1928 WAFL season
| 1928 WAFL season | |
|---|---|
| Teams | 7 |
| Premiers |
East Fremantle (13th premiership) |
| Minor premiers |
East Fremantle (15th minor premiership) |
| Matches played | 67 |
| Bernie Naylor Medallist | Sol Lawn (South Fremantle) |
| Sandover Medallist | Jack Rocchi (South Fremantle) |
|
← 1927
1929 →
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The 1928 WAFL season was the 44th season of the West Australian Football League. The most notable event of the season occurred off the field on Monday, 11 June, when champion East Perth coach Phil Matson was killed in a truck crash at Nedlands after being thrown into a telegraph post. The Royals under the coaching of Paddy Hebbard did manage to reach a challenge final against minor premiers East Fremantle, but were beaten and suffered an abrupt fall to a clear last the following season.
Old Easts, who were given consecutive byes in the second half of July to permit a tour of Tasmania and Victoria, were fourth upon returning to Perth but claimed top place two weeks later and after four losses to the Royals, beat them in the challenge final for the first of their second series of four successive premierships.
Fledgling club Claremont-Cottesloe (at this stage frequently called “the combine”) failed to move from the bottom in its third season but nonetheless improved greatly from one win to five, in the process discovering their first great players in George Moloney and Keith Hough. A prelude to the future for the Tigers and indeed the entire WAFL was the first Aboriginal player in the league, Maley Hayward from Tambellup, who played with his two brothers for South Fremantle as late as 1937.
During the last quarter, umpire Collins takes the rare step of temporarily suspending the Perth versus Claremont-Cottesloe game to cool tempers after numerous fights.
An extremely windy afternoon sees East Perth inflict a second defeat on Old Easts, whilst Subiaco moves to second by kicking three goals into a gale against Perth.
George Moloney, with eight goals, stamps himself as a future star as Claremont-Cottesloe take three days to double their League win tally of their initial two seasons.
A brilliant third quarter where they kicked 7.3 (45) to a behind allowed East Fremantle to weaken Subiaco’s position at the top.
With the start of an exceptionally wet period that sees Perth record 613.5 millimetres (24.15 in) in two months, West Perth adapt better and despite being two games out are considered a strong chance for the final four.
South Fremantle’s win with twelve fewer scoring shots established a WAFL record unbroken until 2008 when Peel beat East Fremantle with fourteen fewer shots.
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