The start of an almighty roll

West Coast had been what could only be described as scratchy and inconsistent through the early part of 1992. After a round one bye they lost to Sydney by three points, beat St Kilda by 33, lost to Geelong by 24, drew with Brisbane, beat Richmond by one point and lost to Fitzroy by 20 before a 59-point win over Footscray in round nine.

It was hard to get a handle on things given they had lost to teams that were ninth, first and seventh on the 15-team ladder, beat teams that were fifth, 15^th and second and drew with 14^th-placed Brisbane. And the three wins had all come at Subiaco.

The results column read LWLDWLW as Carlton, fourth on the ladder and coming off a 33-point win over Collingwood, awaited the Eagles for Brett Heady’s 50^th game at Princes Park in round nine.

Mick Malthouse had a 41-18 record in his third season with West Coast after being lured from Footscray. He had taken his side to the preliminary final in 1990 and the grand final in 1991 but with bigger things expected in 1992 he needed a lift.

He got it … even if it took until the final quarter.

In a terrific contest scores were level at the first change, Carlton led by two at the second and West Coast led by four at the last. But the visitors were unstoppable in the final term, kicking 6.4 to the Blues’ 3.2 to win 15.16 (106) to 11.16 (82).

Peter Sumich kicked six goals and Tony Evans three as Dwayne Lamb was judged best afield and Dean Kemp (25), Peter Matera (24) and Dean Laidley (21) led the possession count.

Sumich had returned for his third game of the season and Evans for his third overall and his first of 1992 as coach Malthouse lost Michael Brennan and Guy McKenna to injury. Slowly the premiership puzzle was taking shape.

The Eagles would go on a five-game winning streak to round 12 to entrench themselves in the top six, but even at round nine, already 15 members of the side that would play on grand final day were on board.

Brennan and McKenna would make 17. Peter Wilson would return to the side in round 10, Paul Harding, in his first season with the Eagles, would follow in round 14, and Don Pyke, out from round four, would make a timely comeback in round 19.

The five members of the side that beat Carlton in such an important stepping stone to the flag but would miss the grand final were Mark Hepburn, David Hynes, Laidley, Troy Ugle and Scott Watters.

Two years later

The Eagles got to round nine in 1994 in much better shape than at the corresponding time in 1992.

They were equal top of the ladder and retained that spot with a 31-point win over Footscray at Whitten Oval when Peter Matera kicked four goals and Chris Mainwaring, with 21 possessions, was the only Eagle to top 20.

Matera took three Brownlow Medal votes in a year in which he would poll 28 – seven more than in his next best year and eight more than third-placed Garry Hocking - and still finish second overall to Greg Williams (30).

This year, as the Eagles charged towards a second premiership, coach Mick Malthouse was even further advanced. By round nine he had 17 members of his grand final 20 in his side. Tony Evans and Dean Kemp would return in round 11 and Peter Sumich in round 16.

The three to miss out were at opposite ends of the age spectrum. Veteran Dwayne Lamb played in round 10 and made a farewell appearance in round 20 before finishing his career in the WAFL, while Tony Godden and Brett Spinks, who played their seventh and eighth games in round nine, would walk a selection tightrope that took them to the qualifying final before they were left out.

A double ton

West Coast played their 200^th game in the AFL in round nine, 1995 at a venue that a lot of AFL fans would never have heard of. And that’s fair enough. If your mind was elsewhere that weekend you missed the entire AFL history of Bruce Stadium.

It was a ground originally built in Canberra for the 1977 Pacific Conference Games, a track & field meet contested every four years from 1969-85 by Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand and the United States. It was used in 1985 for the fourth IAAF world track titles.

A venue primarily used for rugby league, rugby union and soccer, it became the 1990 home for the Canberra Raiders, defending NRL premiers who promptly went on to win a second title.

In the late 1980s the running track was removed, making it suitable for AFL, and after the Swans played several pre-season games there the AFL scheduled an International Rules match in 1990 in which Australia were beaten by Ireland in front of a reported crowd of 7000.

After the ACT Brumbies, playing in the Super Rugby tournament, took over from the Raiders as Canberra’s No.1 football team the AFL scheduled a home-and-away fixture at Bruce Stadium, later known as Canberra Stadium, in 1995.

