The 1977 WANFL season was the 93rd season of the Western Australian National Football League in its various incarnations. It followed on from the previous season's high scoring to set another record for the highest average score in WANFL history[1] at 109.57 points per team per game, which was to be broken substantially in the following few years due to the introduction of the interchange rule allowing for a faster game with less exhausted players. 1977 was in fact that last WA(N)FL season with no score of over 200 points until 1988.
The season saw Perth win their second consecutive premiership with a resounding win and record WA(N)FL Grand Final score over East Fremantle who were in the finals for the first time since their last premiership in 1974. It was the fifth premiership in twelve seasons for the Demons, and their last as of 2022: Perth have not played in a Grand Final since 1978, and did even not qualify for the finals between 1997 and 2020.
To counter the uneven quality of inter-league matches between the WANFL and the VFL due to recruiting of top interstate players by Victoria, a State of Origin match was held in Perth the week following the Grand Final. Western Australia showed its quality as a developer of Australian Rules talent with a crushing 94-point win over the best players bred in Victoria, and until the advent of the national competition and the West Coast Eagles State of Origin football, this proved very popular with Western Australian and South Australian crowds and television in Victoria. However, after that it declined to the point of being abandoned after 1999.
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.
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]
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]
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]
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]
References
^Poat, Peter, ed. (1977). "Scoring Record". Ross Elliott's West Australian Football Register: 15.
^Hopkins, Colin; ‘Swans Run South into the Ground’; The West Australian, 28 March 1977, p. 71
^East, Alan; ‘12-goal Sewell Seals It for East F‘Tle’; The West Australian, 29 March 1977,pp. 84, 83
^Christian, Geoff; ‘Ruck-Rovers Get Eats F‘Tle Machine Rolling’; The West Australian, 4 April 1977, p. 72
^Wright, Frank; ‘Campbell Is a Saviour’; The West Australian, 4 April 1977, p. 72
^Hopkins, Colin; ‘High-Flyer to Set the Turnstiles Clicking’
^Christian, Geoff; ‘South Welcome Siren – And First Win’; The West Australian, 12 April 1977, p. 88
