1994 WAFL season

With recruit Brenton Cooper kicking seven goals, Perth score a surprise win for new coach David Glascott.^[4]

• Metallurgist Leigh Wardell-Johnson shows poise to help overcome a Subiaco team affected by the difference in training methods between WAFL and AFL for seven West Coast Eagle members.^[5]
• The loss of full-back Anthony Reynolds (who held Jon Dorotich extremely well) to a knee reconstruction sours a West Perth win much more convincing than the scoreboard suggested.^[6]

The Anzac Day match was the first WAFL game at West Perth’s new home of Arena Joondalup, and attracted a crowd never equalled at the ground.^[7] It also featured a motorcade from old West Perth captains to Joondalup.^[3]

West Perth annihilate Subiaco with twelve unanswered goals after an even first half, with ruckman Craig Nelson dominating, and leave the 1993 preliminary finalists last on the ladder.^[8]

• With eventual Sandover winner Dargie sparking their attack, Subiaco make an abrupt return to form. Jason Heatley, after previously failing to live up to his 1993 form, kicks six goals in the first fifteen minutes and finishes with ten for an amazing 27 in three matches against the Royals.^[9]
• Perth lose key Victorian recruit Tony Campbell (who came to seek a place in the Dockers’ squad) with achilles tendon surgery, but press West Perth much more than expected.^[10]

Claremont’s 53-point win is the biggest in WAFL history by a team with fewer scoring shots.^[11]

• Swan Districts chair 1990 Simpson Medallist Greg Walker off the field after he announces he will move to Woodville-West Torrens due to his work in the wine industry. Shane Strempel, returning from a year in Port Hedland, kicks seven goals.^[13]
• South Fremantle manage a surprising fightback from five goals behind after one quarter in gale-force wind and rain, as the Falcons lack their usual attack on the ball when the rain ceases at half-time.^[14]

East Fremantle suffer an amazing second-half collapse kicking only 1.4 (10) to 9.8 (62), including seven goals by the Falcons into the wind in the last quarter, as the previously out-of-sorts Turley and Mildenhall come to dominate when positioned in the centre.^[16]

• The Foundation Day Fremantle derby was the last WAFL/Westar regular season attendance of over 10,000 until 1999, and the last over 15,000 ever.^[17]
• Gerard Neesham bows out as coach of Claremont with a fourteenth consecutive win despite surrendering a 28 point lead in a low-scoring match.^[18]

• Perth end a losing run of nine games as forward pocket Malcolm Williams, who immediately afterwards injured his knee,^[19] took the pressure off Cooper with nine goals and 17-year-old wingman Troy Cook plays a decisive role as a loose man in defence.^[20]
• This was the first match played for the Greg Brehaut Shield in memory of the former Perth player and East Perth coach who died in 1993.

• In a Grand Final preview, East Fremantle end Claremont’s best-ever start to a season and the first team unbeaten over halfway in since the Sharks of 1985.^[21]
• 35-year-old Mike Richardson, discarded by John Todd at the end of 1993, makes a comeback for West Perth when the Falcons lost key played to AFL duty despite having had no training.^[19]

• 19-year-old rookie Scott Crook produces a surprise performance on returning Eagle star Peter Sumich, holding him to one goal in his first WA(S)FL match since 1989 and leaving South a desperate struggle against the cellar-dwellers.^[23]
• For the first time, Subiaco play to the potential expected from them by critics, as midfielders Hampson, Godden, Connell and Snow lead the Lions out of the blocks with six first-quarter goals into the wind – after which the Sharks never get into the game.^[24]

• In wet conditions,^[26] East Perth are the first team goalless in the second half since East Fremantle against Subiaco in 1988.
• A few stern words from fans at half-time gives rookie Tiger coach Mark Riley valuable experience as he leads the Tigers to a seven-goal second half in the mud.^[27]
• Warren Nicholas’ 150th match sees Adrian Barich and Wayne Allard control play so well that Perth’s ineffective forward work cannot give the Bulldogs a win. It was Perth’s first win at Fremantle since 1987.^[28]

Subiaco’s dominance of possession from the centre – 144 possessions from six midfielders as against Claremont’s 110 amongst eight – allows it to inflict the Tigers’ worst loss for two seasons, despite losing key forwards Jason Heatley and Karl Langdon early on.^[31]

• Former specialist ruckman Paul Harding is unexpectedly shifted into defence and dominates the Bulldog attack, notably Jon Dorotich, to leave the Sharks only 2.7 percent short of third position behind the disappointing Swan Districts.^[33]
• Subiaco’s suspect defence – in 1993 it conceded more points than any other team’s bar Perth’s – led by ex-forward Daniel Metropolis, plays exceptionally well to virtually seal the top five with five rounds remaining.^[34]

With a major upset over the eventual premiers, Perth move off the bottom.

Although without Heatley and with Karl Langdon reported, Subiaco overwhelm West Perth for their seventh consecutive victory, kicking 17.8 (110) to 5.4 (34) to three-quarter time.^[35]

East Fremantle’s superb tagging decimate the league-leading Tigers after quarter-time, leavign the Sharks a win from the double chance with two rounds to play – and question marks over the post-Neesham Tigers’ capability of winning the flag.^[38]

• With Paul Harding seemingly having the field to himself in the ruck, East Fremantle completely crush Subiaco, ending the Lions’ eight-game winning streak and gaining revenge for the 1993 loss that put them out of the finals.^[39]
• Former Subiaco and West Coast premiership player Dwayne Lamb plays his 300th game of senior football in the Lions’ debacle.
• West Perth produce a stunning escape with six of the last seven goals to consign Swan Districts to the sudden-death elimination final.^[40]
• South Fremantle just fail to fight back from six goals down at half-time when fired up by the report of spearhead Dorotich for threatening language to field umpire Mark Warren,^[41] and East Perth effectively assure Perth of a second consecutive wooden spoon.

With Lamb playing his 150th game for the Lions and Heatley kicking 10.1,^[42] Subiaco fail by a single point to equal their highest score from ten years beforehand against Perth ^[43]

• Since the two finals were played at the same venue on the same day, the attendance figure is the same.
• These were the last-ever WAFL games at the WACA Ground, used because improvements to Subiaco Oval reduced its capacity and to help reduce the stress on its surface, which needed re-digging to improve drainage.^[44]

West Perth manage to always stay a kick in front during a thrilling finish in sloppy conditions.^[45]

• Since the two semi-finals were played at the same venue on the same day, the attendance figure is the same.
• With Paul Morgan kicking eight goals and Daniel Panizza^[46] keeping Andrew Lockyer to 0.2 (2), Claremont are never troubled to make their way into the Grand Final

Several major moves by Shark coach Ken Judge, including veteran Malaxos from defence to the ball and Paul Harding to defence, completely break down the system of West Perth, who score only 2.3 (15) to 11.8 (74) in the second half.^[47]

An opening skirmish between Damien Condon and second semi hero Morgan shows East Fremantle mean business as they completely break down Claremont’s attack for three quarters in hot weather.