1987 WAFL season

• The effect of the entry of the West Coast Eagles to the Victorian Football League,^[c] along with district cricket at the WACA, was seen in the total opening round WAFL attendance of 14693 being less than half of the opening round attendance in 1986 of 36499.^[17]
• Former forward Tony Beers, moved at the last minute to defence, does an outstanding job on the previously potent Perth forward line to produce a convincing revenge for Claremont’s 1986 first semi-final defeat.^[18]

• In the first night match for premiership points and the first WA(N)FL match at the WACA since September 1958,^[13] a fast-paced match despite slippery conditions^[21] sees West Perth inflict what would become Claremont’s only loss for 1987.
• Future Eagle stars Hart and Worsfold dominate for South Fremantle against a disappointing Perth team affected by injuries and Eagle commitments, turning Perth’s WACA “homecoming” sour.^[22]

• The first ever official WAFL game in Mt Barker sees Derek Kickett, placed in defence for the first time, become the decisive factor in holding off a slow-starting East Fremantle team.^[25]
• Ninety seconds from the final siren David Hart receives two fifteen-metre penalties against West Perth’s Gavin Wake – the first for running over the mark and the second for delaying in giving the ball – to move from 70 metres (76.55 yd) to 40 metres (43.74 yd) from goal and kick the winner in a fluctuating match where a mid-game burst of 8.4 (52) to a behind with six goals from much travelled Mark "Jacko" Jackson is decisive.^[26]

• Teenager Greg Walker, angry at being left on the bench for the first half, gives vent to his frustration by winning the match for Swan Districts, who forge away after an even three quarters and reveal Walker and twenty-year-old Andy Holmes a roving combination of great potential.^[28]
• In a typically tough derby, centre half-back John O‘Sullivan, full-back Colin Waterson, debutant John Pencourt and Tony Solin break down South Fremantle’s attacking power, especially during the third quarter when South score only one goal and are left with too difficult a deficit to make up.^[29]

• The West Perth vs East Perth game was played as a double-header before the West Coast Eagles’ inaugural match against Richmond.
• After the loss of numerous premiership players and a disappointing beginning to the season, Subiaco – with Rod Willett taking over Dwayne Lamb’s role as a defensive ruck-rover – thrash the Bulldogs, who had previously looked rejuvenated after three disappointing seasons since 1984.^[30]
• Superb defensive work by Kickett, McKenna, Beers and former spearhead John Scott restrict Swan Districts to 2.6 (18) after half-time, as Claremont suggest tremendous potential for the 1987 season after a slow start.^[5]

• Debutant Don Pyke, centreman Ben Allan (who had lost brother Jeremy on the Friday) and Joe Ahmat give Claremont a powerful centreline that defies the wind and rain^[32] to score 11.9 (75) to a single behind after a “hard and honest” East Perth looked like going close to a first victory.^[33]
• Three goals from free kicks in six minutes gives Swan Districts a decisive break in the rainy conditions – as the Bulldogs appear to relax after allowing only one goal in the first half.^[34]
• Brian Peake’s dominance and East Fremantle’s solid defence – helped by West Perth consistently using the defensive side of the ground when kicking with the wind – ensures an easy win wherein the Falcons kick the lowest WAFL score since Claremont’s 3.4 (22) in June 1980.^[35]

• A WAFL record of twenty consecutive goals without a miss, and ten goals by Browning, ensures the Sharks crush the Lions for the second occasion during 1987.^[38]
• Prime Minister Bob Hawke – South Fremantle’s number one badge-holder – was a guest for the second time at a red and white match, but as in the 1981 Grand Final to no avail as the score flatters South Fremantle who were poor for three quarters and hindered in their last-quarter comeback by eight behinds from “Jacko”.^[39]