West Coast had played at 14 different grounds in WA, Victoria, NSW, Queensland, SA and Tasmania through 199 games, and now found themselves heading to the national capital and the home of ex-Eagle Adrian Barich for game #200.

They were drawn to play a nomadic Fitzroy, who in 1994 had moved their home games to Footscray’s Whitten Oval, their fourth different base in 10 years. They were in what would prove to be their penultimate season in the AFL.

At round eight, West Coast sat fifth on what was by now a 16-team competition ladder following the addition of Fremantle. They had a 5-3 record. Fitzroy, coached by Bernie Quinlan and captained by Brad Boyd following Paul Roos’ defection to Sydney, were 15^th at 2-6.

But the Roys had posted wins in rounds six and eight, with Jeff Bruce making his debut for Fitzroy at Bruce Stadium, coach Mick Malthouse warned against anything less than a maximum effort.

Despite a heavy frost the match attracted a lot of interest and a crowd of 11,282 as West Coast posted a workmanlike, if unspectacular 12.10 (82) to 8.6 (54) win.

Jason Ball kicked three goals to go into the AFL record books with Fitzroy’s Bruce and John McCarthy for the most goals kicked in a game at Bruce Stadium. Glen Jakovich led the West Coast possession count with 25 but had to be content with second billing for most possessions in a game at Bruce Stadium.

Oddly, Jakovich shares that honour with Doug Hawkins, Footscray champion who at 35 was playing one last season with Fitzroy. Simon Atkins, another Fitzroy recruit from Footscray, set the possession record at 31.

The Brownlow Medal votes for the only AFL game played at Bruce Stadium went to West Coast’s Chris Waterman (three) and David Hynes (two), and Hawkins (one).

Hawkins also went into the record books as the oldest player to play at Bruce Stadium while 18-year-old Fitzroy 25th-gamer Chris Johnson, later to play a key role in Brisbane’s 2001-02-03 premiership hat-trick in the highlight of his 264-game career, was the youngest.

It wasn’t until 1998 that the AFL returned to Canberra when North Melbourne started playing home games at Manuka Stadium, 14km away across town.

In 2019, when GWS hosted Hawthorn in Round 21, the frost returned with some extra oomph, and for the first time in AFL history a match was played in snowfall.

The double ton numbers

After 200 games in the AFL West Coast had a cumulative 125-73 win/loss record, with two draws. It was a performance record that logic suggests was unthinkable for an expansion club new to the competition.

They played more finals (17) in that time than any opposition, and so played more games than any opposition (200). Their win percentage of 61.1% for the period was second only to Hawthorn’s 69.7%, and their two flags was second only to Hawthorn’s three. Carlton, Collingwood and Essendon were the only other flag-winners in that time.

 
Fifteen players topped 100 games for the Eagles in the first 200-game block. Dwayne Lamb, the first Eagle to 100 games, was surpassed on the games leaderboard by Michael Brennan, who was second to 100 games, Chris Mainwaring (3rd), John Worsfold (4th), Chris Lewis (5th) and Guy McKenna (7^th).

 
Peter Sumich, Eagles’ leading goal-kicker from 1989-94 after Ross Glendinning topped the list in 1987-88, was a runway leader on the club goal-kicking list in the first 200 games. Chris Lewis, who kicked his 200^th goal in the club’s 198^th game, was a clear second.

 
Four different players led the Eagles possession count in the first eight years – Steve Malaxos (1987-90), Chris Mainwaring (1989-92), Don Pyke (1993-94), John Worsfold (1988) and Craig Turley (1991). But Mainwaring, also second in possessions in 1988-90, third in 1991-94 and fourth in 1987, was a runaway leader at the 200-game mark. 

Peter Matera didn’t debut with the Eagles until the club’s 68^th game and played only 104 of the first 200 games but led the Brownlow Medal vote count for this period. He topped the club tally in 1993-94, polling 28 votes in ’94, and polled 18 votes to rank second to Craig Turley in 1991. Others to head the club vote count were Ross Glendinning (1987), Chris Mainwaring (1988), Guy McKenna (1989) and Steve Malaxos (1990). Mainwaring and Glen Jakovich were equal leading vote-getters in 1992.