OPINION: "My Western Australian State Team, 1976-86, excluding players who played VFL/AFL", by Kieran James (revised version, 14/4/2015)

Malcolm Gregory "Mal" Brown - my choice as WA state team coach. A controversial choice as state coach of my team ahead of John Todd and Haydn Bunton Junior but I want excitement and flamboyance!

My Western Australian State Team, 1976-86, excluding players who played VFL/AFL

Ron Boucher in his glory years!

Backs: Steve Curtis (EP / Port Adelaide), Tom Mullooly (SD), Ross Gibbs (WP / Glenelg)

Half-backs: Stephen Green (EF), Joe McKay (SF), Ross Prunster (P / WP)

Centres: Darrell Panizza (C / Woodville), Mel Whinnen (WP), Keith Narkle (SD)

Half-forwards: Chris Stasinowsky (WP / SF / P / South Adelaide), Brian Adamson (WP / Norwood), Stephen Sells (S / West Geelong (VFA))

Forwards: Ed Blackaby (SD), Ray Bauskis (SF), Stephen Michael (SF)

Followers: Ron Boucher (SD), Peter Menaglio (WP), Les Fong (WP)

Interchange: Phil Lamb (S), Benny Vigona (SF), Joe Santostefano (P), Stan Nowotny (SD), Neil Taylor (S), George Michalczyk (EP / WP).

Coach: Mal Brown (SF / P)

Captain: TBA!

Comments:

This is the team I posted to the "Lost WAFL" Facebook group last year. I received a huge amount of (mostly) constructive feedback. As a result I made two changes to the original team. I replaced Doug Green at centre-half-back (because he had played for Sydney Swans) with Joe McKay whom I shifted from the half-back-flank. I then added Doug Green's unrelated namesake from East Fremantle Stephen Green into the team at half-back-flank to take McKay's former position. I also carelessly omitted Benny Vigona (South Fremantle) from the original team which was just an oversight and in no way deliberate. I have kept Mel Whinnen (West Perth) in the centre and added Vigona as first interchange. As Mel was in his second last season by 1976, if he tired out he could be replaced by Vigona in my make-believe fantasy match.

Ross Gibbs (WP / Glenelg)

As my team aroused much discussion and even hostility when it was first posted I will explain again that it is my personal favourite team and not a literal "best" team in any sort of objective sense. I chose players based on flair and class, as I wanted it to be a team I would want to watch (on a fine Saturday afternoon whilst standing on the old concrete terraces on the Roberts Road wing at Subiaco Oval). There is an emphasis on showy players who were mired by inconsistency and arguably never achieved their best form for more than a few matches at a time. The late Chris Stasinowsky (RIP) and Joe Santostefano would fit into this category. On their day both were brilliant players to watch. Ross Gibbs is perhaps the most "unknown" of my chosen players from a Western Australian fan's perspective. However, he clearly proved himself by any objective standards by being a member of Glenelg's strong 1985-86 premiership teams in that pre-AFL era in South Australia[1]. Interestingly, the coach of Glenelg in 1983-84 was none other than Graham Campbell who earlier had coached Gibbs at West Perth[2]. Campbell's unsuccessful second stint at West Perth proved indeed that he could walk on water only once!

The picture that speaks a thousand words

Furthermore, it is obvious that West Perth gets more than its fair share of players in my team and I copped some flak over this (great to see old WAFL rivalries rekindled although obviously the true "enemies" of WAFL football clubs today are the WAFC and AFL.) How can I justify (sorry, I mean explain) myself here? Firstly, I wanted to be honest to myself and being a West Perth supporter during this era I knew West Perth players better than those of other clubs. Secondly, I believe West Perth had some genuine stars in this era (especially Peter Menaglio and Les Fong) who failed to get the respect and recognition they deserved during those years when Perth (1976-78), South Fremantle (1979-81), Claremont (1981-83), Swan Districts (1980-84), East Fremantle (1977-79 and 1984-86), and Subiaco (1985-86) were the pacesetters. I would have chosen Phil Bradmore at centre-half-forward over Brian Adamson but the former opened his career with a handful of games at Footscray (VFL/AFL). Thirdly, West Perth was always competitive and at times brilliant during the 1976-86 period, especially on warm sunny days at its then home ground Leederville Oval. It finished in the top four in 1976-78 and then finished third in 1982 and fourth in 1985. The club was able to beat Swan Districts five times out of nine in home-and-away games during Swans' triple-premiership years of 1982-84, which was a truly remarkable but unheralded feat. I did some archival research on this and found that West Perth had the strange record of beating the eventual premiers two or three times out of three in the majority of years 1976-86[3]. However, it often suffered horrific defeats at the hands of lowly-placed teams when the team was not motivated enough.

