Frank "Scranno" Jenkins won the Sandover Medal in his debut season of senior football with a record high under the 3-2-1 voting system of 34 votes.
In the second round, East Fremantle broke their own 21-year-old record for the highest score in league history.
East Perth drew three games in one season, a feat equalled in major Australian Rules Leagues only by VFA club Moorabbinin 1958 and West Perth in 1960. The Royals could easily have drawn a fourth game but for crowd acclamation preventing umpires from hearing the bell against Subiaco on Foundation Day.[1] No senior Australian Rules team at any level is known to have tied four matches in a season, but Geelong’s Under-19s did so in 1971.[2]
Swan Districts, with Ted Holdsworth kicking at least six goals in each of the first ten games, reached their first finals series in only their fourth WANFL season. Holdsworth was to reach his 100 goals in two fewer games than George Doig took in his 152-goal 1934 season,[3] but concussion and a broken hand[4] eliminated the prospect of a new record.
Claremont, following on from their maiden finals campaign in 1936, won their first minor premiership, but were again beaten in the grand final, leading them to recruit returning West Perth coach Johnny Leonard (who led them to a hat-trick of premierships). East Fremantle, after three unsuccessful finals series, recovered to win their Eighteenth WANFL premiership, whilst Subiaco in falling from third after the 1936 home-and-away season to their first wooden spoon since 1916 with only three victories after the opening round, began thirty years as an almost perennial cellar-dweller.
Off the field, a minor dispute with the Perth City Council over the use of Leederville and Perth Ovals caused a delay in making the fixture list;[5] however unlike what was to happen in 1940 when those grounds were off limits to the WANFL all season the dispute was quickly resolved by a return to the £750 rental fee.[6]
East Fremantle kick the highest score to that point in WANFL history, beating their own record of 27.22 (184) against the defunct Midland Junction from 1916. George Doig kicks a phenomenal 13.12 (90).
East Perth’s two draws in four matches is the second-closest pair of draws by any club in WAFL history, behind West Perth’s two consecutive drawn games in 1960.[24]
Claremont end West Perth’s unbeaten run under 1934 and 1935 premiership coach Leonard with a 5.5 (35) to 0.2 (2) last quarter.
Swan Districts recover from seven goals behind early in the second quarter to defeat Perth, with Holdsworth maintaining his average of eight goals a game.
Swan Districts win a fifth successive close match to move into the top four.
Frank Hopkins kicks ten goals as Claremont record easily their biggest win in their twelve-year WA(N)FL history,[38] beating 68 points against the Demons from the previous season.
Swan Districts win their eighth game on end, a feat they were not to surpass until 1979/1980, with Holdsworth maintaining his remarkable average of 7.9 goals per game.[51]
Regaining several key players from injury and with George Doig kicking ten, East Fremantle displace Claremont from top place and stay in contention for the top four.
8.7 (55) in the second quarter allows Old Easts to end Swan Districts’ winning streak, though East Perth’s win over the Cardinals ensures Swans remain on top.
With Crow holding Holdsworth to one goal one on a ground waterlogged by 159.8 millimetres (6.29 in) of rain over the past week,[60] East Perth knocks Swans from the top.
Claremont run away from Swans – minus Holdsworth – in the last quarter to stay on top, whilst with Tyson kicking 10.0 West Perth remain with a chance of displacing the black and whites.
East Perth produce a critical win to regain a place in the four.
Perth’s crushing win ensures the South Fremantle v Subiaco match will determine the wooden-spooner. It was Perth’s biggest win over any opponent for twenty-one years and their biggest to that point over South Fremantle.[90]
East Fremantle’s comeback to force a draw ensures they retain the double chance: East Perth’s better percentage would have put them second had the Royals won.
Subiaco’s 1.13 (19) to 7.4 (46) in the second and third quarters consigns it to a first wooden spoon in twenty-one seasons.
In one of the best grand finals seen for some years, East Fremantle gain the upper hand in the last quarter and eventually overcome a dogged Claremont defence.