Expansion teams are not supposed to do what the West Coast Eagles did in 1987.
It was a different world back then, and with the introduction of both the Eagles, and the Brisbane Bears, the footy landscape was changing. For some, it was too quick, but to a young fella just entering his teens, it was an exciting time to be a footy fan.
Whilst I read my share of “Vic Bias” in the comments of any article that doesn’t favour a Non-Victorian team, you must understand the lay of the land in Melbourne as the new teams were entering the tgen-VFL.
I don’t discount that stalwarts were reluctant to accept change, but in my friendship group… or at least in the group of people I hung around with, there was a definite feeling that business was about to pick up.
Young people are always best at accepting change, and as the Eagles and Bears hit the league, several of my cohort were looking at changing teams to support tge new clubs. The power teams of the league had been dominating – Carlton, Collingwood, Essendon, and Richmond had been joined by a new force, Hawthorn. Between them, they’d won the last nine flags… and you can even remove Collingwood from that equation and they’d still won the last nine flags.
But this was shaking things up, and young supporters of Melbourne, the Dogs, Saints, and Cats had not tasted success. As we rolled through the 1987 season, we soon found out just how big this change was going to be.
Whilst the Bears struggled, the Eagles hit the ground running, and quickly established themselves as a force to be reckoned with.
Across the park from them in Round 17 stood Carlton, stinging from their 1986 Grand Final loss to Hawthorn, the Blues were on a mission. Sitting in on top of the ladder, they were poised for a run at the premiership, and a run at redemption. And whilst the Blues would get that, knocking over the Hawks in the decider, this game against the Eagles was a sign of things to come.
There is a reason that the old guard of the VFL didn’t want West Coast involved.
This game demonstrated why.
ROUND 17 1987 – WEST COAST V CARLTON
When you look this Carlton list up and down, it quickly becomes apparent why they went on to win the flag – class on every line. Ken Hunter, Wayne Johnston, Stephen Kernahan, Justin Madden, David Rhys-Jones… they were built for success, and it had been five years since the club hoisted the cup.
West Coast sat at seven wins, with nine losses, and it looked like their season was slipping away. It was always going to be a tight run home to the finals, and with only the top five teams sneaking into September action, the 1987 season provided one of the closest races for finals spots we’ve ever seen.
Of course, we now know that the Eagles would have to wait 12 months to make the finals – how ridiculous is that, by the way? Second year in and straight into finals footy! However, at the time, things were getting a little desperate for the Eagles, and they needed a big scalp.
Scalps did not come bigger in 1987 than Carlton.
Let’s jump into the action.
THE QUICK RECAP
This was a hard, sometimes spiteful affair, with five total reports from five seperate incidents. Carlton had four of them, and had there been more invested in video technology at the time, David Rhys-Jones would have added another report and suspension to his list of indiscretions, as his round-arm to the head of Chris Lewis was as clear cut as you can get.
However, stepping outside the lines aside, what we saw in this game was two very good sides throwing everything at one another. On a Friday night, the eyes of the footy world zeroed in on the WACA as the Eagles hosted the top of the table Blues, and we got a thriller.
The Eagles started strong, and should have been much further in front at the first change. Glendinning was giving Jon Dorotich a bath, forcing Robert Walls to move Ken Hunter onto him, whilst Chris Lewis was running riot on the wing.
Alas, the Eagles kicked 7.5 for the term, and could have hit double-figures in goals had they not fluffed a few easy lines.
The Blues’ comeback was methodical. They kicked five in the second quarter, as they ramped up the pressure and started moving the ball between the arcs with ease. The West Coast pressure fell away marginally, and that’s all that was required, as the margin was whittled to nine points.
In the third, the Blues hit the front, with David Rhys-Jones, earlier looking like he would be done for the day courtesy of a concussion (a Glendinning hit in the first quarter saw him looking pretty shaken up), but he returned to move from defence to attack, and added five goals to his name for the game.
