Following half a decade dominated with the exception of two challenges from South Fremantle by the three Perth clubs and Austin Robertson's goalkicking, 1971 saw a changing of the guard, with Perth, in Mal Atwell’s last season as coach, dropping to second from bottom owing to the weakness of their forward line,[1] and Subiaco also fell out of the four after an off-season disrupted by efforts to thwart potential clearances of goal machine Robertson, half-forward George Young, and promising young players Stephen Heal and Peter Featherby.
[2] After a promising season in 1970 and the acquisition of Colin Tully from Collingwood, John Evans from St. Kilda and 30-possession-per-game rover Ross Parker from VFA club Prahran,[3] Claremont became early favourites for the flag.
East Perth snatch a win after an all-day thriller with seventeen seconds remaining in front of a record Claremont Oval crowd, following what critics regarded as the finest match of the season.
[38] Subiaco, after many selection controversies – notably dropping George Young and Keith Watt to the reserves – produce their best performance of 1971 with three quarters of masterful teamwork.
With regular full-back Neil Dedman kicking seven goals at full-forward, East Fremantle overrun favourites Claremont in the second half,[85] as the Tigers’ expected ruck and key forward superiority is never observed.