The 1980 WAFL season was the 96th 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 ...

in its various incarnations. The season saw the league drop the word ‘national’ from its official name for the first time in fifty years, reverting to the title in use from 1908 to 1930. It also saw reigning premiers East Fremantle embark on the most rapid slide by any reigning premier since went from first to last in 1916. Handicapped by the loss of Mario Turco to North Melbourne and Doug Green to retirement, along with injuries to Jim Sewell, Graham Carter, Swan Districts recruit Mark Olsen and Rod Lester-Smith and form lapses by Tony Buhagiar and Ian Thomson,See Hopkins, Colin; ‘Swans Live Up to Their Promise’; ''

The West Australian ''The West Australian'' is the only locally edited daily newspaper published in Perth, Western Australia. It is owned by Seven West Media (SWM), as is the state's other major newspaper, '' The Sunday Times''. It is the second-oldest continuous ...

'', 8 April 1980, p. 87 the blue and whites also lost classy

Essendon Essendon may refer to: Australia *Electoral district of Essendon *Electoral district of Essendon and Flemington * Essendon, Victoria **Essendon railway station **Essendon Airport * Essendon Football Club in the Australian Football League United Ki ...

recruit Darren “Daisy” Williams who returned to Victoria for personal reasons after two matches.Carew-Reid, Andrew; ‘East Fremantle Throw Off the Blues’; ''The West Australian'', 28 April 1980, p. 78 Old Easts were to win only five matches all season, and were in danger of their first wooden spoon for eighty-two years before a win in their penultimate game put them safely ahead of Subiaco, who had another disastrous season plagued by financial problems whereby calls to “Save Subi” were opposed by calls from opponents to “Flog Subi”, leading to the worst record by any WA(N)FL club for twelve seasons. In contrast, had the best start to a WAFL season for twenty-one years, winning their first thirteen matches and gaining a $2000 bonus from

Marlboro Marlboro (, ) is an American brand of cigarettes, currently owned and manufactured by Philip Morris USA (a branch of Altria) within the United States and by Philip Morris International (now separate from Altria) outside the US. The largest Mar ...

for winning their first twelve – with a further $200 if they could achieve a perfect home-and-away season. Swans were overpowered at the “business end” by the

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 ...

-coached , who were unbeaten apart from a five-game slump between the fifth and ninth rounds. The Bulldogs’ play late in the season is regarded as some of the finest ever seen in the WAFL, a claim substantiated by their thrashing top VFL club Carlton by 91 points in Escort Championships during March – easily the biggest win by a non-VFL club therein and in fact the biggest loss by a VFL club until the AFC Night Series was restricted thereto.Rodgers, Stephen (compiler); ''The Complete Book of VFL Records''; pp. 223-227. The win over Carlton was impressive due to the fact that Carlton fielded their Premiership team from 1979 and South Fremantle had many young reserve players in their team like Wayne Henwood , Daryl Stokes, John Townsend and others. Brad Hardie was only 16 years old.

Home-and-away season

Round 1 (Easter weekend)

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

Round 5

Round 6

Round 7

Round 8

Round 9 (Foundation Day)

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

First semi-final

Second semi-final

Preliminary final

Grand final

Notes

The game when Austin Robertson kicked 15.11 (101).

References

External links

Official WAFL websiteAustralian Football: WAFL Season 1980
{{WAFL seasons West Australian Football League seasons WAFL