Numerous famous players of the era — amongst them Merv McIntosh and Bernie Naylor — remained entirely unavailable due to war service, and all clubs had to make constant changes to their lineups.
East Perth, whose unbeaten under-age team of 1944 retained many more of its players than any other club,[7] found the going very tough in open competition and fell to sixth.
[9] The Tigers finished last by six games, and would apart from a surprising narrow fourth position in 1952 remain perennial tailenders until Jim Conway took them from last to first in 1964, winning only 116 of 386 matches for a success rate of 30.05 percent.
Allan Wilkinson, who had been playing for West Adelaide in previous weeks, kicked nine goals for Subiaco, but he was soon to be forced out of the game after suffering a serious knee problem and being unable to afford surgery.
[45] East Perth take the last place in the top four with a fine win led by a 9.8 (62) to 0.2 (2) second quarter with captain-coach Cecil Rowland scoring their first six goals and eight overall.