Was it the day the VFL announced that teams from Western Australia and Queensland would join an expanded VFL competition?
Was it the day the identity of the club was revealed as the West Coast Eagles, when the colours, the first squad and team song were unveiled at the Merlin Hotel at an extravagant, Hollywood-style launch?
Or was it the day, March 29, 1987 when the Eagles played for premiership points for the first time that this club really took flight. Regardless, each of those occasions was a critical juncture in the then brief history of football’s newest entity.
But when the Eagles stepped out to play Richmond at Subiaco Oval to kick off the club’s activity, there is no question it was a landmark occasion. The face of the game changed forever – and so did the habits of WA footy fans.
As the Eagles tackled one of the traditionally powerful Victorian clubs on a bright, sunny Sunday afternoon, there were as many fans outside the ground as there were in it. The official attendance was just 23,879 but no one really knows the volume that flooded through the gates when they were thrown open to allay the people jam outside.
There were at least 30,000 to see this fledgling WA club for the first time and what they saw was remarkable.
In a perilous situation at three-quarter time against the Tigers – trailing 11.9 (75) to 15.18 (98) – at the last change, the Eagles rallied, rattled on a blistering nine goals in the final term and in the end won by a comfortable 14 points.
The catalyst for that astounding comeback was the decision by coach Ron Alexander to swing key position star Ross Glendinning from centre half-back to centre half-forward. The 1983 Brownlow medallist kicked only one goal himself but was the architect of many (before the statistic of goal assists became a part of the footy vernacular) as his team soared to victory.
Testimony to the enormity of what transpired in that first game was that the comeback remained the greatest in club history until round 10, 2006 when the Eagles clawed their way back from a 54-point deficit against Geelong at Skilled Stadium in the middle of the third term.
That opening game 30+ years ago provided a wonderful foundation for the club and the impetus for a remarkable debut season.
Taking into account all of the hurdles that had to be overcome, to finish with 11 wins and 11 losses and be eighth on the table at the conclusion of the qualifying rounds was a stunning season – and probably justified the fears in Melbourne that the VFL had created a monster.
At that stage, largely because of a level of resentment within the WA football fraternity, the Eagles were treated like an illegitimate child. They had no permanent home, not even a regular training base; their equipment was packed in the back of a delivery van and transported by propertyman Hank Gloede to whatever training ground was available – be that McGillivray Oval, the Mt Lawley TAFE or a paddock out the back of Midland.
There was also scant scientific data available on the preferred travel schedule for a professional sporting team travelling west-east every second week. They were, almost literally, flying blind.
Perhaps ignorance was indeed bliss and they simply did what they had to do. Whatever the secret, the season was an outstanding platform for a young club looking to make its mark.
Aside from that thrilling final quarter surge against Richmond, there were several other ground-breaking performances. A win against Hawthorn, beaten grand finalists in 1986 and premiers of that Eagles debut season at Princes Park in round five, was significant.
It was the Eagles first win on the road and first-year players Chris Mainwaring and Mark Zanotti – as well as former Richmond and Collingwood veteran John Annear – were key figures in the two-goal triumph.
On a typical, grey Melbourne day and in heavy, boggy conditions, the Eagles got the job done against quality opposition and began to build belief – as well as a level of respect in the VFL, where most fans of the established clubs were curious and non-accepting of the interlopers from Perth.
It was okay for this team to come in and financially stump up the ailing Victorian clubs, but they didn’t really want them winning!
There were other meritorious performances on the road in that season – a narrow loss to Essendon at Windy Hill in round two, a six-point loss to Geelong at Kardinia Park and a four-point defeat at the hands of Richmond at the MCG. All of those defeats were by a kick or less and could well have altered the course of history if victory had fallen the other way.
Of course, there was also the odd disappointing performance, the low point in the year coming when the Eagles were destroyed by Sydney at the SCG, losing by a whopping 130 points – 30.21 (201) to 10.11 (71).
At least the Eagles were in good company as Sydney became the first team to kick 200 points or more in consecutive games, backing up against Essendon (236) the next week.
Despite a solid debut season, Alexander was replaced as coach the following year by the highly-acclaimed Swan Districts coach John Todd. Had West Coast won a couple of those tight games in Melbourne it would have led to an even more interesting call.
The trailblazers: West Coast’s first team v Richmond August 29, 1987
| B | Dwayne Lamb | Michael Brennan | Paul Peos |
| HB | Geoff Miles | Ross Glendinning | Mark Zanotti |
| C | Phil Narkle | Murray Wrensted | Peter Davidson |
| HF | Dean Laidley | Laurie Keene | Don Holmes |
| F | Steve Malaxos | Darren Bennett | Andrew Macnish |
| R | Alex Ishchenko | John Annear | Wally Matera |
| I | Chris Lewis | Adrian Barich |
