Department of fair trade

Heading into their second season in the AFL, Fremantle lured Tony Godden from West Coast. He had played 13 AFL games with the club from 1993-95, including two finals, and was signed as an uncontracted player ahead of the 1996 Pre-Season Draft.

While it probably wasn’t a heart-breaker, the club has never liked losing anything to Fremantle and this was no different.

Yet if Eagles fans were disappointed at the time, they would get over the angst pretty quickly.

Why? Because the loss of Godden presented the club with one of the greats.

David Wirrpanda was signed by the Eagles as compensation for the loss of Godden and went on to be a 227-game star who was All-Australian in 2005 and a member of the 2006 premiership side.

In round five, 1996 Wirrpanda made his debut in a one-point loss to Carlton at Princes Park.

Born in Melbourne, raised in Shepparton, a product of the Eastern Ranges and aged 16 years 268 days, he was the youngest Eagle all-time and, under current AFL regulations, always will be.

Furthermore, he was the 79^th player in AFL history to play at senior level before his 17^th birthday and the 39^th youngest all time. And the most recent player younger than 17. Again, under current AFL regulations, he will be the last.

Wirrpanda ranks eighth among the ‘sixteen and under’ players behind Robert Harvey (383), Simon Madden (378), Kevin Murray (333), Tim Watson (307), Russell Greene (304), Roberts Walls (259) and Gary Pert (233).

Three Brownlow medallists are also in the ‘sixteen and under’ group … 1929 medallist and six-time Collingwood premiership player Albert Collier was 15 years 297 days on debut, 1940 medallist and Collingwood Team of the Century member Des Fothergill was 16/318, and 1982 medallist Brian Wilson was 16/211.

Making his debut in the same game that Ben Cousins and Phil Matera played their second games, Wirrpanda had nine possessions and kicked two behinds as Chris Mainwaring and Drew Banfield took the minor Brownlow vote behind Carlton’s Anthony Koutoufides, who had 35 possessions and pulled in 18 marks.

It was a game remembered, too, for the antics of Greg Williams. The Carlton centreman conned the goal umpire, celebrating as if he had kicked the ball even though West Coast rushed it through for a point. The umpire awarded a goal that was pivotal to the result.

And, if only to use a word that has been wiped from the football vernacular, Chris Mainwaring played so well on Scott Camporeale in the first half that the Carlton ace was “dragged”.

Lions: 20 and out

Three times West Coast have won 10 or more games in a row. The club’s best is 12 straight in 1991, followed by 11 in 1996 and 10 in 2018. It’s well short of the all-time AFL record of 23 consecutive wins, set by Geelong in 1952-53.

But at least in round five, 2002 they had the pleasure of ending one of the league’s three 20-game winning streaks.

Brisbane had won 20 games on the trot from Round 10, 2001, through the club’s first premiership, to round four, 2002. They’d pulled level with Collingwood’s 20-game win streak in 1928-29 and Essendon’s 20-game sequence in 2000, which had been ended by the Bulldogs in Round 21.

West Coast made sure there was no 21^st consecutive win for the Lions when, after the Lions had kicked the first three goals, they lead at every change and won every quarter in the round five match at Subiaco, taking it 18.13 (121) to 10.15 (75).

Tony Wilson kicked five goals while Michael Gardiner picked up three Brownlow Medal votes in John Worsfold’s fifth game as coach and Chris Judd’s fourth game.

Eleven goal-kickers

Drew Banfield will not have fond memories of his 150^th game, when the Eagles lost by 81 points to Geelong at Kardinia Park in round five, 2000.

But the statisticians will love it. The Eagles score of 11.15 (81) included 11 different goal-kickers.

It is one of just 11 games in the club’s total of 779 in which they did not have a multiple goal-kicker. 

So technically there were 11 players who topped the goal-kicking that day …Ben Cousins, Scott Cummings, Michael Gardiner, Fraser Gehrig, Dean Kemp, Chris Lewis, Phil Matera, Chad Morrison, Chad Rintoul and David Wirrpanda.

It wasn’t such a big deal for 10 of the 11 single goal-kickers, who often topped the goal sheet.

But for Chad Rintoul it was the only time in 39 games for the club from 1999-2000 he did so.

The 11 individual goal-kicker count on that miserable day at Kardinia Park is a club high, and so, too, is the 81 points in a game with no multiple goal-kickers.

The closest rival was in round 21, 1997 when the Eagles had 10 different goal-kickers in a score of 10.8 (68) against the Western Bulldogs at Whitten Oval, when they lost by 18 points.

A career games count of 1-68-1?

Can you name the player who had a club-by-club games tally of 1-68-1. So he played one game at his first and third clubs, and 68 for his second club?

Clue? His first and only game for the Eagles was in round five, 2003 against Fremantle.

Ben Cousins had 27 possessions (20 contested) to pick up three Brownlow votes in his 150^th game, Chad Fletcher had 27 possessions and a career-best three goals for two votes, and Ashley Sampi kicked four goals in his eighth game.

More clues? He won the 2005 Liston Trophy in what is now the VFL, the Simpson Medal in WA’s 2012 state game against SA, and captained WA against the VFL in 2013. And in addition to his three AFL clubs he has also played for East Perth and Swan Districts in the WAFL, and Sandringham and Box Hill in the VFL.

It was Paul Johnson. He had one handball and one tackle.

Originally taken at #24 in the 2002 National Draft, he was traded to Melbourne for selection #29 in the 2004 Draft, with which the Eagles secured 168-gamer Matt Rosa.