The Blues were full of run – David Glascott and Adrian Gleeson were everywhere, whilst Richard Dennis turned the tables on Chris Lewis and started hurting the Eagles going the other way.
It looked like Carlton were ready to run over the top, as the top team in the land should…
… but West Coast had other ideas.
With young stars, Lewis, and Chris Mainwaring, playing excellent games, and the ageing warrior, Ross Glendinning, back up and about in the absence of Hunter (on the bench with a thigh injury), the Eagles hit back hard, and in a tense last couple of minutes, were able to hold on for a massive win.
Denis Cometti was on commentary in this one, and uttered the words “it feels like this could be the making of the Eagles if they can hold on.”
I felt the same. As I said in the intro, things had changed, and this was one of the games where that change was ushered in.
THE STARS
CHRIS MAINWARING
Playing across half-back, Mainwaring was just 21, here, but he played this game like a veteran (aside from the dumb free kick he gave Rhys-Jones in the last quarter).
Of his seven intercepts, five of them are marks, and he bobbed up with eight rebound 50s, as well.
You can see the pieces of the first genuinely successful Eagles team within this group. Mainwaring was huge in defence, and his two late clearances demonstrated that he was destined for so much more than being a half-back.
He finished the game with 26 disposals and was wonderful when the game was there to be won.
DAVID RHYS-JONES
A bit furthed along in the article, there is a negative section about Rhys, but after copping a knock to the head early in the game, and sitting on the bench for an extended period, he made the second half his own.
I have to admit, I was surprised to see him back on the ground after it was reported that he was concussed, but I had to remind myself that this was the 80s, and sport was the wild west when it came to head injuries.
Rhys-Jones was in everything. He was involved in nine moments that saw free kicks awarded, with the ledger sitting at 5-4, including a very charitable free in the goal square against Michael Brennan, for what I think was front-on contact, even though the defender had his eyes on the footy, and got two hands to it.
Good to see some things never change, huh?
Peter McKenna, obviously not on the leash as a commentator, called the decision “pathetic”, and repeatedly informed us the umps were having a bad night.
I digress… Rhys-Jones took over as the number one forward target as Stephen Kernahan struggled to get the better of his opponent, and with five snags, almost dragged the Blues over the line in this one. Never a dull moment with that fella…
MARK NALEY
I always rated Naley, mainly due to his work in State of Origin games, so to see him at his most dangerous for the Blues was a bit of a treat.
He really did a bit of everything as an offensive weapon in this game, pumping the ball inside 50 a game-high nine times, whilst picking up 22 touches and three snags.
Naley was one of the players that helped “build the wall” for the Blues through the second and third quarters, as they pinned West Coast into their own defensive half, which resulted in many repeat inside 50s for Carlton.
CHRIS LEWIS
A cut above. The most dominant player of the first quarter, and he really gave the Eagles supporters a glimpse of what was to come. He just looked like a complete natural with the footy in his hands, and as he cruised up and down the ground from his spot on the wing, you could tell there were huge things in store for him.
Every year at The Mongrel, we award the Robbie Flower Wingman of the Year Award – I would have been really interested to see how Lewis scored against his peers in this round, as his five rebound 50s and seven inside 50s exemplify just how much of the footy he was getting and genuinely doing something with.
I had him as the best, or at least the most influential, player on the ground in this game, even with a lapse for a quarter where his direct opponent got off the chain. More on that a bit later.
GLASCOTT/GLEESON
I felt that these two blokes were the keys for the Blues. Their running power, and ability to get from end to end made them a consistent threat.
Glascott, in particular, continued to find the footy in the right spots, whilst making sure he was dropping back to aid his back six at every opportunity. He finished with 23 disposals, five inside 50s, four rebound 50s and three clearances.
Meanwhile, Gleeson had 16 touches and finished with a goal, to go with his five inside 50 disposals.
ROSS GLENDINNING
The umpires awarded Rosco the three votes in this game. I had him in the best, evidently, but think they may have been a little generous to the big fella.
