Goals and behinds

For a long time Peter Sumich was not only the Eagles' leading all-time goal-kicker, but, with a career record of 514 goals 354 behinds, he also led the club in all-time behinds.

He assumed both records from Ross Glendinning in 1990. In round 20 he bettered Glendinning’s goal mark of 111 and in round 22 he took his behinds mark of 72.

And although he has subsequently surrendered the mantle of the club’s all-time leading goal-kicker to Josh Kennedy, 23 years after his last game Sumich still holds the behinds record.

Sumich made a significant down-payment in both records in his first two round six games.

In 1990 he kicked 6.5 as West Coast beat Richmond by 35 points at the MCG, and in 1991 he kicked 8.7 in a 45-point win over Geelong at Waverley.

If he was inclined to want to shed the behinds record Sumich will be keeping an eye on Kennedy when football resumes.

Kennedy is 26 behinds in arrears of the Sumich record. Given that the bearded spearhead averages 1.48 behinds per game (in comparison to 2.70 goals per game) West Coast would need to play three finals after the abbreviated 17-game home-and-season currently scheduled to go past him.

Among 27 players who have kicked 100 goals or more for the Eagles, Sumich rates second in goals, first in behinds and is 16^th in goals-to-behinds ratio.

Scott Cummings, with a 2.51 goals-to-behinds ratio, leads this statistic among this group from Fraser Gehrig (2.15), with Jack Darling (1.89), Kennedy (1.83), Josh Hill (1.82) and Mark LeCras (1.74) completing the top six. Details are:-

WE CAN’T FORGET ‘BARRA’

West Coast fans are not about to forget foundation player Adrian Barich in a hurry. Not with his head a regular feature of the Channel 7 news coverage in Perth.

And nor will he forget the Eagles’ one-point win over Richmond at the MCG in round six 1992. It was his 47^th and last game with the club. And it was a beauty.

For a team that would ultimately go on to win the flag the Eagles had not started the season well. After a round one bye they lost to Sydney by three points, beat St Kilda by 33, lost to Geelong by 22 and drew with the Brisbane Bears.

Sitting 11^th on the 15-team ladder, they faced bottom side Richmond at the MCG in Brendan Krummel’s debut. And at three-quarter time they were down by 20 points.

But against the odds, with Chris Mainwaring dominant through the midfield and captain John Worsfold as solid as ever in defence, they kicked 5.4 to 2.1 in the final term to win 14.13 (97) to 14.12 (96).

While Richmond’s Chris Naish received three Brownlow votes, Mainwaring (22 possessions, one goal) and Worsfold (17 possessions) collected the minor offerings. Scott Watters led the possession count with 25 and Karl Langdon kicked three goals.

It was the Eagles’ third one-point game, and their third one-point win. The club would lose eight of the next nine one-point games before winning the one that mattered most – in the 2006 grand final against Sydney.

Since the ’06 grand final West Coast are 3-2 in one-point games for an aggregate 8-10 record.

Certainly, it was a memorable exit for Barich, listed at #2 on the Eagles’ all-time playing list, behind only #1 John Annear, and a member of the club’s first AFL team.

He’d had an unusual rise to AFL football after being born in Canberra. He’d represented the ACT in the under-age ranks of rugby union before choosing to focus his energies on Australian football, captaining the first side at Marist College Pearce to win a school premiership.

After playing from 1981-83 with Manuka in the ACTAFL he headed west in 1984 to join WAFL club Perth, coached by ex-Fitzroy player Ian Miller, who was later to become an important off-field figure with the Eagles.

In 47 AFL games Barich averaged 13.2 possessions, kicked 27 goals and earned four Brownlow Medal votes, including a best afield three-voter in the final game of 1987, when he had 24 possessions and kicked four goals.

Still ranked second for games for the Eagles in jumper #38 behind Brett Jones (102), Barich also played 160 WAFL games for Perth, represented NSW at State of Origin level and played three times for WA, captaining his adopted state in 1993.

But oddly, as much as anything, he is remembered for a selfless off-field gesture five months after his last game in tandem with Phil Scott, who had played 66 games with the club from 1987-90.

Barich and Scott penned a letter to members of the 1992 grand final side, letting them know how much a victory would mean to those who had been a part of the club’s earlier years.

And when the Eagles beat Geelong by 28 points to claim their first premiership Barich was front and centre in the celebrations that followed.