• With Neil Taylor in amazing touch in the centre, Subiaco almost emulate East Fremantle’s performance from the previous round, scoring fifteen straight goals up to the four-minute mark of the third quarter and flattering West Perth after the initial sixteen minutes.^[42]
• In a violent match that continues South Fremantle’s decline, Bulldog skipper Brad Collard was suspended for four weeks for kicking rookie sensation Pyke in the head when a pack formed ten minutes into the second quarter after umpire Grant Vernon said “it was no accident”.^[43] A week and three days after regular WAFL Tribunal hearings, after an investigation into a broken jaw sustained by Bulldog ruckman Dean Irving, Claremont’s Peter Higgins was suspended for six matches.^[44]
• In the South Fremantle v Claremont colts match, a South Fremantle player was alleged to have bitten the ears of Craig Tester of Claremont.^[d][45] At the Higgins hearing this player was identified as Richard Zurnoch and outed for three matches.^[44]

• Claremont’s inaccuracy allows Subiaco to break its winning run with the second (and as of 2014 most recent) draw at Claremont Oval.^[46] It was Subiaco’s first draw since 1966, at the time the longest such sequence in the WA(N)FL though broken thrice since.^[47]
• Peter Melesso kicked a behind from fifty metres out after the siren to draw after missing two easier shots that could have given the Tigers another win, whilst Todd Breman proves the outstadning player of the match with 7.3 (45) including all Subiaco’s last four goals – one after the third quarter siren.^[48]
• In Bryan Cousins’ three-hundredth league match, Perth cannot overcome a woefully inaccurate 2.10 (22) in the first quarter, and coach Brown points a finger at the umpires at the last change.^[49]

• West Perth equalled their highest-ever score set in Round 10, 1981. The 210-point margin was also the greatest in senior WA(N)FL history,^[52] though exceeded in the under-age 1944 competition, and South’s score the lowest in the WAFL since Round 12, 1980.^[35]
• Paddy Maddafari scored ten goals, whilst in the third quarter South Fremantle’s Scott Wilcox, whose injury left them with seventeen men and eighteen injured senior players, was carried off by West Perth trainers as the Bulldog ones had supposedly “gone home”.^[53]
• In a top class game Claremont move to the top permanently by taking advantage of East Fremantle giving them first use of the wind when the weather was dry – rain fell through the second half and East Fremantle cannot make up a six-goal deficit at the last change. Derek Kickett, back in attack, scores two wonderful goals.^[54]
• 10.2 (62) by Perth in the third quarter gives the Demons a thrilling win after being six goals down at half-time, as Mark Watson takes over the centre from Peter Spencer.^[55]

• 9.6 (60) to 1.2 (8) in the first quarter ensures West Perth fail their critical test and have little hope of displacing Subiaco or Swan Districts from the four. Guy McKenna smashed the Falcon attack where only Bradmore was any threat.^[57]
• Swan Districts surprisingly outscore East Fremantle 19.6 (120) to 7.5 (47) from the eighteen-minute-mark of the second quarter, as they exploit the Sharks’ lack of pace and unexpected unwillingness to contest.^[58]

• This was the first night state game to be played in Perth.^[59]

• Despite scoring 1.13 (19) in the second quarter with the wind, four goals into it during the first quarter ensures Claremont become the first visiting club to win at Bassendean in 1987. Swans themselves score 1.8 (14) including three “posters” with the wind in the third quarter.^[62]
• Subiaco’s players claim the first half – when the Lions scored 10.8 (68) to 2.1 (13) in wet conditions – was the least competitive football they had played at WAFL level, although South do show some pride after the long interval.^[63]

Brian Peake played his 250th game for East Fremantle, but struggling WAFL chief executive Peter Cumminsky gains a wish as West Perth challenge the top four by scoring 10.7 (67) to 0.5 (5) in the forty minutes either side of half-time, with future Essendon star Darren Bewick beating Peake in the centre.^[67]

• An old-fashioned policy of resting ruckmen Edwards and Gatti in the forward pocket – even making Neesham move Ralph into defence – nearly garners a brave South Fremantle a huge upset, only denied by an after-the siren goal from Melesso after a mark with fifteen seconds remaining.^[70]
• Despite setting the pace for forty minutes, West Perth are overrun by a depleted Subiaco team, whose ability to switch centre-half-forwards Langdon and Georgiades is never countered by the Falcon defence.^[71]

