This
exciting match was won by West Perth at Claremont Oval after the Falcons
withstood a last-minute Claremont surge. The last section of the last quarter
of this thrilling game can be viewed on YouTube (search for “WAFL Claremont
versus West Perth 1986”). It was a sunny day and Claremont Oval looked
magnificent. Both teams of this era were complete with a battery of fast
midfield running players and based on the two close games the two teams played
in 1986 they were evenly matched. Claremont was third after this Round 13 game,
two premiership points and percentage above West Perth and Perth who were level
on fourth and fifth but with low percentages of 98 and 96. Both Claremont and
West Perth should have made the final-four from this position. But Perth
made an end-of-season surge (finishing third with an impressive 12 wins, 8
losses, and a draw) to make the final series while West dropped out.
This season was surely one of potential unfulfilled for a
talented West Perth side and, at the end of the last season before the VFL/AFL
expanded into Western Australia, West Perth supporters were pretty much fed up
with the club and ready to embrace something new. For most fans the new team
was West Coast Eagles FC while for me it was Perth Italia Soccer Club. West
Perth had lost the first semi-final in 1985 and fans expected continual
improvement in 1986 in John Wynne’s second year as coach but unfortunately the
team fizzled out without a whimper and more motivated and consistent teams
reached the final series. An unexpected loss late in the season in Round 19 to
a rebuilding South Fremantle (seventh in 1986) at Fremantle Oval was a bitter
blow to West Perth fans that had grown angry with the mediocrity being
displayed by the team. A huge 98-point defeat to eventual premiers Subiaco in
the last qualifying game revealed the true state of West Perth’s progress and
further revealed it had no moral right to play in the finals. West Perth ended
the last year of the pre-West Coast era in a mud heap of mediocrity and broken
dreams, much like a washed-out LA hooker just stepped out from a Poison or Mötley Crüe song (to name two popular glam rock bands of
the era).
The
team line-ups reveal that the Claremont team of this year was a patchwork quilt
of older legends, players from other clubs or back from interstate, and some
promising youngsters. Coach Graham Moss did extremely well to bring them to an
eventual fourth position for 1986 after a first semi-final defeat at the hands
of Perth. The listed back-line featured the tough and reliable Larry Kickett in
one pocket (recruited from East Perth) while Geoff Miles (the ex-Collingwood
player later to star at West Coast) was at full back. The half-back line was
made up of talented youngsters with brothers Michael and David O’Connell (both
early West Coast players) at centre-half-back and centre-half-forward
respectively. The centre-line was dependable and talented, with Darrell Panizza
on one wing (before he departed for SANFL club Woodville), captain Steve
Malaxos (back from a failed year at Hawthorn) in the centre, and the brilliant
Peter Davidson on the other wing. This was a state football standard or VFL/AFL
standard centre-line. Ex-West Perth player Derek Kickett was listed on a
half-forward flank. Unable to maintain a good working relationship with John
Wynne, after Dennis Cometti had left West Perth, Derek sadly for West Perth
fans moved to Claremont to join his cousin Larry. This was a major loss to West
Perth and greater efforts should have been made to retain this player. By
himself he could make the difference between a club playing finals football or
just missing out. Another fine running player Steve Goulding was named as
ruck-rover for CFC with the young David Court being given the first ruck
responsibilities now Graham Moss was no longer operating as a playing-coach.
On
paper the ruckmen appeared to be Claremont’s biggest weakness but David Court
surprised by winning the ruck contest and being named as Claremont’s
second-best player. Court’s dominance here perhaps makes it surprising that he
never really went on to have a successful career as a footballer. The tough and
under-rated ex-East Perth full-forward John Scott was named at full-forward.
Despite no longer being in the first flame of youth, he was still respected and
feared by West Perth fans as he had put in some great performances against
mediocre West Perth defences (are there any other type?) in past Perth derbies.
Scott was a good mark and was very agile and nimble for his height, being able
to weave around backmen and pick up the ball from the ground and inside packs.
He had that typical East Perth spirit even after he left the club.
The
West Perth line-up for this game is also a revelation simply because the club
had made very few changes of playing personnel since the previous year. In
hindsight, this proved West Perth’s ultimate fatal weakness because it trod
water in 1986 while the other clubs, most notably Perth, improved dramatically.
