The 1940 WANFL season was the 56th season of the various incarnations of the Western Australian National Football League. It saw Claremont win its third consecutive premiership, but its last before returning to the status of cellar-dweller it occupied during its first decade in the WA(N)FL – between 1943 and 1978 Claremont played finals only five times for one premiership. South Fremantle, after a lean period in the middle 1930s, displaced perennial power clubs East Fremantle and East Perth as the Tigers’ Grand Final opponent, and established some of the basis, in spite of three disastrous wartime under-age seasons, for the club's fabled dynasty after the war.
The season was severely affected by World War II, which claimed numerous players from all clubs and limited the availability of others, and also a dispute with the Perth City Council over charges for the rental of Leederville and Perth Ovals,[1] which were not resolved fully before the season.[2] Consequently, East Perth and West Perth were forced to play home games at either the WACA or Subiaco Oval; however this did not affect their performance and the Cardinals, with young players like Bill Baker, “Spike” Pola and “Pops” Heal coming of age, improved from one win in 1939 to eleven this season – and would have done better but for appendicitis ending Ted Tyson’s football after June.
Swan Districts, affected by the retirement of early stalwarts Jim Ditchburn and George Krepp, the loss early in the season of Jack Murray, and the recruitment of numerous players to the services,[3] suffered despite the return of champion spearhead Holdsworth who was third in the goalkicking with 73 its first wooden spoon with only two wins. More surprisingly Perth – who had looked the previous season to be emerging from twenty years in the doldrums – could not replace captain-coach Austin Robertson and lost all but one of its final thirteen games for its worst record since 1923.[4]
Notable highlights included the first double-century score in Perth senior football and two record comebacks over the final three quarters.
With Bill Baker providing support for Tyson in attack and improvement by young on-ballers such as Kingsbury and Rainoldi, the Cardinals exceeded their 1939 win tally after only two games.
Perth lodged an unsuccessful protest over the eligibility of Alvan Whittle, who was ruled to have recently enough resided in East Perth’s district the following Saturday.[13]
After kicking an amazing 3.22 (40) to three-quarter time in favourable conditions, South Fremantle kick 6.2 (38) to overpower the dual-premiership Tigers.
8.7 (55) from Doug Oliphant and brilliant high-marking from Gook and Henfry give Perth a crushing victory (111 marks to 54) that proved a false dawn for the season.
West Perth beat East Fremantle at Fremantle for the first time since 1929.
With rover Truscott scoring ten goals, South Fremantle demoralise the improving Cardinals in the final quarter after being behind all afternoon, scoring 8.10 (58) to 1.0 (6).
Despite Holdsworth kicking seven behinds from ten shots, Swan Districts play their best match for 1940 and are within five points of Claremont late in the last quarter.
West Perth move to second with a crushing win over Perth, with Tyson kicking 9.5 in his last major performance before appendicitis ended his season.[43]
Despite losing Reid and having key strongman Compton carrying an injury, Claremont produce a superlative display against South Fremantle, with Heusler and Sutherland detracting the play and O‘Neill dominant at centre half-back.
In finally winning their first game for the year, Swan Districts record their greatest deficit in scoring shots for a winning match until the 1963 Preliminary Final.[57]
East Fremantle and Subiaco played the first draw since the 1938 Grand Final, and what proved the last-ever senior WA(N)FL home-and-away draw at Subiaco Oval.[58] It is also the last time any pair of pre-1926 clubs have played a first drawn encounter.[note 1]
With Holdsworth and Clem Rosewarne reaching their best form for the first time and combining for fourteen goals, Swan Districts win their second and last match for 1940.
In slippery conditions despite the driest season on record in southwestern Australia before the influence of anthropogenic global warming,[67] West Perth become the first team to win after being goalless at half-time since East Perth in 1920.
South Fremantle’s inaccuracy – still their greatest excess of behinds over goals[68] – gives Subiaco a major upset and leaves Claremont a game clear on top.
During the East Fremantle versus East Perth match, in a gloomy last quarter the unusual step was taken of using training lights.[66]
East Fremantle’s ability to keep the play crowded ensures Claremont cannot play its normal running game and results in an impressive win for Old Easts.
Claremont beat its record score of 29.19 (193) from the previous season, becoming the first WANFL team to pass the 200-point barrier. It is still the highest score kicked against Swan Districts[77] and was the biggest win in the WAFA/WAFL/WANFL since 1902.[78]
With 19.9 (123), George Moloney kicked the second-highest number of points by an individual in WANFL history, behind Bernie Naylor’s 23.6 (144) against Subiaco in 1953. It equalled George Doig’s 1934 record for most goals in a match.[79]
Despite the loss of Albert Gook, Perth end a run of nine consecutive defeats and deny West Perth a golden opportunity to move within half a win of the leading four.
On a boisterous day, South Fremantle, keeping Moloney goalless, take top place despite a strong second-half Tiger comeback.
East Perth practically ensure the four will be unchanged from 1939 with a comfortable win over their traditional rivals in a match where only 2.1 (13) was scored into the gale.
East Fremantle’s victory definitively settles who will play in the finals with two matches remaining as West Perth stand two and a half games behind.
Bottom club Swan Districts nearly cause a major upset but poor shooting for goal allows East Perth a win that keeps them in the running to have the double chance in the finals.
Moloney kicks his hundredth goal (having already done so for Geelongin 1932) as Claremont all but wrap up the double chance with a certain win against Perth in the last round.
In winning after Perth led by 47 points at quarter-time, Claremont surpass South Fremantle’s record from earlier in the season to hold the double chance in the wake of East Fremantle’s win over East Perth.[34]
In a battle of defences affected by rain after quarter-time, East Perth spend the last three minutes deep in attack but fail to kick the winning goal.[96]
Remarkably pacy and precise play in the second quarter, scoring 9.7 (61) to 1.3 (9), puts South Fremantle into its first Grand Final since 1930 and makes it favourite for its first premiership in twenty-three seasons.[97]