He was “on” early in the piece, leading Dorotich a dance, but when Ken Hunter moved onto him late in the first quarter, his influence diminished. Hunter started to zone off him in the third quarter, playing more of his natural intercept game. As a matter of fact, Hunter didn’t record an intercept possession in the entire first half, preferring to concentrate his defensive energy on nullifying Glendinning. It went hand-in-hand with the Carlton comeback.
With Hunter on the pine in the final quarter, it was Dorotich back onto Glendinning, and whilst he was able to beat the Brownlow Medallist to the footy on several occasions, it was Glendinning’s footy smarts that started to come to the fore.
He took an amazing contested grab in the pack halfway through the last quarter to kick his third for the game, and followed that up with a brilliant stoppage goal to give the Eagles the lead for the final time. Glendinning’s timing, his clean hands, and ability to finish, were all on display, as his running snap sent the crowd into raptures.
Funny, Peter McKenna on commentary, was adamant that he would be better playing across half-back, but in a team that needed a strong forward presence, Glendinning provided just that for the Eagles in this game. He crashed and bashed, took five contested marks for the game and finished with 21 touches and 4.5 for the evening.
THE MATCHUPS
The matchups in these games tend to stick, but this one had a bit of chopping and changing due to injury.
David Rhys-Jones started in defence, but moved forward after copping a heavy hit from Glendinning. He converted for five goals to lead the Blues – all in the second half.
CHRIS LEWIS VERSUS RICHARD DENNIS
I did not expect to be writing about Richard Dennis in a featured section. Anyway…
I’ve covered Lewis in the “stars” section, so I am not being flippant about him, here, but I want to focus on Dennis.
He was humiliated by Lewis in the opening quarter, and from all reports, got a good dressing down at the first break, from Robert Walls.
Maybe there is still something in a coach giving a player a good spray, because Dennis was instrumental in the Carlton comeback. He started to shut down Lewis and run off him, perhaps exposing Lewis’ lack of commitment to run both ways?
Dennis’ run through the middle in the second quarter had me jotting down his name as the most effective player on the park for that term. He was everywhere, and if Walls could bottle what he said and sell it to current coaches, I reckon there’d be a few that’d put their hand up for it and use it on a regular basis.
I get the feeling, however, that Dennis used a lot of gas to get through that quarter, as Lewis worked his way back into the game in the second half. And it wasn’t just numbers that were impressive from him – it was the quality of his disposals. Lewis made some big plays (and one terrible one) in the second half, as he finished +6 disposals, +8 intercepts, and +7 rebound 50s on Dennis.
The Carlton man was better in the clinches, though, picking up six clearances to Lewis’ two.
STEPHEN KERNAHAN VERSUS PHIL SCOTT
Kernahan took four contested marks in this outing, and when a forward is doing that, he should be winning the battle.
And yet, as we entered the second half, I saw the Carlton skipper spoiling the incoming ball more often than he was attempting to mark it. It was strange.
I really don’t know much about Phil Scott, but when it comes to being strong in an aerial contest, his work in this one was impressive. His stuff at ground level… not so much, but that’s not what he was out there for.
Kernahan found himself having to work up through the wings to find the footy. That resulted in seven inside 50 deliveries for the game, with Rhys-Jones playing out of the goal square.
Scott finished with eight spoils and five intercepts, as he continually moved Kernahan out of the action and further upfield.
Kernahan finished with 17 touches and 2.2 for the game, whilst Scott had one of the best defensive games of his career.
THE STATS THAT DIDN’T MATTER… BACK THEN.
These stats were not kept at the time, but guess what? I kept them for you, because I’m good like that.
CLEARANCES
Wayne Johnston was ranked equal-first, with seven clearances, but most were hacks forward. John Annear was with him, as he had a nice game.
Richard Dennis had six, and Adrian Barich had five.
INTERCEPTS
Chris Lewis led the game with ten, Mainwaring had seven, Hunter had six despite sitting out the last 45 minutes.
CONTESTED MARKS
Glendinning was The Man in this department, with five for the game, but both Kernahan and Ken Hunter were hot on his tail, with four apiece.
