1996 WAFL season

Swan Districts recover from a terrible first eight minutes where East Fremantle kick four unanswered goals to completely dominate the rest of the game, led by unheralded ruckman Ron skender against the strong Shark rucks.^[10]

A brilliant goal almost on the siren by future Eagle champion Ben Cousins sees East Fremantle win a thriller after the Bulldogs appeared likely to steal the game via four goals in three minutes.^[12]

• South Fremantle win with a goal by Marty Atkins with 23 seconds remaining^[14] to complete the Royals’ third consecutive fade-out after a strong start – the Royals were sixteen points ahead eighteen minutes into the last quarter and kicking with a strong wind.
• Perth half-forward Joe Proctor returns after five seasons of repeated foot fractures to kick six goals and beat four opponents in a major upset over a Shark team that lacked its normal commitment at the ball.^[15]

• Despite a major concussion, former Claremont full-forward Chris Gerreyn scores eleven goals to confirm East Perth are back as a force.^[1]
• The game between East Fremantle and West Perth sees the smallest total of margins at each change since Round 3 of 1956,^[17] with the first three quarters totalling only five points and overall only eleven.^[18]
• With the league considering expansion to the Perth satellite city of Mandurah,^[19] a game between 1995 wooden spooner Swan Districts and Claremont is played at the main football ground of Rushton Park.^[a]
• Yet again a South Fremantle match yields a late comeback as Subiaco, led by 22 kicks and thirteen marks from half-forward Andrew Donnelly, are behind almost all match but show traces of their 1995 form in coming back to win at the finish.^[20]

• With the WAFL recommending relocation of struggling Perth to the Hills region,^[19] a match is played in the outer suburb of Gosnells. The experiment is never repeated and the relocation failed.
• Perth lead 8.3 (51) to 3.2 (20) before being overwhelmed.^[22]
• Chris Peel’s hard work in damp and windswept conditions allows swan districts to hold off South Fremantle, who failed to use the wind during the second quarter when the ground was dry.^[23]

• The replacement of Greg Wootton by Vance Davison and the comeback at centre half-forward of the injury-plagued ex-star Sumich allows South Fremantle a crucial win in another close match – this time they held off Claremont at the finish.^[25]
• After having to change his jersey due to bleeding following a cut in his knee, Swan Districts’ Rod O‘Neill wears Tony Nesbit’s old number the week after Nesbit died, and his toughness in defence is lavishly praised and a critical part of Swans’ fourth win for 1996.^[26]

• East Perth take top position for the first time in twenty seasons as Paul Peos’ work as a permanent loose man in defence keeps leading goalkicker Joe Smith goalless, and Claremont are extremely weak in attack all along with no multiple goalscorer,^[27] although Phil Gilbert does keep the taller and bigger Gerreyn to one goal from a free.
• Sumich and Dorotich score only 0.5 (5) from seven early shots and with Shane Cable scoring seven as a stand-in full-forward, Perth seize the chance resulted as South score an amazing 1.15 (21) to half-time (their first goal was at the eighteen-minute mark of the second quarter) and never come back.^[28]

East Perth at one-point lead 20.13 (133) to 5.8 (38) before Subiaco kick last ten goals.^[31]

• East Perth show their premiership credentials with the manner of their fightback against Swan Districts, who led by thirty points and half-time before Turnbull took control in the ruck.^[33]
• One brilliant burst by Troy Wilson where he kicks four goals in ten minutes during the final quarter saves West Perth from a major upset against the tenacious Demons, who previously held an eleven-point lead.^[34]

South Fremantle kick an amazing 10.0 (60) to half-time and 14.1 (85) to three-quarter time before their accuracy deserts them slightly – though only a last-minute goal by Betheras denies them a draw with the pacesetter.^[37] It was the Bulldogs’ fourth loss by a goal or less for 1996.

• At the beginning of an uncharacteristically wet spell for modern times in Perth,^[40] Claremont kick their second score of 1.7 (13) in two years, equalling their second lowest all time score. The match was played with electric street lights on to aid the players, whilst Claremont were never in the hunt after getting into attack once in the first fifteen minutes.
• Two teams – Perth and East Fremantle – fail to goal after half-time, but Troy Wilson kicks seven including four in ten minutes on a day where winds blew rain horizontally.^[41]

• East Perth emerge winners – owing to Graham and Crough keeping Troy Wilson to two goals – in a match that showed West Perth’s move too Joondalup had not lessened the WAFL’s greatest rivalry.^[44]
• Clive Waterhouse kicks nine goals, seven behinds in Swan Districts’ second successive spectacular win, their biggest over South Fremantle beating a 108-point win from 1964.^[45]

