WA Day Foundation Derby Countdown – 15 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)

This ultimately would become the last Foundation Day match before the introduction of the Foundation Derby Cup in 1979.

In a highly anticipated derby clash, South Fremantle went into the match third on the ladder while East Fremantle were fourth with both teams having a 6-4 record going into the game.

East Fremantle was riding a three-game winning streak into the Monday derby clash, but South Fremantle was buoyant having already won the first derby of the year in Round 3.

After an inaccurate start South Fremantle was able to work its way into a position of dominance on the back of an eight-goal second quarter and were able to coast through the second half going on to record a comfortable 41-point win.

Don Haddow, Joe McKay and Stephen Michael all kicked five goals while the likes of Noel Carter, Maurice Rioli and Geoff Marsh were prominent South Fremantle figures to play in the match.

The Fremantle Oval crowd for this match was over 15,000 but interestingly was not the highest attended derby of the year. The final derby of the year in Round 17 played at East Fremantle Oval recorded a crowd of over 16,000 as both sides looked to consolidate a finals spot.

South Fremantle would finish the home and away season fourth upsetting West Perth in the first semi-final before succumbing to East Perth in the preliminary final of that season.