If as a West Perth fan you had not attended any West Perth game in 1986 but
then attended this Round 13 match, you would find you still had the luxury of
knowing nearly all the players! To WPFC’s advantage, promising juniors such as
Dean Laidley, Dean Warwick, Paul Mifka, and Craig Turley were all now a year
older, more experienced, and more self-confident (as was John Gastev who was
injured for this game). Phil Bradmore, Les Fong, and Peter Menaglio were still
in the prime of their careers and all played well this game except for Fong who
was largely tagged into ineffectiveness. Bradmore was voted best-on-ground and
defeated three Claremont players including future West Coast champion Geoff
Miles. His win over Miles suggests he was good enough to play VFL/AFL and was
perhaps unfairly overlooked by West Coast and other VFL clubs at the end of the
1986 season. His earlier brief career at Footscray was apparently either
ignored or held against him. The West
Australian for Monday, 23 June 1986 describes Bradmore’s performance as
follows: “Strong and creative at centre-half-forward where he had 16 kicks and
scored four goals”. Brendon Bell was a reliable, talented, and somewhat
physical midfield player for West Perth in the 1980s and another of those WPFC
players of the era who was hugely under-rated. He played a great game this day
and was nominated second best for his club after Bradmore. The fact that his
name was misspelled by The West
Australian as “Brendan” when the correct spelling was “Brendon” (see Brian
Atkinson’s club history book) does suggest he was flying well and truly
under-the-radar as far as the media was concerned. Another good WPFC performer
this day was another relative no-name David Martin in defence. The fact that
Ross Munns was now in the starting line-up and not on the bench or in the
reserves, unlike most of the previous two seasons, does suggest the club was
running out of options. Among the few positive factors for the club in 1986
were the returns of Peter Murnane and Corry Bewick but only Bewick was in the
best players’ list for this game. Bradmore, Bewick, and Fong were the only WPFC
players in the Top 20 players for the WA Footballer of the Year Award after
Round 13 (see below).
It appeared this day that David Court won the ruck duels overall but WPFC’s makeshift ruck brigade of Dan Foley, Mal Bennett, and the often injured Craig Nelson put up a reasonable performance. Clearly the team missed Kim Rogers, the strong lead ruckman from the 1985 season, who was still at the club but must have been out injured. Renato Dintinosante was an effective tagger of Les Fong but Bell, C Bewick, and Menaglio were all still outstanding in the midfield. John Scott was effective for CFC with 6.3 but Derek Kickett and Steve Goulding were woefully inaccurate with 1.6 and 1.5 respectively. (The match-report in The West Australian on the following Monday credits Goulding with 1.5 but the scores in the same newspaper credit him with 1.4.) Scott’s 6.3 took him to equal first on the goal kicking table with 49 goals after Round 13, equal to Mick Rea (Perth). Peter Davidson played an outstanding game as did Steve Malaxos. Malaxos received a knee injury when tackled late after having kicked Claremont’s 10th goal midway through the third term, and WPFC came back into the game after this point. To quote the match-report written by the late Geoff Christian: “West Perth kicked the last four goals of the third term (plus the first three in the last) in a seven-goal burst that took their score from 8.7 to 15.12 during which Claremont managed only three points”. Christian also wrote: “West Perth were fading at the finish but strong at the start of the [last] quarter when they kicked three early goals and held Claremont scoreless for 11 minutes to establish a 24-point lead, 15.12 to 10.18”. Ultimately, Claremont was not able to bridge this lead at the end although it came very close. WPFC showed it could beat Claremont during the 1986 season but if we take the season as a whole then clearly Claremont was by far the better performer as the final percentages of the two teams after 21 rounds (110% and 88%) make clear.
Comment by Claremont fan Paul Lorenz (1 October 2020): Good piece of writing. Pretty sure I was there that day. I remember Claremont coming out of the blocks well, then later on West pegged us back, they got the lead in the last. Right at the death of the game, Derek Kickett (Claremont) got possession in front of Claremont's goals, but tried to play on quickly, finessing, and doing what Derek Kickett did/does. He completely flubbed it and I don't think we scored; the siren went a few seconds after that and Wests won the game. I was furious with Kickett. All of this was conveniently forgotten the next season when Kickett had a stellar year with us.