Ross Gibbs in young days at WP c 1982

A few other comments should be made here. I was only seven-years-old in 1976 and so my knowledge of players from the 1970s, as compared to the 1980s, was probably weak and superficial. Therefore, for that era, I stuck closely to players who generally made state teams on a consistent basis during those years such as Steve Curtis (East Perth), Joe McKay (South Fremantle), Ray Bauskis (South Fremantle), and Stephen Green (East Fremantle). I also gave considerable weight to objective statistics such as Ray Bauskis' excellent goal-kicking tallies.

Perth supporter Gavin Caudle argued on "Lost WAFL" that my team should have included more players from the 1976-78 East Perth and Perth grand final teams. These two clubs contested both the 1976 and 1978 Grand Finals. This is a good comment. Chris Mitsopoulos (Perth) was unlucky to miss out by a whisker from the support rovers Ed Blackaby (Swan Districts) and Neil Taylor (Subiaco). Perth's famed "team-within-a-team" in defence in 1976-78 deserves the greatest respect and commendation. However, arguably, it worked best as a unit with its whole being far more than the sum of its parts. I am unsure whether Lofts and/or Inman and/or Day and/or Quartermaine would have been better than any or all of my selected team. However, full marks to Perth's defence from that era and I wish I could find a way to include them. I did include Ross Prunster, who (like so many players of that era) lined up at various times for both Perth and West Perth. As for East Perth's 1978 premiership team, I regard it as over-rated as it won by a meager two points on a rainy day when Murray Couper and John Quartermaine were both absent from Perth's line-up. Also, East Perth's best players all played in the VFl/AFL at some point such as Barry Cable, Ian Miller, Wayne Otway, Ross Glendinning, and Kevin Bryant. Steve Curtis (EP) was a part of some fearsome and legendary Port Adelaide Magpies teams and I did include him in his customary back-pocket position. I can remember standing up on the concrete terraces at Alberton Oval in the pouring rain watching Port Adelaide play Central District. That game was played on Monday 21 May 1984 and Curtis was in Port's team that day [see match report on this website]. Archie Duda (East Perth) and Murray Couper (Perth) were both narrowly beaten for the full-forward position in my team by Ray Bauskis and deserve honourable mentions. 

A surprise choice, Stephen Sells

As for coach, I guess the obvious choice was John Todd (or Haydn Bunton Junior or Ken Armstrong perhaps) but I do respect Browny for what he achieved at SF and also at Perth when he brought a basket-case team up from last in 1984 (the year prior to his taking over the coaching job) to finish third in 1986. In my opinion, this was the last great coaching feat of the pre-AFL era in WA football. (This is another feat largely forgotten today since even at the time it was overshadowed by the hype associated with the formation of West Coast in late-1986 / early-1987.) Because it is MY team I will annoy people still further by picking Browny over Todd. After all I want excitement and controversy! I am sure that Stazza (back from the dead), Stephen Michael, and Benny Vigona in particular will appreciate Browny's position at the helm. Please comment further on this team. As moderator I will approve all comments except for the abusive and the spam! If you are still upset please send me your own team and I promise to publish it here (email: Kieran.JKames@uws.ac.uk) [by Kieran James, 14 April 2015].

