1974 WANFL season
| 1974 WAFL season | |
|---|---|
| Teams | 8 |
| Premiers |
East Fremantle (24th premiership) |
| Minor premiers |
East Fremantle (29th minor premiership) |
| Matches played | 88 |
| Bernie Naylor Medallist | Max George (Swan Districts) |
| Sandover Medallist | Graham Melrose (East Fremantle) |
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← 1973
1975 →
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The 1974 WANFL season was the 90th season of the various incarnations of senior football in Perth and the forty-fourth as the “Western Australian National Football League”. It continued the fluctuating fortunes of clubs that had been part and parcel of the league since 1970, with East Perth, the most consistent player in the competition for eight years, missing finals participation for the only time in seventeen seasons between 1966 and 1982 due largely to injuries to key defenders Gary Malarkey, who missed the second half of the season, and Ken McAullay who did not play at all. West Perth fell from runners-up (after being flag favourites before the Grand Final) to their worst season since 1939, largely owing to the loss of 1973 leading goalkicker Phil Smith which left a gaping hole in their attack.
On the other hand, Swan Districts, with full-forward Max George and big Bob Beecroft prominent, won the Rodriguez Shield for the second time and played finals for the first time since 1965 after eight bleak years that had seen them a kick away from a winless season six seasons previously, whilst East Fremantle made a similar if less abrupt recovery to win their first premiership for nine years and first minor premiership for a decade.
Peter Featherby produces an amazing 46 kicks and nine handballs to win Subiaco a game it was originally thought they would forfeit as they did not want to play on Anzac Day.
With Blethyn kicking eight goals and giving away another three, and their rovers demolishing a Lions team who had Austin Robertson in the reserves after his groin injury, Claremont record the biggest win in the WANFL for two years and their biggest since 1964.
The return of captain-coach Smith provides the impetus for the finest team display of the season as Subiaco end South Fremantle’s seven-game winning streak with Mike Fitzpatrick unstoppable and half-forward Neil Randall gaining thirty kicks.
The return of eighteen-year-old prodigy Peter Spencer from a broken jaw gives East Perth ascendancy over the powerful East Fremantle centreline and an unexpected victory to enter the four.
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Wikipedia