So when are Freo changing their name to Cockburn, or '****' for short?
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Were West Coast really a 'state team' in the early 90s?
- Thread starter Matchu
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Would be relevant if it was calling for the name to be the Lathlain Eagles.
West Coast is a stupid name, always has been.
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Get out into the country and the ratio of wc to freo supporters is a lot higher than in the city.
The name West coast represents someone from karratha, to geraldton, to albany.
What does freo represent?
They would be nuts to change it.
I wonder how the West Coast Eagles players back in late 1987 reacted to the news of Ron Alexander's sacking by the West Coast board and his replacement was WA coaching legend John Todd?
And as Dennis Cometti pointed out in his book 'Back to the place, back to the time', a lot of the Eagles players already had strong opinions about Todd, as he coached most of those players either at State or club level and had upset them in his comments re State selection.
In fact, as Cometti pointed out, a lot of the prospective Eagles players living in Victoria wouldn't have come back to WA to play for West Coast under Todd, unless they had played for Swan Districts, the club Todd guided to a hat trick of WAFL premierships in the early 1980s.
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And as Dennis Cometti pointed out in his book 'Back to the place, back to the time', a lot of the Eagles players already had strong opinions about Todd, as he coached most of those players either at State or club level and had upset them in his comments re State selection.
In fact, as Cometti pointed out, a lot of the prospective Eagles players living in Victoria wouldn't have come back to WA to play for West Coast under Todd, unless they had played for Swan Districts, the club Todd guided to a hat trick of WAFL premierships in the early 1980s.
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I have been living out in the Wheatbelt and Goldfields and you are right there is way more Eagles supporters, but I can't see any west coast out here..
It's a cheesy late 80s type name that was no doubt was dreamt up by some flog in marketing with a ponytail. The majority of supporters also seem to mostly use the name Eagles to refer to the team as well instead of West Coast.
The name Fremantle represents an actual city with a very long footballing history. For the record I also dislike the Dockers nickname.
As you said - fremantle reps a city - west coast reps a state.
If it represented the state it would have been called WA.
West Coast is just a generic name that doesn't really represent anything.
West Coast is just a generic name that doesn't really represent anything.
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Was probably drinking a West Coast Cooler when he came up with it.
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It is a stupid name.
However, Perth Eagles doesn't really roll off the tongue well. Yes, I also have the same criticism of Perth Glory.
Too bad we don't live in a city with more than two syllables in its name.
However, Perth Eagles doesn't really roll off the tongue well. Yes, I also have the same criticism of Perth Glory.
Too bad we don't live in a city with more than two syllables in its name.
- Jun 11, 2013
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Nothing wrong with choosing West Coast as the name, because at the time it was the only club in the AFL from the west coast of Australia in a league that was endeavouring to become national. I wouldn't listen to what Freo fans have to say either, their club chose the worst colours & logo for a club and due to thier farcical record in the AFL, they don't have much else to do but hate on anything West Coast.
Was there a reason why we weren't called the WESTERN EAGLES ?
Would have sounded less American than WEST COAST EAGLES.
Would have sounded less American than WEST COAST EAGLES.
West Coast represents the entire coast of Western Australia except for the Fremantle part.
- Sep 15, 2011
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That's even more nebulous than West Coast. I generally hate vague names and prefer area specific names ( I wish the Bulldogs would revert to Footscray) but West Coast made sense at the time and isn't as vague as is being suggested.
Jeez, you could forgive a noob for getting confused.
"Hey I see your team is almost in the grand final."
"Nah, West Coast are out already."
"No, I saw it earlier, West Coast Bulldogs, they are playing Greater West, or is your team Greater West Coast"
"No, it's not West Coast Bulldogs, West Coast beat Greater West before the finals, but then Western Bulldogs beat West Coast in the finals, and now Greater West are playing Western Bulldogs"
"Yeah, so your team IS still in."
"Hey I see your team is almost in the grand final."
"Nah, West Coast are out already."
"No, I saw it earlier, West Coast Bulldogs, they are playing Greater West, or is your team Greater West Coast"
"No, it's not West Coast Bulldogs, West Coast beat Greater West before the finals, but then Western Bulldogs beat West Coast in the finals, and now Greater West are playing Western Bulldogs"
"Yeah, so your team IS still in."
How did we survive in the wafl with east perth and east fremantle
Let alone east perth, perth and filthy disgusting garlic muncher perth
Stupid people would have had terrible splinters with all the head scratching going on.
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You knose it!!
Tom_Thumb
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Back on Topic, if West Coast were a state team then it would have to include the best from here. Players like Buckanara, Beasley, Dorotich, Hunter, Krakouers, Taylor and others would of got games before those that did play.
Not a State team at all.
Not a State team at all.
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Literally every player you've listed above entered the league before the Eagles were allowed in (Buckenara - 1982, Beasley - 1982, Dorotich - 1986, Hunter - 1981, Krakouers - 1982, Taylor - 1981). The Eagles did however sign VFL players at the end of 1986 which included Glendinning, Malaxos, Miles, Narkle, Turner and Wiley. On top of that, despite the rules clearly stating West Coast could only sign off contract VFL players that had a WAFL background, the Eagles attempted to sign contracted players in Buckenara and Harding from Hawthorn and had to go all the way to the Victorian Supreme Court to discover they weren't allowed to do that. Harding later joined the Eagles when he was out of contract years later.
Anyone that claims West Coast missed out because they weren't able to sign certain players that were already playing in the VFL is just being ridiculous. If you look through the numerous pages in this thread you'll find the general consensus was that West Coast really only missed out on one significant player in Mark Bairstow (signed 5 days before West Coast were granted their licence) but received extremely generous concessions in every other avenue. If you're wondering what those concessions were then just read back through the thread. Even West Coast fans admitted that were generous in this thread.
Now go back, re-read the thread title (Was West Coast really a 'state team' in the early 90s?), and ask yourself whether 14 of the 22 players lining up for WA in the 1991 State of Origin match against Victoria warranted the fair label of a 'state team'. If your answer is no then we can go back and find out how many state reps each other team had at the time and I think you'll be unpleasantly surprised to learn that the Weagles had considerably more state reps in the early 90s than any other AFL team.
B U R N
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rofl if we were a state team we'd have 4peated.
Note that the initial squad was only 35 and the concessions over the following years was to get to parity with the other clubs. The club was fortunate that the under 18 team in 1987 was very strong. They also nailed a lot of selections in a period when talent identification was not like it is now.
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