The 1941 WANFL season was the 57th season of the various incarnations of the Western Australian National Football League. Owing to the drain of players to military service in World War II, the league was forced to suspend the reserves competition until 1946,[1] and ultimately this was to be the last season of senior football in Perth until 1945 as the supply of available players became smaller and smaller and the Japanese military threatened northern Western Australia.[2]
On the field, 1941 saw West Perth, boosted by veteran goal machine Ted Tyson's comeback from appendicitis and planned retirement,[3] achieve a premiership barely two years after having lost 27 consecutive matches as a young nucleus that would make them a power after the war, including such players as Stan Heal and Bill Baker, defeated perennial powerhouse East Fremantle twice during the finals. In a thrilling struggle for the fourth position, East Perth lost out despite an impressive final-round win over the eventual premiers and missed the finals for the first time since 1930; they were despite a perfect season in the 1944 under-age competition not to return to open-age finals until 1952.
East Fremantle gain revenge for three 1940 losses against their derby rivals, whilst despite having only seventeen men for most of the game West Perth move to top position.
West Perth rebound from the Subiaco loss by kicking 17.14 (116) to 1.5 (11) after half-time for their biggest win in open-age WANFL football until 1952.[25]
The game also begins the longest ground hoodoo in WA(N)FL history, with Swans not winning again at Leederville until 1956.[26]
West Perth’s score is the most goals by a team kicking one behind in a major Australian Rules League until Norwood kicked 12.1 (73) against Port Adelaide in 1981.
East Perth become the first WA(N)FL team goalless at three-quarter time since South Fremantle in the 1929 Grand Final.
The Royals’ score was the lowest in the WANFL since 1935 when Claremont scored 2.10 (22) against West Perth,[31] and their lowest for 21 years.
South Fremantle rebound with a superb win over West Perth led by ruckman Highham and centreman Clive Lewington. It remained their highest score against the Cardinals until 1979.[49]
A convincing first half gives South Fremantle fourth position and leaves East Perth needing a win and a South loss to avoid missing the finals for the first time in eleven season.
Despite Tyson being goalless for only the third time in his career,[89] the Cardinals wrap up the double chance with a convincing if dour victory over the Tigers.
A Swan Districts team with only fifteen men at the start and seventeen at the finish convincingly loses a match that directly determines the wooden spoon.
Despite ending West Perth’s unbeaten run at Leederville, South Fremantle’s easy win over an exceptionally disappointing full-strength Claremont team ensures the Royals miss the four.
Claremont’s inaccuracy in the third quarter (three goals and twelve behinds) together with nine goals from brilliant leading by teenage full-forward Naylor, ensures the end of the Tigers’ premiership sequence.
With O‘Keefe, Shuttleworth and Woodhouse beating East Fremantle’s ruck division, and their forward work so poor that they scored no goals in the second and third quarters, West Perth comfortably win their first final since the 1935 Grand Final.
Meiers 3, George Doig 2, Casserly, Daniell, Ebbs, McDonald, French
Clamp, Bridges, Pola, McDiarmid, O‘Keefe, Mill, Max Tetley, Tyson
Best
Casserly (best on ground), Ebbs, L. Tetley, Haddow, Wendt, Meiers
Pace and teamwork enables the Cardinals to repeat their second semi-final triumph to the satisfaction of coach Ross Hutchinson, who said he “derived a savage satisfaction from the victory.”
References
^See “Football: Interchange of Players – Special Rules Recommended’; The West Australian, 29 March 1941, p. 11
^See Spillman, Ken; Diehards: The Story of the Subiaco Football Club 1896-1945, pp. 165-166. ISBN0646358340
^‘Swan Districts Upset’; The West Australian, 8 September 1941, p. 6
^‘Won in First Half’; The West Australian, 8 September 1941, p. 6
^‘Claremont Outplayed’; The West Australian, 8 September 1941, p. 6
^‘Drab Fremantle Game’; The West Australian, 8 September 1941, p. 6
^Atkinson, Graeme and Hanlon, Michael; 3AW Book of Footy Records: All the Great Players, Matches, Goals, Kicks, Brawls and Sensations from More Than 100 Years of Aussie Rules in Australia, p. 147. ISBN1863210091
^‘East Perth Superior’; The West Australian, 15 September 1941, p. 8
^‘Junior Prominent’; The West Australian, 15 September 1941, p. 8
^‘Doig Kicks 12 Goals’; The West Australian, 15 September 1941, p. 8
^‘Claremont Weak’; The West Australian, 15 September 1941, p. 8
^‘League Football: South Fremantel Wins – Claremont Eliminated’; The West Australian 22 September 1941, p. 7
^‘Football Semi-Final: West Perth’s Success – East Fremantle Outplayed’; The West Australian 29 September 1941, p. 10
^‘Football Final: East Fremantle Wins – Powerful Finishing Effort’; The West Australian, 6 October 1941, p. 7
^‘Football Premiership: West Perth Triumphs – Speed and Teamwork’