Johnson played 68 games for Melbourne before being de-listed at the end of 2010, won a rookie list spot at Hawthorn, and, after an injury-disrupted start at his third club, played for the Hawks in round 24 only to be de-listed again.

Later to return to East Perth and win the 2012 and 2015 club best and fairest, Johnson is one of 14 players to have played just one game for the Eagles. The others are Glenn O’Loughlin, Sean King, Paul Mifka (1987), Kevin Caton (1988), Shane Cable (1989), Cory Young, Ian Dargie (1991), Scott Bennett (2000), Zach Beeck (2004), Gerrick Weedon (2011), Ryan Neates (2012) and Tom Lamb (2015). And, of course, Tim Kelly (2020).

Johnson is also one of 25 Eagles players who played for three or more AFL clubs, including two four-club players and one five-club player.

Can you name them? There’s an AFL coach, a Coleman Medallist, two premiership players, a former South Melbourne player and one player who started and finished at the same club.

1. Who is the Eagles player who played for five different AFL clubs? Dale Kickett. He played 15 games at Fitzroy (1990), two games at West Coast (1991), 21 at St Kilda (1992), eight at Essendon (1994) and 135 at Fremantle (1995-2002). In 1993 he played with Claremont, winning his third WAFL premiership and his second Simpson Medal as best afield in the grand final.

2. Who is the Eagles player who played for four different clubs, and won a Coleman Medal? Scott Cummings. He played 40 games with Essendon (1994-96), 37 at Port Adelaide (1997-98), 46 with West Coast (1999-2001) and five at Collingwood (2002). He won the Coleman Medal with the Eagles in 1999, when he kicked 95 goals in 24 games, including two finals.

3. Who is the three-club Eagles player who went on to become an AFL coach? Scott Watters. He played 46 games with the Eagles (1989-92), 37 with Sydney (1993-94) and 26 with Fremantle (1995-96. And he coached St Kilda in 2012-13.

4. Which former South Melbourne player is among the 26 members of the three-club Eagles.  Peter Melesso. He played in the very last game for South Melbourne in Round 22, 1981 before the club moved to Sydney to become the Sydney Swans in 1982. He played seven games with St Kilda (1983-85) and six games with West Coast (1989-90).

5. Which three members of the three-club Eagles group went on to win premierships after leaving the Eagles? Jarrad Schofield, Mitch Morton and Matt Spangher. Schofield played 63 games at West Coast (1993-98), 131 games with Port Adelaide (1999-2004) and 12 games with Fremantle (2005-06). He was a member of the Port side that beat Brisbane in the 2004 grand final but was injured early and played minimal game time. Morton played 12 games at West Coast (2005-07), 59 games at Richmond (2008-11) and 12 with Sydney (2012-13). He kicked two goals in Sydney’s 2012 grand final win over Hawthorn. Spangher played 26 games with West Coast (2008-10), six with Sydney (2011) and 24 with Hawthorn (2013-16). He had 15 possessions in Hawthorn’s 2014 grand final win over Sydney. 

6. Who is the only three-club Eagles player on the 2020 Eagles playing list? Tom Hickey. He was a member of the foundation playing list at the Gold Coast Suns and played 12 games there in 2011-12. He played 67 games with St Kilda (2013-18) before joining West Coast in 2019.

7. Which three-club Eagles player is on the 2020 coaching staff of a rival club? Jarrad Schofield. After coaching Subiaco to five consecutive WAFL grand finals from 2014-18 and premierships in 2014-15-18 he joined the coaching staff at Port Adelaide.

8. Which three-club Eagles player started and finished at the same club? Trent Nicholls. He played 56 games at Richmond (1988-91), four games with West Coast (1992) and 33 games with North Melbourne (1994-96) before finishing his career with a further 19 games at Richmond (1997-98).

9. Who are the other 16 three-club Eagles players? John Annear (Coll-Rich-WC), Kevin Caton (WC-Bris-Fitz), Ian Downsborough (WC-Port-Adel), Aaron Edwards (WC-NM-Rich), Jonathan Giles (Ess-GWS-WC), Ilija Grgic, Paul Harding (Haw-StK-WC), Mark Hepburn, Alex Ishchenko (WC-Bris-NM), Paul Johnson (WC-Melb-Haw), Brendan Krummel (WC-Frem-Haw), Geoff Miles (Coll-WC-Geel) , Brendon Retzlaff (Bris-WCE-Coll), Chad Rintoul  (Adel-WCE-Coll), Koby Stevens (WC, WB, StK), Mark Zanotti (WC-Bris-Fitz).

10. Which player, not among the three-club Eagles players, started and finished at the Eagles? Paul Peos. He played 51 games with West Coast (1987-92) and 33 games with the Brisbane Bears (1993-94) before returning home to play a further four games with West Coast (1995).

11. Which player, also not among the three-club Eagles players, also played first-class cricket? Todd Breman. He played 23 games with West Coast (1989-90) and 25 with Richmond (1992-93) after he debuted with the West Australian cricket team in the 1985-86 summer. He played 10 first-class games and five one-day games over three seasons before switching his focus to football.

12. Taking into account every player who has played for the Eagles, and adding any AFL games played with opposition clubs, who has played most games? Drew Petrie (332). He played 316 games with North Melbourne (2001-16) and 16 with West Coast (2017).

13. There are 11 other players who, under the same guidelines, played 250 or more career AFL games. Who are they? Sam Mitchell (329), Dean Cox (290), Chris Judd (279), Glen Jakovich (276), Ben Cousins, Darren Glass and Shannon Hurn (270), Guy McKenna (267), Drew Banfield (265), Fraser Gehrig (260), Peter Matera (253), Daniel Chick (252) and Andrew Embley (250).