A literary classic, search for it on eBay

Notes: [1]. Ross Gibbs played 97 games for West Perth from 1979-83 and 253 games for Glenelg from 1984-94. He was inducted into the Glenelg Hall of Fame in 2006.
[2] Wikipedia lists Graham Cambpell's VFL and SANFL coaching record as follows: Fitzroy (1974) 0 wins, 3 losses; Fitzroy (1978) 8 wins, 14 losses; and Glenelg (1983-84) 27 wins, 20 losses. He coached West Perth from 1975-77 and mid-season 1979-end of 1981.
[3] West Perth often defeated the eventual premier team twice in a season during home-and-away rounds, including Perth in 1977 (two wins), East Perth in 1978 (two wins), Swan Districts in 1982 (two wins) and 1984 (two wins), and East Fremantle in 1985 (two wins). If anyone is interested to do some internet research all of these facts can be checked in the "Fixtures & Results" section of the WAFL Online (WAFL official website). Once you are inside "Fixtures  Results", simply use the pull-down menu to choose the season(s) you want to access. This remains a strong record for the West Perth teams of that era but it is also clearly a case of potential unfulfilled. In some of those final-rounds from 1976-86 you had the classic "paper-scissors-rock" scenario (for example, Team A can beat Team B which can beat Team C which can beat Team D but Team D can beat Team A). For example, in 1982, West Perth could usually beat Swan Districts but had a lot of trouble with Claremont whereas Swans could beat Claremont. Also, in 1985, Swan Districts could beat West Perth and we saw that both East Fremantle and Subiaco were very likely to beat Swans. However, interestingly, West Perth could be expected to beat East Fremantle. Furthermore, West Perth could usually beat East Fremantle but failed badly against Subiaco, yet the victors in the East Fremantle-Subiaco contests were always very hard to predict. Such paper-scissors-rock scenarios only added to the high drama which the WAFL supporters enjoyed in this era.

WA State Team 1983. Photo courtesy Lost WAFL Facebook group.

The legendary Ron Boucher (SD) pictured here in 2009 when he was working for Busselton Council. Our West Perth cheer squad had a verbal confrontation with Ron at the Round 14, 1984 match at the northern end goals at Leederville Oval [see match report on this website]. 

South Fremantle's aboriginal greats. Left to Right: Benny Vigona, Willie Roe, and Maurice Rioli (RIP).

South Fremantle's 1984 Hong Kong tour (courtesy Lost WAFL).

Round 14, 1984: West Perth FC 18.11 (119) d Swan Districts FC 11.19 (85), Leederville Oval

The former Swan Districts ruckman Ron Boucher in 2009 when he was working at Busselton Council - we had a confrontation with him this day in 1984 at Leederville Oval's northern-end goals during the reserves game.

Round 14, 1984 – West Perth v Swan Districts, Leederville Oval

This is the day we [West Perth FC] unexpectedly defeated the reigning 1983 premiers, Swan Districts FC, at home at Leederville Oval and by a convincing margin as well. We could beat any team on our day during the 1980s and especially at Leederville Oval where the home-ground advantage was enormous. This game was probably West Perth’s best performance for the 1984 season, a season in which the club sadly missed out on the finals. After Round 14 West Perth was third, Won 7, Lost 6, Drawn 1, so it was a rapid fall from grace over the last seven rounds of the home-and-away fixtures. None of The West Australian’s five resident tipsters tipped West Perth this day against Swans. By this time our West Perth FC Cheer Squad was growing in numbers and commitment and we were accumulating more flags. My 1984 Season Notes, compiled during the 1984 season, state that this was the first day we used our new “COP THAT” banner, a banner later made famous for many years in Perth as a result of its appearance in an Emu Export beer commercial. The banner was made up of one red and one blue horizontal stripe with the words “COP THAT” in white capital letters. This day against Swan Districts was also the day we had a confrontation with feared SD premiership ruckman Ron Boucher. Our confrontation might have occurred in the reserves match since Boucher was not named in Swans’ league team 20 on the morning of the game (Johns and Sartori were to share ruck duties).

There had been animosity between West Perth supporters and Swan Districts’ coach John Todd since Todd left West Perth’s Brian Adamson out of a Western Australian state team in 1975 (Dawson, 2004, pp 148, 150), and this animosity followed Todd across from East Fremantle to Swan Districts (Dawson, 2004, p 179). Dawson (2004, p. 179) writes as follows about the relationship between Swans and West Perth during the 1980s: “The feud was always publicly denied, but continued into the 1980s and all Swans-West Perth games were well-attended with many fiery incidents, off and on the field”. 

      We [West Perth cheer squad 1984-86] had a variation of our “walks on water” chant reserved for opposition players as follows: “Ronnie Boucher walks on water/ everybody knows that bullshit floats”. P.A., Mike C., Pete C., and Thommo, especially, thought that this chant was just hilarious. There was an alternative, negative chant “Ronnie Boucher woo-hoo” and at the last syllable we would raise our hands and then move the open right hands in downwards motion in front of our raised, stiff wrists. Mike B. [West Perth cheer squad founder] recounted to me an incident involving Boucher that had failed to rise to the top of my memory and which had missed the first draft of this article. This is one fiery incident relating to West Perth versus Swans matches in the 1980s which has not hitherto been published. According to Mike B. (personal conversation, Kalgoorlie, 14 July 2011), on this day at Leederville, Boucher became upset by our chanting and walked up to where Mike B. and I were seated, leaned forward over the boundary fence, grabbed Mike B. by his West Perth replica jersey, and demanded to know: “What did you f***ing say?” In deep shock, Mike B. managed to stammer: “I’m really sorry, Mr Boucher”. In an interesting postscript to this story, Mike B. (personal conversation, 14 July 2011) mentioned years after this Leederville Oval incident contesting an arm-wrestling bout against Boucher in Broome which was the town where Boucher was then living. To no-one’s surprise Boucher ultimately won the competition overall against all contestants. 