36 contested marks were taken in total. Amazing, huh?
SPOILS
Phil Scott was the number one player on the park, with eight, as he spoiled Kernahan’s day.
Jon Dorotich and Laurie Keene had six each, whilst Hunter managed five.
INSIDE 50S
Nine for Mark Naley was only challenged by seven from Kernahan and Lewis.
REBOUND 50S
Mainwaring had eight, and Lewis had five to lead the Eagles, whilst the Blues got four each from Peter Dean and David Glascott.
THE DISAPPOINTMENTS
If you decide to sit and watch this game, I want you to keep an eye on something.
Chris Lewis was 18 years of age in this contest, but his talent was a standout. He was so good that is it beyond the realms of possibility that Carlton targeted him at every opportunity?
It seemed to me that, in a game that was spiteful at times, Lewis was the one player that Blues players would go out of their way to sit down.
Did it work?
Well, he had 27 touches and ten intercepts playing on the wing. I had him in the top handful of players on the park, so I guess not, but it is common knowledge that teams WOULD target him, and I saw a fair bit of that in this game.
And that brings me to David Rhys-Jones.
Exceptional player, with the ability to play at either end of the ground. He was a couple of months away from being a Norm Smith Medallist, and his five goals in this game were invaluable to the Blues.
But his penchant for going off his head whenever something didn’t go his way, particularly when you look at it 35+ years later… is a bit embarrassing. I suppose you can put that down to him coming back onto the field despite having a concussion, but I am not sure you can excuse his round arm from behind on Chris Lewis in the third term.
It was a shitty act in a game where he did so much right.
QUICKIES
Demonstrating just how far the game has come… and in this case, not in the right direction, there is one moment in the second half where Jon Dorotich and Ross Glendinning collided. The Eagles man is wide open, trying to tap the footy on, and Dorotich just lowers the shoulder and goes right at him. Glendinning sees him coming and braces, but this is a massive bump between two bulls. It elicits the “oooohs” from the crowd, but you know what’s great?
The commentators don’t even acknowledge it – it is just part of the game. No one is hurt. No one stays down. They get up, play on, and what happens on the field, stays on the field. Footy like it ought to be!
Paul Meldrum played three quarters with blood evident on his face. He had the corner of his eye split open in the second quarter, and even after the main break, had dried blood down the side of his face for the remainder of the game.
Robert Wiley was an old bloke at this stage – he looked like Dale Weightman and Gary Ablett Senior had a child.
Dean Laidley broke his thumb in the first quarter, but due to injuries to the Eagles, had to come back on in the last quarter, so West Coast could have 18 players on the park.
This is why we now have expanded interchange benches.
Laurie Keene was an interesting watch. He and Alex Ischenko nullified the influence of Justin Madden, and Keane adopted the Gary Dempsey-role of playing a kick behind the footy. He didn’t mark a lot, but he did kill contests, recording six spoils.
Putting this out there – if Ken Hunter remains in the game, Carlton win. He looked like he copped a thigh injury (that’s what they were working on) but the way he was able to hold down Glendinning and provide run for the Blues… it was greatly missed. He had six intercepts.
Finally, if anyone can fill me in on what happened to Michael O’Connell, I’d greatly appreciate it. He looked really good in the first half of this game, but if I am being honest… I don’t know much about him. He only played 20 games at this level, but he showed plenty in this game.
THE WASH UP
This was absolutely the warning shot across the bow of VFL House. Earlier in the season, West Coast had knocked over the Hawks, who’d won two of the last four premierships, and played in four-straight Grand Finals. Some saw that as a bad day at the office for Hawthorn, but this win against the Blues proved it was no fluke.
In year one, West Coast would go on to finish with 11 wins and 11 losses, missing finals by a game.
Yes, things had changed, and they would never, ever be the same again.
As always, massive thanks to those who support this work. You can see the amount of care that goes into it. I love footy, I love writing about it, and I hope you enjoy reading it. Without you, this whole thing falls over. Sincerely… thank you – HB
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