The 1998 Westar Rules season was the second season of ‘Westar Rules’ and the 114th season of the various incarnations of senior football in Perth. The season opened on 29 March and concluded on 20 September with the 1998 Westar Rules Grand Final contested between East Fremantle and West Perth.
East Fremantle achieved its best record since its unique perfect seasonof 1946, winning all except its fourth and fifth games and achieving an unbeaten run of sixteen games rivalled since the perfect season only by Claremont in 1987 who was unbeaten for twenty-one games after having won the Grand Final.
Childhood East Fremantle fan Greg Egan finally joins the Sharks from Perth and becomes part of a dominant big-man division that the Bulldogs never threaten.[3]
East Fremantle take advantage of Fremantle’s discarding of former Hawthorn regular Greg Madigan as he leads the Sharks to victory on an oppressive 35 °C (95 °F) day[4]
Wayne Blackwell’s innovative use of the interchange bench - whereby he drags key players Toby Jackson and Drew Cornelius only for them to come back to decisive effect - helps Perth win its first game.[5]
After playing a few games in defence, Bulldog Peter Sumich is returned to attack and kick eight in his best performance in Westar Rules.[6]
East Fremantle list centre half-forward Damian Condon for their game with Claremont even though it was widely known he had no hope of playing and was replaced before the match[7]
East Fremantle’s tall forward line of Earl Spalding, Damian Condon, Brendon Feddema and Leigh Willison is rendered ineffective by a lack of crumbing players.[8] The match remains Subiaco’s biggest win with fewer scoring shots.[9]
With former Carlton star Earl Spalding back in his home state and kicking seven goals, East Fremantle send Swans to a fourth straight defeat after starting in promising fashion.[11]
East Perth honour the late Jeremy Silcock, who died on a 1995 end-of-season trip, with a superb win over their traditional rivals. The Royals win with an eight-goal second quarter to one point by the Falcons.[12]
East Fremantle take top spot (which they will retain without losing for the rest of the year) with a fine win in a fluctuating derby[13]
Future Eagles star David Wirrpanda lives up to expectations three years after being recruited from Healesville with a brilliant display for East Perth.[14]
After the resignation of foundation coach Geoff Miles,[15] Peel go from bad (if improving) to worse with their thrashing at Joondalup.[16]
The game at Arena Joondalup was the last senior Westar/WAFL game where a team scoring fewer goals won until Easter Monday of 2004 when South Fremantle beat Swan Districts thus.
East Fremantle end East Perth’s eight-match winning streak with Victorian Martin Mellody dominant. The Royals are handicapped by driving rain during the second quarter when they have a gale force wind.[19]
South Fremantle kick an extraordinary 4.24 (48) after quarter-time in violent winds and rain. With Scott Simister kicking four goals in the third quarter, Peel are poised for a monumental upset but the Bulldogs kick 2.10 (22) to 0.2 (2) in the last and keep their finals hopes alive.[20]
East Fremantle kick nine straight goals with a violent southwesterly wind in the first quarter to set up a winning break in heavy rain. During the second half as the wind changes direction, only two goals are kicked as both teams flood their backline when against the hurricane.[21]
Despite losing seven players to a State game in Adelaide, East Fremantle thrash Subiaco to jeopardise the Lions’ place in the top four.[22]
South Fremantle kick twelve straight behinds between late in the first quarter and early in the third, but come back to defeat the Royals.[23] The win puts the Bulldogs within a game of fourth spot.
Two enormous upsets unsettle the battle for fourth position and see Claremont, second last in 1997, climb therein.[24] Scott Simister kicks six for the Thunder as they win their second Westar Rules match.[25]
Perth do not score between the twelve-minute mark of the opening quarter and the nine-minute mark of the last,[26] becoming the first senior WANFL/WAFL/WASFL/Westar team to fail to score in the second and third quarters since East Fremantle at Lathlain Park in 1967.
South Fremantle, one point ahead at half-time, overcome the treacherous conditions with long kicking and the move of Marty Atkins to the ruck and Stephen Pears to a forward pocket, kicking 8.11 (59) to 2.3 (15) by the Lions.[27]
West Perth eliminate the reigning premiers’ finals chances with a superb win in wet and windy conditions due to Troy Wilson’s four goals and fine marking.[28]
West Perth record their biggest ever win over Perth.[29]
Subiaco record their biggest ever win over Swan Districts,[30] with Kenwick recruit Daniel Hardington destroying Swans’ highly touted Garth Taylor.[31] Leading goalkicker Todd Ridley kicks nine.
Swan Districts kicked their lowest-ever winning score, beating a 1952 record by three points.[32]
East Fremantle kicks seven goals in eleven minutes during the second quarter to win its fourteenth straight game against the Thunder.[33] Only one goal, by the Thunder in the last quarter, is kicked against a strong and wet northwesterly wind.
West Perth’s three late goals forces Claremont into a last-minute exit from the final four.
Since the two semi-finals were played at the same venue on the same day, the attendance figure is the same for both.
East Fremantle’s brigade of tall forwards and their superb defence, with Greg Madigan keeping Troy Wilson scoreless, demolished the Falcons on a perfectly fine day.[34]
A brilliant solo goal after a zigzagging run from Neil Mildenhall and a perfectly executed shepherd allow West Perth, behind from early in the second quarter and twenty-eight points down halfway through the third, to obtain a rematch with East Fremantle.[35]
