duda kicked ten in comeback from knee trouble to move to 99 goals for the Royals.

• Peter Bosustow, then only a fringe player for Perth, kicks six to help them overhaul South Fremantle from a big quarter-time deficit^[22]
• Archie Duda kicked his hundredth goal for East Perth, but missed the rest of the season with persistent knee problems.

Old Easts wipe off a 44-point deficit in fifteen minutes of the third quarter and hang on to win a thriller^[23]

Ross Glendinning’s brilliant defence allows East Perth to hold Subiaco to 2.0 (12) in first half.^[24]

• East Perth, with fierce physical pressure and brilliant roving from Otway against a Wiley-less Demon side, take complete revenge for their earlier caning.^[25]
• Garry Sidebottom kicks eight as Swan Districts end a run of fifteen straight losses, to be thirty losses from thirty-two games next season. Sidebottom had played only eight games all year in a long list of Swans injuries^[26]

A superbly skilled and precise defensive effort on a perfect football day by the Cardinals sees East Perth on 0.1 (1) fifteen seconds before half-time, and they never have hope of winning.^[27]

With Peake and Wiley both absent, Perth rebound dramatically from their last round debacle with Murray Couper kicking eight.

Perth’s brilliant fleet of small men, with Wiley back for the first time in nine weeks, and a fast-running defence, completely outplays Old Easts to kick the highest ever WA(N)FL Grand Final score.

This was the first State of Origin game, and saw Western Australia inflict a crushing reversal on Victoria, who had previously been able to utilise countless players born and bred interstate. In the absence of Leigh Matthews and Kevin Bartlett, the Victorian roving division was slaughtered by Cable, Monteath and Max Richardson who kicked six straight.^[29]