WAFL clubs share SW tradition

Saturday's showdown between Swan Districts and East Perth brings together two clubs with long histories in the South West.

Bunbury, South Bunbury and Carey Park have been zoned to Swan Districts for more than 40 years while the Royals have equally strong ties to Busselton and Augusta-Margaret River.

The South West has produced legends for both clubs and Saturday’s clash will bring back fond memories for two of the greatest – former Swan Mick Grasso and Royal Aaron Marley.

Grasso played 62 games and won two South West Football League flags with South Bunbury before transferring to Swan Districts in 1987 under coach John Todd.

“At first (fellow Swan Districts legend) Peter Old and I trained together down here and travelled up to Perth to play, ” Grasso said.

“Then in 1990 Peter, who was a bit older than I was, decided to retire from Swans and I moved up to Perth to train with the rest of the squad.”

Relocating to Perth reaped instant rewards for Grasso, who was awarded the Sandover Medal and won a premiership alongside former Tigers mentor and Swan Districts captain Peter Hodyl in his first year in the city.

“It was a wonderful experience playing for John Todd at a great club with a good strong support base, ” Grasso said.

Marley had a shorter but even more successful stint at East Perth, moving to the Royals from Mines Rovers in 1998 and named club best and fairest that same year.

Homesickness caused him to return to Mines Rovers for the 1999 season, when he won the Hayward medal with a massive 37 votes, before returning to the Royals and winning a hat-trick of flags from 2000-2002.

“My old coach at Mines Rovers Russell Sparks used to play for East Perth and he lined me up to play for them, ” Marley said.

“The three grand final wins were the major highlights for me – we beat East Fremantle, South Fremantle and then West Perth.

“The last game I played was the win over West Perth and it really stands out because there is a bit of a rivalry there and we won by about 10 goals.”

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