ANOTHER WEST PERTH GREAT IN HALL OF FAME

THE West Perth Football Club was front and centre once again on Wednesday night when former premiership player and star goal kicker Frank Hopkins inducted into the WA Football Hall of Fame.

Hopkins played 128 games for West Perth starting his career in 1926 and went on to kick 289 goals, including 79 in 1930 and was a key player in the 1932 premiership before finishing his career with Claremont where he added 70 games and 268 goals.

He also played 12 matches and kicked 39 goals in total for Western Australia, and on Wednesday night was inducted into WA Football's Hall of Fame alongside Ray Richards, Tom Wilson, Peter Bell, Chris Lewis and George Young.

The 1920s and 30s saw a whole host of spectacular aerialists but it was Hopkins that was regarded by many to be the best.

In all, he established a brilliant record over 15 seasons with both West Perth and Claremont where as a forward he kicked nearly 600 goals, won a premiership at both his WAFL clubs and earned selection for WA on 12 occasions.

Hopkins was born near Beverley in 1909 and burst onto the WAFL scene as a 17-year-old in 1926 as a tall rangy forward with brilliant marking ability and a superb long drop-kick.

He was a natural at centre half-forward from the outset where he played every game of his debut season to finish with 21 goals.

In 1928, Hopkins was selected in the West Australian team for the tour of the eastern states and by this time he was an established star. The WA Footballer on June 30 wrote, "Hopkins was nothing short of sensational. Seldom has a display of such brilliancy been seen on our grounds."

After another tremendous season for West Perth in 1929 where he kicked 62 goals and was centre half-forward in the centenary matches for WA against South Australia and Victoria, Hopkins reached his peak in 1930.

His regular displays of dominant form included him kicking 14 goals in the final game of the 1930 season against Perth and he clinched the WAFL leading goalkicker award despite the presence of Ted Tyson as West Perth's full-forward.

The presence of both Ted Flemming and Tyson in West Perth's forward-line from 1931 onwards saw Hopkins used at centre half-back in the most part for the rest of his time in red-and-blue, but he did play centre half-forward in the grand final of 1932 and kicked two goals in the drought breaking premiership.

Hopkins then went on to play the last of his 128 games with West Perth in the 1933 preliminary final.

After not playing football at all in 1934, Hopkins was cleared to Claremont in 1935 and became a highly reliable forward kicking 83 goals in 1936 and then a massive 120 in 1937 to be one of a record five players to record the century in that season.

Hopkins continued to live in Claremont until his untimely death in January 1960 aged just 50.

BY CHRIS PIKE