• East Perth record their tenth straight win for their best run since 1961.
• With nine AFL-listed players, Claremont recover from two bad defeats to push the Bulldogs to two wins from the four, as South Fremantle lack forward support for the well-held Dorotich.^[47]
• 1995 Simpson Medallist Darren Harris bounces back to his best after a serious concussion in the previous match with the Lions, as West Perth kick thirteen of the last seventeen goals to be back in the four.^[48]

• Thirty possessions from rejected midfielder Dean Trovarello leads Claremont to put an end to East Perth’s ten-match winning streak, with coach Daniel Panizza saying a run in the reserves had done Trovarello good.^[50]
• Subiaco kicks eight of their eleven goals in the second quarter.^[51]

• Steady rainfall of 134.6 millimetres (5.30 in)^[55] over two weeks – the steadiest in Perth since anthropogenic global warming^[56] began to dry the climate – leads to very heavy conditions where bottom team Perth upsets likely finalists West Perth, whose score remains the lowest against the Demons since 1967.^[57]
• The Demons’ skill in gale-force winds and mud via a three-man attack to keep the goals open gives them a 6.1 (37) to 0.2 (2) lead at quarter-time, which West Perth can never claw back.^[58]
• East Perth take advantage of Swan Districts’ early wastefulness with the wind to soundly defeat the black and whites, whose forwards score only 2.4 (16) after quarter-time.^[59]

• West Perth become the first team since East Fremantle in the Preliminary and Grand Finals of 1924 to score three or fewer goals in consecutive open-age WAFL games.
• In contrast, despite the windy and damp conditions, Swan Districts annihilate Subiaco with thirteen different goalkickers and two ten-goal quarters.^[62]

• In very windy conditions with 22.2 millimetres (0.87 in) of rain,^[63] East Fremantle kick only one goal in three quarters and top team East Perth not only are beaten by bottom club Perth^[64] but lose Scott Loving and Devan Perry to one-match suspensions.^[65]
• West Perth rebound from two previous disasters, adapting well to “arctic” conditions and moving to within percentage of fourth-placed Swan Districts.^[66]

Perth move off the bottom of the ladder by thrashing 1995 minor premiers Subiaco, who apart from forwards Macnish and Dan Parker appear totally disinterested, whilst the unknown Craig Shearer kicks eight.^[68]

• With coach Gary Buckenara announcing his resignation before the match, Subiaco collapse after a competitive opening forty minutes, scoring only 1.6 (12) to 12.10 (82) for the rest of the match and sealing their first wooden spoon since 1982.^[70]
• 6.0 (36) to 2.5 (17) against a strong wind effectively seals Perth’s fourth victory in seven matches and leaves Swans needing a win over the in-form Cardinals to make the four.^[71]

• In an amazing match, Subiaco are 2.12 (24) at three-quarter time but kick 9.4 (58) to 7.3 (45) in a last-quarter shootout, as the Sharks experiment with players in different positions.^[74]
• West Perth comfortably secure a semi-final berth despite inaccuracy over lethargic Swan Districts, whilst in a preview of the Grand Final, Claremont hold East Perth to 0.1 (1) into the wind to claim the double chance.
• Jon Dorotich breaks Jason Heatley’s 1993 record for the most goals without a behind, as he scores thirteen straight goals from fourteen kicks, capitalising perfectly on ex-Demon Stephen Pears’ dominance of the ruck despite crowd taunts.^[75]

East Fremantle belie their previous poor record against West Perth, completely outclassing the Falcons for three quarters after defender Mellody has an amazing fifteen possessions in the first quarter.^[76]

• Since the two semi-finals were played at the same venue on the same day, the attendance figure is the same.
• Jeff White’s ruck power wins for East Perth via an explosive burst of 4.1 (25) unanswered in fifteen minutes against the inaccurate Tigers.^[77]

In a very physical man-on-man game in heavy rain and strong winds, Claremont thrashed the Sharks after half-time, kicking 7.10 (52) to a mere 1.3 (9) – including three goals to one behind into a strong breeze in the third quarter.^[78]

• West Coast Eagle veterans Pyke and Lewis possess crucial freshness^[79] to permit Claremont to win its fifth premiership in ten years against an East Perth club playing its first Grand Final since 1978. Ridley kicks his goals with a major knee injury^[80]
• In a spiteful game , both clubs were reported for “bringing the game into disrepute”.