One interesting point from the match results is Dennis Cometti (West Perth coach) continuing with his unorthodox practice of playing players out of position. Phil Bradmore started at centre-half-back before being shifted back to his customary centre-half-forward position where he started to have a major influence on the game and eventually was rated second best-on-ground. David Marsh of The West Australian wrote: “After Phil Bradmore had been outclassed by Swans’ centre-half-forward Peter Sartori in the first term, Cometti moved him to centre-half-forward, where he was an instant success, marking strongly and making good use of the handpass” (Marsh, 1984, “Falcons hit a high note”, The West Australian, Monday, 9 July, p. 96). It is a moot point whether West Perth could have done better in the 1984 WAFL season had all this experimentation by Cometti never happened. David Marsh concluded in the same post-match article “Cometti deserves much of the praise for Saturday’s victory” because he switched Bradmore to centre-half-forward. However, a less charitable interpretation is that Cometti erred by not playing Bradmore at his customary centre-half-forward position from the opening bounce.

It was frustrating to support West Perth throughout the 1980s – brilliant one day, terrible the next. The “terrible” days are reflected in the club’s percentage of 93.18% after 14 rounds (see League Table below). It was doubly frustrating as often the brilliant performances were against the eventual premiers such as Swan Districts in 1984 and East Fremantle in 1985. The 1984 WAFL season was a promoter’s dream. There was a bunch of teams in the middle of the table very close together in terms of wins and losses. It was this tightness of the competition that made it possible for West Perth to drop from third to sixth in the last seven games of the home-and-away season. (WP would lose 5 and win 2 of these last seven games.) East Perth was sixth after Round 14 at Won 7, Lost 7, while Subiaco was seventh at Won 6, Lost 8. Only Perth was out of contention for the finals and even they had not been horrible with 4 wins and 10 losses and a respectable percentage of 83.67% (nowhere near 2012 Greater Western Sydney territory) [by Kieran James, 21 July 2012].

Likely line-ups:

(Source: The West Australian, Saturday, 7 July, 1984, p. 189)

West Perth FC

Backs: Papalia, Comerford, Morgan

Half-backs: Michalczyk, Bradmore, Bonson

Centres: Warwick, O’Brien, Mifka

Half-forwards: D Kickett, Nelson, Simms

Forwards: Davis, Hendriks, Gastev

Ruck: Crole, Menaglio, Fong

Interchange from: Mountain, Bell, Fraser

In: Papalia, Bell, Mountain, Crole, O’Brien, Nelson

Out: Bogunovich (hip), Campbell (knee), Dayman (ankle), Stephens, Hathaway

Swan Districts FC

Backs: Ware, Mullooly, Hetherington

Half-backs: Langsford, Rance, Solin

Centres: Brenton, Neesham, Narkle

Half-forwards: Richardson, Sartori, Holmes

Forwards: Marshall, Hutton, Shine

Ruck: Johns, Fogarty, Kimberley

Interchange: Hodyl, M Smith

Out: Hoyer

Selections:

GEOFF CHRISTIAN: Swan Districts

KEN CASELLAS: Swan Districts

ROBERT WAINWRIGHT: Swan Districts

DAVID MOSS: Swan Districts

TIM GOSSAGE: Swan Districts

(Source: The West Australian, Saturday, 7 July, 1984, p. 189)

Match results – Saturday 7 July, 1984, Leederville Oval

West Perth FC 3.1 7.4 14.9 18.11 (119) d Swan Districts FC 4.5 6.9 9.15 11.19 (85)

Scorers: WP: Bradmore 4.1, Fong 2.3, Davis 2.2, Gastev 2.1, D Kickett, Michalczyk 2.0, Comerford, Crole, Mifka, D Simms 1.0, Bell 0.1, Forced 0.3.

