The brutal nature of football was illuminated when the West Coast Eagles board decided, at the completion of their first season, that they needed a change of direction.

That translated to senior coach Ron Alexander being terminated and replaced by John Todd at the helm.

Alexander was miffed – and with some justification. In his first season the Eagles had won 11 games, lost 11 and finished eighth on the ladder. It seemed like a respectable debut season and a decent platform on which to build.

It is interesting that no other expansion club has performed near that level since – not Brisbane, who also started in 1987, Port Adelaide, Fremantle, Gold Coast or GWS.

But the decision-makers in the West Coast board room felt that to take the club to another level they needed to change. Initially they interviewed a couple of prospective coaches with strong VFL credentials – including David Parkin (Fitzroy) and Kevin Sheedy (Essendon).

While there was some interest, ultimately those coaching luminaries rejected the overtures and John Todd, who had also held discussions with the club, was appointed. Todd had been under strong consideration to lead the club from its infancy and boasted a remarkable coaching curriculum vitae.

He was the man who transformed Swan Districts from one of the WAFL’s easy beats into a powerhouse, winning a hat trick of premierships from 1982-84 and had also enjoyed success as WA’s State of Origin mentor.

He was an uncompromising character, a tough coach who demanded and commanded respect.

Many of the West Coast-listed players had their first taste of Todd in a match situation when he was WA’s coach in the Bicentennial pre-season interstate carnival in Adelaide. And for some of them it provided an insight into the expectations and standards that Todd expected.

WA did not have a good carnival and hit rock bottom with a loss to NSW. Todd hit the roof. He was embarrassed by the performance and left the players in little doubt about his feelings.

That tough introduction to life under Todd, however, might have been a catalyst for an outstanding season that saw West Coast play finals in just their second season. That, too, remains unprecedented.

His career as West Coast Eagles coach got off to a much brighter start than the Adelaide a carnival, with the club traveling to Geelong for a first-up clash with the Cats at Kardinia Park. On a day that Guy McKenna and Karl Langdon made their VFL debuts and Murray Rance played his first game for the club, the Eagles scored an impressive 21-point win.

Swing man Michael O’Connell was influential with five goals, but ruckman Alex Ishchenko was probably best on ground with 14 marks to go with his tap work.

It seemed in round six that West Coast was on track to become the first senior WA-based team to win at the MCG when the Eagles exploded out of the blocks against North Melbourne and kicked eight goals in the opening term.

However, they could not sustain the effort, despite five-goal hauls from skipper Ross Glendinning and tyro Chris Lewis, eventually losing by 13 points.

That was a start of a testing stretch for the Eagles – whose only win came against St Kilda at the WACA Ground the following week – when they lost six of the next seven matches.

That run of defeats threatened to derail the Eagles season, but there were two more pivotal games in the run home – the first was against Fitzroy in round 13 and the other against Geelong in round 15.

The victory against Fitzroy was important because it snapped a five-game losing sequence while the Geelong game at Subiaco Oval was also a key moment in the season, coming from behind at half-time to secure a 20-point victory – which elevated the Eagles into sixth position and within reach of a top five finish.

But there was another major setback before the club could take aim at its first finals campaign. And Fitzroy was front and center again.
Playing at the MCG in round 17, the Eagles produced an insipid performance against the Lions and were humbled by 70 points. The full ramifications of that defeat would become clearer in the following days.

As a result of what the club labeled ‘ill-discipline’ at the team hotel after the loss, running defender Mark Zanotti was ordered back to Subiaco to train for the remainder of the season. He would never again play for the Eagles.

It proved to be one of those line in the sand moments as Todd was looking for a higher level of commitment from his men. And he got it.

The club won its last five games, including matches at Moorabbin and the Western Oval to finish the regular season in fourth position and earned a show-down with Melbourne in the elimination final at Waverley Park.

Under the current system, as the highest ranked team at the end of the qualifying rounds, West Coast would have played this game at Subiaco Oval. But this was very much an expanded VFL competition and there was never any thought of the game being played outside of Melbourne.

This game proved to be an epic with the Eagles trailing for most of the day, but remaining within striking distance. At three-quarter time the Demons led 8.5(53) to 5.9 (39), but the Eagles surged and produced a gallant last quarter that yielded five goals.

It proved to be in vain, with Melbourne hanging on to win 11.7 (73) to 10.11 (71) but not before the Eagles squandered a last-ditch opportunity.

West Coast won the ball out of the middle after a miraculous Garry Lyon goal put the Demons in front. Murray Wrensted, usually an immaculate ball user, had a shot from about 35 metres, it sailed left and Melbourne advanced.

For Wrensted, the 1985 Sandover medallist, that missed opportunity was a difficult burden to carry, but there were many other events during the game that were of equal importance. Sadly, that was also his last action in West Coast colours.

While the defeat was gut-wrenching, it might also have been something of a blessing as the Eagles went into the game without John Annear, who had a shoulder injury, and Phil Scott, Guy McKenna and David O’Connell were all injured in the game and were unlikely to be available the following week.

Again, the post-season produced some stunning events. None more surprising or impactful than the decision by Glendinning, who had kicked 73 goals in the season, to retire.

The club also traded Ishchenko and Zanotti to Brisbane, midfielder John Gastev followed a little later, Wrensted headed to Collingwood and Michael O’Connell also retired.

The Eagles were able to secure three important pre-draft selections out of Western Australia and chose wisely – attracting Peter Sumich, Don Pyke and Craig Turley to the club. In addition, as further compensation for not having a zone, it chose two 16-19-year-olds from its home State and locked in midfielder Scott Watters and forward Stevan Jackson from South Fremantle.