• East Fremantle return to form in a fluctuating match where Subiaco concede the first nine goals, then kick nine of the next ten before the Sharks kick away as wingmen Rankin and Waterman dominate.^[74]
• South Fremantle – after their effort against Claremont red-hot favourites to win and seal the wooden spoon for the Royals – produce a bleak display that sees them score nothing against East Perth’s 8.8 (56) between the 22-minute mork of the first term and halfway through the second, to leave the game out of reach by half-time.^[75]

• Swan Districts convincingly down East Fremantle to be a game – plus 33.21 percent – from the double chance as the injury-plagued Kevin Caton returns to score 7.6 (48) as a late inclusion, whilst the Sharks lose Peake to a knee arthroscope.^[77]
• Allan Daniels consigns South Fremantle to a thirteenth consecutive defeat and keep the wooden spoon battle alive with three late goals – while the Bulldogs lose key forward Merv Dellar in unusual fashion as his collarbone breaks when he is running into an open goal.^[78]

In a dour struggle in slippery conditions, West Australia’s weakness in the key forward positions ensures they never heads the Victorians. Western Australia had only three players in the ‘All-Australian’ team selected after the match.^[80]

• Claremont score 12.5 (77) to 2.2 (14) after East Fremantle kick five unanswered goals to take a seventeen-point lead. Despite Ralph being moved into defence on Colin Waterson, Peter Thorne roved superbly for eight goals.^[83]

• Despite 37 possessions from Brian Taylor on the ball and a dominant centreline, Subiaco’s forward weakness allows Claremont to extend their unbeaten run to sixteen matches.^[85]
• Kevin Caton score 10.6 (66) and combines with ruckman Jim Buckley and on-ballers Troy Ugle and Joe Cormack to hold off West Perth‘s challenge for fourth position after Swans‘ previous defeat.^[86]
• Although Sumich and Edwards lead a charge of ten first-quarter goals, South lose yet again as Browning boots nine majors and Bushell seven, while the Bulldogs fail completely in the third quarter.^[87]

• Perth’s acting coach Mick Moylan celebrates a thrilling win from five goals behind at three-quarter time after a doubtful mark to Rea on the goal line, whilst Swans’ loss allows West Perth to enter the four for the first time.^[89]
• Peter Sumich’s power against a Lion defence minus the injured Greg Wilkisnon nearly gives South Fremantle an end to their losing streak, despite scoring only 2.5 (17) in perfect conditions to half-time – Graham Kickett kicked what would have been a match-winning goal but it was disallowed because a Subiaco mark had been paid.^[90]

• A superb second half scoring 17.6 (108) to 5.5 (35) gives the flagging Sharks a major boost in confidence, as Peake returns to score five goals at full-forward and young Brad Tunbridge dominates the ruck.^[92]
• With Ralph kicking nine goals nine behinds and young Pyke eight goals as a rover, Claremont kick the highest score against the Royals^[93] and inflict the blue and black’s worst-ever defeat.^[94]

• Todd Breman kicked ten goals for Subiaco, reaching 101 goals for the season.
• East Perth – last the whole season – avoid the wooden spoon with a fairytale victory for the retiring Peter Spencer, who was best afield despite having to play with headgear and protective padding.^[96]

Despite losing Peake to a calf strain, East Fremantle – underdogs after losing seven of their last twelve matches – upset the fancied Swans, who lose all control after an inaccurate 3.7 (25) when they dominated play in the opening quarter.^[97]

• Claremont make it twenty straight undefeated matches with a superb first-half defensive display that allows Subiaco only one goal until the 12-minute mark of the third quarter.
• Warren Ralph kicked ten straight goals to three-quarter time, including five into the wind in the second quarter, but Joe Ahmat was forced to kick one himself when he wanted Ralph to beat Bennett’s WA(N)FL finals record from the previous season, and late in the quarter Ralph kicked his only behind from a difficult angle.^[99]

With Peake back, East Fremantle fall into their 1986 Grand Final trap of excessively physical and undisciplined play – the Lions score nine goals in the first quarter and East Fremantle never get into the match, with veteran Featherby scoring five goals.^[100]

Claremont complete a record season with a crushing win, producing ultimately fulfilled expectations of a “golden era” under Neesham.^[103]