Likely
line-ups:
(Source: The West Australian, Saturday, 21 June 1986, p. 203)
Backs: L Kickett, Miles,
Dintinosante
Half-backs: Morton, M
O’Connell, Brayshaw
Centres: Panizza, Malaxos,
Davidson
Half-forwards: D Kickett, D
O’Connell, Shepherd
Forwards: Beers, Scott,
Hann
Ruck: Court, Goulding,
Mitchell
Interchange (from): Tait,
Owens, Park, Begovich
Backs: Munns, Mugavin, Lill
Half-backs: Laidley,
Martin, Binder
Centres: Mifka, Warwick, D
Bewick
Half-forwards: Turley,
Bradmore, Bell
Forwards: Menaglio, Nelson,
Murnane
Ruck: Foley, L Fong, C
Bewick
Interchange: Bennett,
Bushe-Jones
In: Laidley, Bennett,
Murnane
Out: Barns (groin), Gastev (groin), Stephens
Match
results – Saturday 21 June, 1986, Claremont Oval
West Perth FC 3.1 8.4 12.11
16.13 (109) d Claremont FC 4.7 6.12 10.18 13.26 (104)
Scorers: WP: Nelson 4.3,
Bradmore 4.1, Foley 2.3, Murnane 2.0, C Bewick 1.2, Lill 1.1, Bell 1.0, D
Bewick 1.0, Menaglio 0.2, Mifka 0.1.
C: Scott 6.3, Mitchell 2.1,
D Kickett 1.6, Goulding 1.4, Owens 1.3, Malaxos 1.0, Beers 0.3, Hann 0.1, M
O’Connell 0.1, Morton 0.1, Shepherd 0.1, Forced 0.2. [KJ note: One Claremont goal
seems to be missing from this list.]
Weather: Fine, moderate
north-easterly breeze.
(Source: The West Australian, Monday, 23 June
1986, p. 100)
Attendance: 8,807 (from WAFL Online)
Free kicks: WP: 6, 7, 5, 2
– 20.
C: 6, 10, 3, 6 – 25.
Best players:
WA Footballer of the Year
Award:
5 votes Phil Bradmore (West
Perth) – Strong and creative at centre-half-forward where he had 16 kicks and
scored four goals.
4 votes Peter Davidson
(Claremont) – Another typical hard-working and effective centreline performance,
during which he had 22 kicks and 10 handpasses.
3 votes Brendon Bell (West
Perth) – Busy and effective as a half-back and then in the centre in a
performance that heralded his return to top form. [KJ note: The newspaper
misspelt this player’s name as Brendan Bell.]
2 votes David Court
(Claremont) – A sustained four-quarter effort in the ruck where he was a
dominant player at the hit-outs.
1 vote David Martin (West
Perth) – Was in control throughout at centre-half-back where he exerted a
stabilising influence on the West Perth defence.
(Source: The West Australian, Monday, 23 June 1986, p. 100)
Team rankings: WP: P
Bradmore 1, B Bell 2, D Martin 3, P Menaglio 4, D Foley 5, C Bewick 6.
C: P Davidson 1, D Court 2,
J Scott 3, D Kickett 4, S Goulding 5, S Malaxos 6.
(Source: The West Australian, Monday, 23 June 1986, p. 100)
WA Footballer of the Year
Award Leaders after Round 13 (Top 20 players):
33 votes – Laurie Keene (S)
30 votes - Brian Peake (EF)
29 votes – Steve Malaxos
(C)
25 votes – Peter Featherby (S)
21 votes – Peter Sartori
(SD), Brian Taylor (S)
20 votes – Peter Davidson
(C)
18 votes – Phil Bradmore
(WP)
17 votes – Warren Dean (S),
Robert Wiley (P)
16 votes – Corry Bewick
(WP), Mark Bairstow (SF)
15 votes – Craig Starcevich
(EP)
14 votes – Steve Goulding
(C), Darrell Panizza (C), Peter Wilson (EF), Neil Taylor (S)
13 votes – Michael Mitchell
(C), Chris Mainwaring (EF), Les Fong (WP)
(Source: The West Australian, Monday, 23 June 1986, p. 100)
|
|
Round 13 |
WAFL |
Table |
1986 |
|
|
|
|
Played |
Won |
Lost |
Drawn |
% |
Points |
|
SUBIACO* |
13 |
12 |
1 |
- |
149.52 |
48 |
|
E FREM** |
13 |
9 |
4 |
- |
125.49 |
36 |
|
CLARE |
13 |
8 |
5 |
- |
136.52 |
32 |
|
W PERTH |
13 |
7 |
5 |
1 |
98.20 |
30 |
|
Perth |
13 |
7 |
5 |
1 |
96.08 |
30 |
|
Swan Dist |
13 |
3 |
10 |
- |
87.08 |
12 |
|
South Frem |
13 |
3 |
10 |
- |
66.73 |
12 |
|
East Perth |
13 |
2 |
11 |
- |
73.81 |
8 |
(Source: The West Australian, Monday, 23 June
1986, p. 100)
*eventual 1986 WAFL
premiers
**eventual 1986 WAFL runners-up
Leading goal-kickers after
Round 13 (Top 9 players):
49 – Mick Rea (P), John
Scott (C)
44 – Stephen Sells (S)
41 - Tony Buhagiar (EF)
40 – Colin Waterson (EF)
37 – Warren Dean (S)
36 - Brian Peake (EF)
32 – Todd Breman (S), Wayne
Ryder (P)
(Source: The West Australian, Monday, 23 June 1986, p. 100)
Complete match report (full
text):
By the late GEOFF
CHRISTIAN:
“West Perth delved deep
into their bag of last-quarter tricks at 4.35pm at Claremont Oval on Saturday
and came up with a new way to frustrate, and then beat, Claremont.
