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The start of the new WAFL season could hardly have been any better if Graham Moss and Ron Boucher turned back time to relive one of their ferocious and classic clashes.
A total crowd approaching 15,000 was the biggest opening round attendance in 30 years and proof that WAFL supporters will turn out if they are confident of a contest and matches are staged under decent lights in good weather.
The $2million lights at Joondalup were not as brilliant as their advance notice but they were good enough to showcase a ripping contest to 4318 fans.
It was the best ever round one crowd at the ground and the league’s best since 5200 – swelled by 4284 free tickets – turned up to imminently obsolete Subiaco Oval to kick off the 2015 season.
And the matches lived up their billing.
Powered by their most canny recruiting in years and a coach armed with considerable smarts and steel, Perth shone under their own lights to beat their nemesis Subi for the first time in eight years to end round one inside the top five.
Ambitious Swan Districts were even more effective as they crunched West Coast to sit in second.
Last year’s grand finalists Peel beat last year’s premiers East Fremantle who, after just one match, already sit a remarkable three games off top spot.
West Perth hung on to survive a thriller against Claremont with the league’s pre-eminent wizard producing his trademark magic to snap the win.
And East Perth underlined their credentials as the potential benchmark this season with an imposing win over a South Fremantle team in transition.
A top five with four of the most followed teams in the league, including three – Swan Districts, East Perth and Perth - who have not won a final for seven, nine and 27 years respectively, foreshadows a competition with genuine questions over who will win matches each weekend.
Maybe it is West Coast’s plight that has driven football lovers back to the State league.
Maybe it is the league promotion that brought disco music, strobe lights and food trucks to Joondalup.
Apparently, football is better with them, though things are likely to get even better at Pentanet Stadium when the proposed 70sq.m HD replay screen replaces the old scoreboard sometime this season or next.
There were a few individual highlights to delight players and their hard-core fans.
Ironman Tony Notte is on track to become just the seventh player to make 300 WAFL appearances and the second Swan after Bill Walker. Notte’s 293rd match was also his 142nd victory, taking him past four-time premier Don Langsford’s record at the club.
And Tim Barker was there to provide a nice complement to the moment.
Barker, who played his first match for Swans in 1944 and, at 97 could be mistaken for a man 20 years younger, has the club and WAFL record for losses. He played in 188 of them during an era when he was a star made of the sternest stuff but his team could barely muster any momentum.
Aaron Black had his own moment.
His 256th match means he sits between fellow Sandover medallists Graham Farmer and Ted Kilmurray on the games list while he cracked 150 wins with the two-point thriller.
Black’s goal to reach 300 is unabated though he would have to play at least into his 34th year to get there. Add Black’s premiership coach Bill Monaghan, who became the fifth WAFL coach to take charge in 300 games, and there were several milestones of rare weight.
Fans don’t attend matches for milestones but they are an essential part of the league’s rich tapestry and a source of great interest and focus.
One round does not make a season but the WAFL has started this one strongly.
IMAGE: WA FOOTBALL