Debut: Round 1, 1989 v Essendon
Games: 150
Achievements: Premiership player 1992, 1994; rookie of the year 1989; Top 10 in Club Champion Award five times; first left-footer in AFL/VFL history to kick 100 goals (111 goals 1991); ranks inside top 10 for goals in finals in AFL/VFL history; seven times leading goalkicker; only West Coast player to kick 100 goals in a season with a career tally of 514 goals; selected in West Coast Eagles Team of the Decade and Team 20; inducted into the WA Football Hall of Fame 2005
If performances in big matches are indicative of a player’s value, then Peter Sumich ranks highly in the annals of West Coast Eagles history.
With 62 goals scored in finals football, he ranks equal 9th in AFL/VFL history behind luminaries like Collingwood’s Gordon Coventry (112), Jason Dunstall (78), Jack Titus (74), Leigh Matthews (72), Alastair Lynch (65), Stephen Kernahan (65), Gary Ablett and Doug Wade (64).
Sumich also was the first left-footer ever to kick 100 goals when he racked up 111 majors in 1991 and remains the only West Coast player to rack up a triple-figure goal tally in one season.
When West Coast was at the peak of its powers in the early 90s, Sumich finished off the work of a productive midfield, and kicked 13 goals in the successful grand finals.
His highest tally from one game was 13.3 against Footscray in 1991 – a record which stood until Scott Cummings kicked 14 against Adelaide in 2000.
He had a remarkable capacity to win the ball one-on-one and often racked up statistics that midfielders would have been pleased to see alongside their names.
