Demons aren’t done yet after releasing pressure valveFriday, September 18, 2020 - 3:02 PM - by Chris Pike

WITH the burden of ending Perth's finals drought now lifted, Demons coach Earl Spalding sees no reason why his group can't aim to go all the way over the next three weeks and end a wait more than double as long for the club.

It has been the run of outs that has just naturally been accruing ever since 1997 with the Demons not playing finals football in the WAFL.

Not only have Perth not played a final since losing the 1997 preliminary final to South Fremantle at Subiaco Oval by 37 points, but the reality is they have rarely even given themselves a chance to be in the hunt over the past 22 years.

Even the venue they played their last final at no longer exists and the same year they last played finals was Peel Thunder's first in the WAFL and while they had to wait until 2015 to reach finals themselves, they've now got two premiership triumphs to their name.

Over the course of the past 22 WAFL seasons, Perth has won only 125 of 438 matches while racking up six wooden spoons along the way and really, only 2019 saw the Demons a genuine chance of ending that finals drought.

And it really should have happened. Perth sat inside the top five most of the way in 2019 only to see their form drop away in the second half of the season and then painfully and agonisingly, the West Coast Eagles and West Perth both played finals by finishing above the Demons only by percentage.

If the finals drought was ever going to end, it would never come in anything but the most dramatic of ways and that was certainly the case. 

There's no question that in the 313 defeats over the past 22 years, of which there were 15 thrashings of more than 100 points, and another 58 between 10 goals and 99 points that it felt like Perth were destined not to play finals football again.

Along the way that included losses to the tune of 161, 160, 158 and 149 points while 23 per cent of their defeats between 1998-2019 were by at least 10 goals.

For all of the club's good intentions too, they would seem to be becoming famous for whatever mistakes they could come up with next too. 

There were careless administration efforts that got them fined or that saw players find ways to end up elsewhere when they otherwise shouldn’t have been allowed, and there were even the comical events.

Like a sponsorship sign behind the goals that was well intentioned, but the poor grammar left it appearing to tell its own team to Go Home Demons, instead of the intended Go, Home Demons when sponsored by Home Building Society.

It got to a point where even the most faithful of Perth supporters had grown to accept their fate and they would be careful to never really get their hopes up because they knew what would lie ahead.

That's why even when winning the opening three games of the delayed and shortened 2020 WAFL season that no Perth supporter would have gotten too carried away, even though in reality they needed to win twice more likely only to guarantee a finals position in the top four.

One of those wins then came over a team above them, Claremont on the road, and the Demons looked on track. 

Then though, they lost to Subiaco for an eighth time in-a-row and then fell to the lowly Swan Districts, and it appeared it would be another year of a familiar result with South Fremantle to come in a must-win game for the Demons with the Bulldogs not having lost yet in 2020.

Then get to Saturday night for the late starting game at Lathlain's Mineral Resources Park and you could feel the tension in the air, and the Perth fans not yet willing to fully believe their team could actually do it.

Inaccuracy then plagued the Demons out on the field and the Perth fans had seen it all before. Their team couldn’t take their chances but a powerhouse like South Fremantle could and the Bulldogs were up 15 points midway through the third quarter appearing in control.

This Demons team wouldn’t be denied though. They dominated the rest of the game, but with the weight of history on their shoulders, they just couldn’t manage to kick straight in front of goal.

Emerging superstar Logan McDonald has handled everything thrown at him immaculately in 2020, but his kicking deserted him and it was the same for fellow young gun Connor McPartland, and the usual dead-eye former Tiger Jack Richardson.

Brady Grey is known for kicking big goals including the winner in the first semi-final last year for West Coast against West Perth, but even he couldn’t nail a goal on the run from 40m that he has made his trademark under pressure.

Every behind with time beginning to run out left the Demons fans feeling like it was just inevitable their hearts would be broken once again, only this time would be the cruellest given how they were dominating the game, not allowing South Fremantle past halfway and yet still being behind.

This time would be different though. The inspirational and outwardly passionate Matthew Rogers took a diving mark at the top of the goal square, went back to kick his third goal of the game and Perth wouldn’t be denied this time.

