The 1985 WAFL season was the 101st season of the

West Australian Football League The West Australian Football League (WAFL) is an Australian rules football league based in Perth, Western Australia. The league currently consists of ten teams, which play each other in a 20-round season usually lasting from March to September, ...

and its various incarnations. The season opened on 30 March and concluded on 21 September with the 1985 WAFL Grand Final contested between and . It was highlighted by the rise of Subiaco, who had nearly become extinct in the late 1970s due to financial problems and had won only 25.2 percent of its games between 1975 and 1984. The Lions recovered from a mid-season slump to win their last seven games before the finals – their longest winning streak in one season since 1915 – and challenge East Fremantle. The Sharks came off their 1984 Grand Final loss to win their first twelve on end, gain favourable comparisons with their unbeaten 1946 counterparts, and be quoted at

odds Odds provide a measure of the likelihood of a particular outcome. They are calculated as the ratio of the number of events that produce that outcome to the number that do not. Odds are commonly used in gambling and statistics. Odds also have ...

of 25/1 to achieve a

perfect season A perfect season is a sports season, including any requisite playoff portion, in which a team remains and finishes undefeated and untied. The feat is extremely rare at the professional level of any team sport, and has occurred more commonly at the ...

.Christian, Geoff; ‘Sharks Have a Touch of Greatness’; ''The West Australian'', 20 May 1985, p. 81 The blue and whites sealed the minor premiership with four games remaining and defeated the Lions in a thrilling Grand Final. Major declines occurred from Claremont, who had their worst season since 1977, and East Perth, who began a sequence of five seasons with only 24 wins, two wooden spoons (their first since 1964) and two last-round escapes. Perth, who had not played finals in any grade since the 1978 Grand Final, embarked upon their first significant recruiting campaign for a decade, acquiring dissatisfied South Fremantle coach

Mal Brown Malcolm Gregory "Mal" Brown (born 26 October 1946) is a former Australian rules footballer in the Victorian Football League and West Australian National Football League. He is described as "one of the most colourful and controversial characte ...

, former Claremont goalsneak Brett Farmer, and future mainstays Mark Watson, Wayne Ryder and Willie DickChristian, Geoff, ‘Perth’s Recruiting Policy Starting to Pay Off’; ''The West Australian'', 15 April 1985, p. 76 – but did not match expectations and rose just one position with one more win than in 1984. Off the field, the season saw Perth businessmen Alan Delany and John Watts attempt to buy lowly VFL club St. Kilda and move them to Perth,Christian, Geoff; ‘WAFL to Monitor Move on Saints’; in ''The West Australian''; 20 May 1985; p. 80 which failed but was the first move towards the modern national

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the only fully professional competition of Australian rules football. Through the AFL Commission, the AFL also serves as the sport's governing body and is responsible for controlling the laws of the gam ...

, which began in earnest with the formation of the

West Coast Eagles The West Coast Eagles are a professional Australian rules football club based in Perth, Western Australia. The club was founded in 1986 as one of two expansion teams in the Australian Football League (AFL), then known as the Victorian Football ...

in 1987.

Home-and-away season

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

Round 5

Round 6

Round 7

Round 8

Round 9

Round 10

Round 11

Round 12

Round 13

Round 14

Round 15

Round 16

Round 17

Round 18

Round 19

Round 20

Round 21

Ladder

Finals series

First semi-final

Second semi-final

Preliminary final

Grand Final

Notes

Better known as a member of the

West Australian Football Commission The West Australian Football Commission is the governing body of Australian rules football in the state of Western Australia. Operations The WAFC was formed in 1989 to manage the sport in Western Australia. The commission is registered as a not-f ...

and author of the “Fong Report” on the future of West Australian football after the 2000 season.

References

External links

Official WAFL websiteWest Australian Football League (WAFL), 1985
{{WAFL seasons West Australian Football League seasons WAFL