“West Perth changed the
formula they used at Leederville Oval on May 10 when they produced a surging
finish, coming from 41 points down at the 10-minute mark of the last quarter to
win by three points.
“This time West Perth were
fading at the finish but strong at the start of the quarter when they kicked
three early goals and held Claremont scoreless for 11 minutes to establish a
24-point lead, 15.12 to 10.18.
“That proved enough to
frustrate the Tigers, who kicked a wasteful 3.8 to 1.2 for the remainder of the
game to finish five-point losers at the end of a game they were desperate to
win.
“The turning point in this
game for West Perth came midway through the third quarter. The precise moment
was when Claremont captain Steve Malaxos received a knee injury when tackled
late after having kicked Claremont’s 10th goal to give the side a
20-point lead.
“That was Malaxos’s last
kick of the game and it also marked the high point of Claremont’s afternoon of
football.
“West Perth kicked the last
four goals of the third term (plus the first three in the last) in a seven-goal
burst that took their score from 8.7 to 15.12 during which Claremont managed
only three points.
“Malaxos was Claremont’s
best player for 21/2 quarters and he looked the man likely to develop into a
match-winner.
“But the title was
eventually the property of West Perth centre-half-forward Phil Bradmore who was
again superb as a key attacking player despite the attention of Michael
O’Connell, Noel Morton and later Geoff Miles.
“Bradmore not only provided
four goals but also a reliable avenue into attack that Claremont were unable to
achieve at centre-half-forward.
“Claremont were blocked at
that position by an excellent performance from David Martin, a Tigers reject,
who had one of his finest days in football in a winning battle against David
O’Connell.
“Claremont full-forward
John Scott (6.3) set a standard of efficiency in the Claremont attack that was
not followed by either Derek Kickett (1.6) or ruck-rover Steven Goulding (1.5).
[KJ note: The match scores on the same page of the newspaper credit Goulding
with 1.4.]
“Kickett could not convert
a notable winning effort against Dean Laidley in the air and on the ground into
goals and Goulding spoiled a strong midfield effort with goalfront
inefficiency.
“The exit of Malaxos from
the ground made things easier for West Perth inside the centre-square, notably
Brendan Bell, who was in superb form in the third quarter when he had six
kicks, a mark and five hand-passes in a performance that helped the Falcons
offset the influence of Claremont winger Peter Davidson, who ended up as his
team’s best player.
“The combined efforts of rover
Corry Bewick and Peter Menaglio were critical to the West Perth victory.
“It was essential for West
Perth to win the roving battles against Michael Mitchell and Mark Hahn on a day
when Claremont ruckman David Court won the majority of the hit-outs and
Claremont’s Renato Dintinosante successfully tagged Falcons’ captain Les Fong
restricting him to 11 kicks and two hand-passes.
“Corry Bewick enhanced his
reputation for consistency and Menaglio was back at near his best a week after
his return to league ranks against South Fremantle.
“Mitchell played
spasmodically but he continues to attempt to achieve too much in a single
burst. Quicker disposal could only help himself and Claremont’s all-round
football.
“West Perth appeared to
have solved their big-man problems.
“This has been achieved by
using Dan Foley as a ruckman, regaining the services of Mal Bennett as a knock
ruckman and Craig Nelson’s return to form and fitness.
“Bennett showed on Saturday
that he is a capable player at the hit-outs and in the marking duels, Foley
again displayed impressive around-the-ground talent and Nelson’s confidence is
back where it belongs”.
