3rd-8th
Place Deciding Matches
Arranged as a testimonial to one of the greatest footballers of all time, Graham 'Polly' Farmer, the Rothmans Channel 7 Cup was held in Perth at the end of the 1971 football season, which was Farmer's last as a player. In retrospect the competition can be viewed as an important stage in the progression towards a national club competition, a process which can be discerned as having begun as early as the 1950s, and which initially at any rate had its proponents in each of the 4 main football states. Ultimately, of course, for a variety of reasons, most of them economic, the process was hi-jacked by the VFL, giving rise to the nominally national, but in essence overridingly Victorian-oriented, Australian Football League, as well as to a widely accepted 'history' of the game which purveys mythology in preference to truth.
Back in 1971, however, such sophisticated duplicity still lay a few years in the future, and the 8 clubs which contested the Rothmans Channel 7 Cup at Subiaco Oval did so on a purportedly equal footing. Between them those 8 clubs boasted one of the richest collections of talent ever brought together on Western Australian soil. Besides Farmer, WANFL premiers West Perth (seeded 3rd) had the likes of Mel Whinnen, Alan Watling, Bill Dempsey and Keith Miller. The side the Cardinals beat in the grand final, East Perth (5th seeds), had Mal Brown, Phil Tierney, a 17 year old Gary Malarkey, and Ron Alexander. East Fremantle (7th seeds), which had got within 3 points of West Perth in the preliminary final, boasted Graham Melrose, Dave Hollins, Allan Prosser and Peter Stephen, while 4th placed Claremont (8th seeds) was blessed with Denis Marshall, Bruce Duperouzel, Graham Moss and Vernon Orr.
The VFL was represented by 1971 premiers Hawthorn (top seeds), who brought Leigh Matthews, Peter Hudson, David Parkin and Peter Knights, among others; and 3rd placed Richmond (seeded 2nd), whose line up included Royce Hart, Ian Stewart, Neil Balme and Roger Dean.
The SANFL's representatives were its 2 1971 grand finalists, premiers North Adelaide (4th seeds), and runners up Port Adelaide (6th seeds). The former had Barrie Robran, Bob Hammond, Bohdan Jaworskyj and Terry Von Bertouch in its ranks, while in Port's side were John Cahill, Russell Ebert, Trevor Obst and Eric Freeman.
Those of a particularly nostalgic (or anally retentive) bent can view the full squad listings for each of the competing teams by clicking on the individual club names.
The competition was played on a straight knock-out basis involving abbreviated matches of two 25 minute quarters plus time on. Most of the games went to form, with the closest thing to an upset being Port Adelaide's narrow defeat of Richmond on the opening day.
| Winning Team | G | B | Pts | Losing Team | G | B | Pts |
| Claremont | 11 | 3 | 69 | North Adelaide | 7 | 4 | 46 |
| West Perth | 5 | 4 | 34 | East Fremantle | 4 | 9 | 33 |
| Port Adelaide | 9 | 3 | 57 | Richmond | 8 | 8 | 56 |
| Hawthorn | 7 | 4 | 46 | East Perth | 5 | 6 | 36 |
| Winning Team | G | B | Pts | Losing Team | G | B | Pts |
| Richmond | 6 | 4 | 40 | North Adelaide | 5 | 3 | 33 |
| East Fremantle | 8 | 11 | 59 | East Perth | 3 | 5 | 23 |
| Winning Team | G | B | Pts | Losing Team | G | B | Pts |
| Claremont | 10 | 6 | 66 | Port Adelaide | 3 | 5 | 23 |
| Hawthorn | 6 | 4 | 40 | West Perth | 1 | 7 | 13 |
| Winning Team | G | B | Pts | Losing Team | G | B | Pts |
| East Perth | 9 | 9 | 63 | North Adelaide | 7 | 7 | 49 |
| Richmond | 7 | 12 | 54 | East Fremantle | 7 | 5 | 47 |
| West Perth | 5 | 9 | 39 | Port Adelaide | 2 | 7 | 19 |
| Winning Team | G | B | Pts | Losing Team | G | B | Pts |
| Hawthorn | 12 | 3 | 75 | Claremont | 4 | 3 | 27 |
Some idea of how far the sport of Australian football has burgeoned economically can be gauged from the prize money - considered quite lucrative at the time - which the sponsors awarded to the competing teams, as follows: Hawthorn $4,700; Claremont $2,700; West Perth $1,850; Port Adelaide $1,600; Richmond $1,350; East Fremantle $1,150; East Perth $900; North Adelaide $750.