1935 WANFL season

1935 WAFL season
Teams8
PremiersWest Perth
7th premiership
Minor premiersSubiaco
5th minor premiership
Sandover MedallistLou Daily (Subiaco)
George Krepp (Swan Districts)[a]
Bernie Naylor MedallistGeorge Doig (East Fremantle)
Matches played76
← 1934
1936 →

The 1935 WANFL season was the 51st season of the Western Australian National Football League. The season saw West Perth win the premiership under the coaching of Johnny Leonard; it was the only time in West Perth's history that it won consecutive premierships,[1] preceding a brief but exceptionally steep decline that saw the Cardinals four years later suffer the equal longest losing streak in WA(N)FL history.[2]

This season saw Claremont-Cottesloe under new president Pat Rodriguez change its name to Claremont,[3] and at first gave promise of great improvement before returning to their worst 1934 form. 1934 finalists Victoria Park lost defenders Shepherd, A. Brown, Hungerford and Patrick Fitzgerald in the off-season to retirement of major injuries[4] and failed to cope with these problems,[5] finishing last for the only time in open-age competition between 1924 and 1980. In contrast, Subiaco, who had been disappointing in 1934 with just seven victories, regained Lou Daily from Geelong and Collingwood to signal the end of a major exodus to the VFL.[6] Daily's brilliant play in defence, and the acquisition of Frank Murphy from the Magpies as captain-coach, made the Maroons the best team in the competition for much of 1935, but West Perth's defence was too much in the Grand Final and Subiaco were to have a third of a century as a cellar-dweller before their next premiership in 1973.

The Sandover Medal count was marred by overlooking a clause in the rules to deal with a tie – Lou Daily was initially awarded the Medal on the casting vote of WANFL President Walter Stooke[7] and became the first full-back to win a "best-and-fairest" medal in any leading Australian Rules state,[8] but on 21 September it was pointed out that George Krepp should have won through having received one more three-vote than Daily.[9] Ultimately the WANFL had no choice but to strike a second medal, which was given to Krepp at the League meeting on 16 October.[10]

  1. ^ Devaney, John; Full Points Footy's WA Football Companion; pp. 172-3. ISBN 978-0-9556897-1-0
  2. ^ "WAFL Footy Facts: Consecutive Games Lost". Archived from the original on 27 September 2013. Retrieved 6 September 2013.
  3. ^ Casey, Kevin (1995); The Tigers’ Tale: the origins and history of the Claremont Football Club, pp. 30-31. ISBN 0646264982
  4. ^ "Follower" (pseudonymous author); ‘Football Season Opens Next Saturday: Popularity of Game in Early Stages Heralds Keener Competition; New Recruits to Be Fitted into Places’; in The West Australian; 30 April 1935; p. 7
  5. ^ East, Alan (2005); From Redlegs to Demons: A History of the Perth Football Club from 1899, p. 59
  6. ^ Spillman, Ken; Diehards: The Story of the Subiaco Football Club 1896–1945, pp. 137-138
  7. ^ ‘Why Daily Won Medal: Reasons Given by President – Better Team’; The Daily News, 17 September 1935, p. 5
  8. ^ ‘Sandover Medal: L. Daily Wins’; Western Mail, 19 September 1935, p. 25
  9. ^ ‘The Sandover Medal: claims of G. Krepp’; The Sunday Times, 13 October 1935, p. 4
  10. ^ ‘Sandover Medal: Two Trophies Will Be Presented’; The Mirror, 19 October 1935, p. 4