The scenes when he kicked the goal and then when the siren sounded minutes later had to be seen to be believed. 

The sound made from the crowd was one thing, but it was the pure release let out by those who had been through not only the heartache of supporting such a poor performing team not only since 1997, but for the most part since that last premiership in 1977. 

All of a sudden the club that they had been used to having pain caused by and they'd love anyway, now they had brought them the joy of a memory that will last a lifetime. 

That win on Saturday night is not only going to be a lifetime highlight for the players and coaches directly involved, but for everyone with a bit of the old Redlegs in their veins. 

You could see that with the hundreds of people who ran out onto the field and you feel it with the stories that have been shared around this week with what it means to so many people.

Perth coach Earl Spalding might be the calmest man you could find in most occasions, but even he couldn’t help but get caught up in the emotion of the moment in what is his last season at the helm of the Demons.

He too started to fear the worst in the third quarter as well.

"It was a pretty exciting night by the time it finished and everything sort of fell into line. All the moon and stars lined up for once for us," Spalding told 91.3 SportFM.

"We were sort of in control we just couldn’t kick that elusive goal. We didn’t really look like getting scored against but you're never really confident that they're not going to do that because on the slingshot they are one of the best sides going around. 

"We just needed to find an avenue and once we kicked that goal then it was about defending for our lives which we managed to do. It was more during the third quarter when we let them get away a little bit and we missed some opportunities when the heart was going a bit. 

"But by the end of I'd like to think I was calm, other people in the box might have a different thought."

When Spalding strode out to address his playing group for potentially the last time at three quarter-time on Saturday night, it was all about business and keeping to the plan they had in place against South Fremantle.

He knew the players knew the burden was on them to break that finals drought, they didn’t need him telling them just to add to the pressure.

"I kept my speech pretty short and I'm notoriously short with my speeches. I really just wanted to reinforce what the message was for the whole day which was our run, our quick ball movement off turnover and our pressure on their ball which was still important," he said.

"I think the blue print that East Perth showed us the week before for three quarters was our message all day, and we kept reinforcing that and made sure they had clear heads out there. It's important in those matters that really count that we are thinking and are composed. 

"I thought for the most part even though we kicked 1.8, the only errors were not finishing off the goals and they weren’t all easy shots. I think the boys came through in flying colours which should hold them in good stead for this week and future weeks."

Spalding could sense such a relief let out from everyone involved at Perth once they won the game on Saturday night and he now sees no reason why they can't carry that momentum into a successful finals campaign.

"It was like a release of this burden that has been on our shoulders for 23 years, but as I keep saying to the playing group, it's not our fault or the burden we should be carrying because we've only been here for a short period," Spalding said. 

"But that's how it is. Now to get that off the back and to be able to hopefully play with a bit of freedom is what we are hoping happens. That's the beauty of not only playing sport, but playing in the competition that we play in. It's a great competition and it gives us this opportunity on Sunday to progress."

After the game, the celebrations were certainly enjoyed by everyone at Lathlain but Spalding made sure his playing group kept their eye on the bigger picture too.

"After the game we just reinforced to make sure they enjoy the night but then make sure we come on Monday ready to go for another week and hopefully longer because it's basically anyone's up for grabs this year really," Spalding said. 

"South deserve the right to be favourites but on the day any side can beat any side so why can't it be us. I think the players took that on board and then there was a bit going on upstairs where things were getting a bit loose I can tell you."

It's only fitting that Perth's return to the finals for the first time in 23 years throws at them another long-lasting hoodoo they now need to end to advance when they come up against West Perth at Joondalup's Provident Financial Oval on Sunday.

Perth comes into the first semi-final having lost 18 games in-a-row against West Perth by an average of 39.8 points.

The last win for the Demons against the Falcons was Round 18, 2011 and the positive in that was that it was at least Joondalup.

Going back further and Perth has lost 22 of 23 against West Perth but after Saturday night, the Demons will be thinking no hoodoo is unbreakable now.