WA Day Foundation Derby Countdown – 11 days to go

THE Foundation Derby on WA Day is always the biggest occasion of any WAFL season outside of finals and South Fremantle is guaranteed of heading into the clash with East Fremantle at Fremantle Community Bank Oval on top of the ladder.

The Sharks could very well be second too depending on what happens this weekend while the Bulldogs have the bye leading into the clash.

We are going to countdown to the Foundation Derby on WA Day, which falls on Monday June 6 by taking a look at 15 of the greatest wins by South Fremantle over East Fremantle on the famous occasion.

NUMBER 15 – 1978
South Fremantle 21.13 (139) defeated East Fremantle 14.14 (98)

NUMBER 14 – 2006
South Fremantle 35.13 (223) defeated East Fremantle 9.12 (66)

NUMBER 13 – 1959, 1960, 1961
1959 – South Fremantle 12.17 (89) defeated East Fremantle 11.12 (78)
1960 – South Fremantle 11.7 (73) defeated East Fremantle 10.12 (72)
1961 – South Fremantle 7.15 (57) defeated East Fremantle 7.8 (50)

NUMBER 12 – 1907
South Fremantle 6.8 (44) defeated East Fremantle 4.9 (33)

NUMBER 11 – 2007
South Fremantle 15.15 (105) defeated East Fremantle 13.13 (91)

A mammoth crowd of 9737 turned out to East Fremantle Oval for the 2007 Foundation Day Derby with East Fremantle looking to challenge South Fremantle after the 157-point embarrassment of the previous year at Fremantle Oval.

Theo Adams had made the move to East Fremantle providing added spice to the contest to coincide with Kris Miller and Tim Malseed both lining up for their first Foundation Day Derbies with South Fremantle.

Jeff Farmer had been dropped back to South Fremantle from Fremantle as well for the occasion and he copped plenty from both sides of the fence all day. He still had 16 possessions and kicked two goals before being knocked out cold in a massive collision with Sharks big man Rob Young who wasn’t afraid to let ‘The Wiz’ know about it even if he was unconscious.

The Sharks were also buoyed by youngsters Rhys Palmer, Chris Masten, Harry Taylor, Kyle Hardingham, Garrick Ibbotson and Matt Spangher who would go on to become AFL players, and premiership players at that in the case of Spangher and Taylor.

East Fremantle was led by Brownlow Medallist Shane Woewodin who had 29 possessions and two goals, but South Fremantle was coming off playing in the last two grand finals and still had the measure of the Sharks.

The Bulldogs went on to win the contest by 14 points in a tight and exciting affair with many on-lookers believing it was the best atmosphere and hottest contested derby in years with East Fremantle beginning to be more competitive after some lean years.

Ryan Murphy had a good day at full-forward for South Fremantle kicking five goals while Malseed enjoyed his first Foundation Day clash against his old club with 25 possessions and 10 marks.

Miller had a tougher time of it with Daniel Chidlow resuming what would become his regular tagging role on his former teammate.

It was South Fremantle’s premiership players who stood tall with Kyle Hams, Daniel Gilmore, Keren Ugle, Andrew Siegert, Paul Duffield and ruckman Adam Hay all delivering strong performances.

Hay finished with 18 disposals and 24 hit outs but unfortunately he would depart the club at the end of the year following the preliminary final loss to Subiaco with inspirational captain David Gault also retiring.

It was the 100th anniversary of the first ever Foundation Day Derby and it signalled a return to the competitiveness of the battles and with 10,000 people turning out to watch it provided quite the spectacle.