SD: Holmes 3.1, Narkle 2.0, Fogarty 1.3, Brenton, Marshall 1.2, Sartori 1.1, Richardson, M Smith 1.0, Kimberley 0.4, Hutton 0.2, Johns, Langsford 0.1, Forced 0.2.

(Source: The West Australian, Monday, 9 July, 1984, p. 97)

Weather: Unsettled, strong south-westerly breeze.

(Source: The West Australian, Monday, 9 July, 1984, p. 97)

Attendance: 7,146 (from WAFL Online)

Free kicks: WP: 7, 9, 12, 4 – 32.

SD: 9, 5, 4, 5 - 23.

(Source: The West Australian, Monday, 9 July, 1984, p. 97)

Best players:

1 John Gastev (West Perth) – A devastating 22-kick roving display. Inspired his teammates with his never-say-die attitude.

2 Phil Bradmore (West Perth) – After a quiet first quarter at centre-half-back, he played brilliantly at centre-half-forward.

3 Paul Mifka (West Perth) – Provided considerable drive on a wing with a 17-kick performance.

Team rankings: WP: J Gastev 1, P Bradmore 2, P Mifka 3, D Warwick 4, L Fong 5, D Simms 6.

SD: S Richardson 1, D Langsford 2, P Sartori 3, B Kimberley 4, J Fogarty 5, T Mullooly 6.

(Source: The West Australian, Monday, 9 July, 1984, p. 97)

	R 14
	P	W	L	D	%	Pts
EASTFREM**	14	9	5	-	107.47	36
SOUTH FREM	14	8	5	1	122.77	34
WEST PERTH	14	7	6	1	93.18	30
SWAN DIST*	14	7	7	-	111.03	28
Claremont	14	7	7	-	100.90	28
East Perth	14	7	7	-	89.07	28
Subiaco	14	6	8	-	97.57	24
Perth	14	4	10	-	83.67	16

(Source: The West Australian, Monday, 9 July, 1984, p. 97)

*eventual 1984 WAFL premiers

Coaches’ Comments:

Dennis Cometti (WEST PERTH):

“They [WP] battled hard and I’m proud of the way they stuck at it.

“A lot of people made comments about our loss to South Fremantle a week earlier. But that effort wasn’t all that bad, because we had several players on the sidelines”.

(Source: David Marsh (1984), “Falcons hit a high note”, The West Australian, Monday, 9 July, p. 96)

Match analysis
Quotes from DAVID MARSH:

Les Fong

“West Perth were swept to success against Swan Districts at Leederville Oval on Saturday on an irresistible wave of self-discipline and team-spirit.

“This wave, which began as a ripple during the first quarter, continued to swell till it was big enough to submerge Swans in the final term

“The skill, stamina, courage and discipline of the West Perth players brought coach Dennis Cometti one of his best moments since taking over the Falcons in 1982.

“Cometti deserves much of the praise for Saturday’s victory. After Phil Bradmore had been outclassed by Swans’ centre-half-forward Peter Sartori in the first term, Cometti moved him to centre-half-forward, where he was an instant success, marking strongly and making good use of the handpass.

“His strong attacking play and the brilliant roving of John Gastev was the spark needed to set West Perth alight.

“Captain Les Fong was a courageous rover and Doug Simms played soundly at centre-half-back in the second half.

“West Perth had clear winners on the wings, with Dean Warwick and Paul Mifka providing tremendous drive.

“Full-back Geoff Hendriks, ruckman Stuart Crole and ruck-rover Peter Menaglio were consistently good performers.

“Half-forward flanker Steve Richardson was active for Swans, but he lacked support.

Derek Kickett & Les Fong

“Sartori shone at centre-half-forward in the first half and then excelled in the ruck.

“Swans also received good service from Barry Kimberley, Tom Mullooly, Don Langsford and Keith Narkle.

“West Perth played with far greater discipline than their rivals.

“An example of this was shown in the third quarter when the West Perth players were consistently first to the ball.

“In the 31-minute [third] quarter, the Swans players gave away 12 free-kicks and four 15-metre penalties and received only four free-kicks”.

(Source: David Marsh (1984), “Falcons hit a high note”, The West Australian, Monday, 9 July, p. 96) [archival research by Kieran James].

Rex Lipp (left) and Ron Boucher (right). I did a Google search for Ron Boucher and this is one of the images that came up. This is from a Queensland website and I can't be sure whether this is "our" Mr Ron Boucher because of the sunglasses.  It would be great if a more knowledgeable person could comment on this.