1929 WAFL season
| 1929 WAFL season | |
|---|---|
| Teams | 7 |
| Premiers |
East Fremantle (14th premiership) |
| Minor premiers |
East Fremantle (16th minor premiership) |
| Matches played | 66 |
| Bernie Naylor Medallist | Sol Lawn (South Fremantle) |
| Sandover Medallist |
Billy Thomas (East Perth) Johnny Leonard (South Fremantle) |
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← 1928
1930 →
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The 1929 WAFL season was the 45th season of the West Australian Football League in its various incarnations.
East Fremantle proved the outstanding team, and won the second of what would become seven successive minor premierships and four successive flags. Subiaco denied a Perth club bolstered by the return as coach of Jack Leckie – who had masterminded their pre-war successes including their only premiership to that point – its first finals appearance since 1920 with a convincing last round win. Claremont-Cottesloe won more games than in its first three seasons combined and a brilliant mid-season burst looked to assure it of a finals berth before a September fade-out – but the Great Depression and the financial power of several wealthy VFL clubs prevented the Tigers sustaining this improvement.
Following the death in a truck accident of champion coach Phil Matson, an upheaval off the field during the summer, and the retirement of numerous top players of their 1920s dynasty such as Bonny Campbell, Val Sparrow (who took to coaching the club), “Paddy” Hebbard, Jim O'Meara and Jack Walsh, former powerhouse East Perth suffered its first wooden spoon since 1913 and lost a club record fifteen consecutive matches. The Royals were also affected by injuries to remaining key players Owens and Fletcher, who missed several games and were never fully fit.
Sol Lawn of South Fremantle beat the record of Bonny Campbell for most goals in a WAFL season, finishing with ninety-six.
South Fremantle come back from 31 points down to beat Perth, whilst Claremont-Cottesloe record a first-ever win over an “experimental” East Fremantle lineup
No teams had two wins after two rounds, as a succession of close finishes and the defeat of all the opening round victors suggested at this early stage that the seven clubs were very evenly matched.
West Perth score a century against Old Easts for the first time, ending the longest sequence of scores under 100 by one club against another.
South Fremantle, with Sol Lawn maintaining an average of six goals a game despite Perth’s wettest May since 1879 win their fifth on end in a match memorable for former umpire Percy Trotter, who was a spectator, officiating in the last quarter after field umpire Frank O‘Connor had to leave the field because of a twisted knee and was replaced by boundary umpire Oakley.
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