2025 Hall of Fame

The East Perth Football Club has inducted a further four Royals into its Hall of Fame. 1950’s goal kicker John “Jack” Smith, champion player and administrator Dean Turner, Bernie Naylor Medalist and Captain Glen Bartlett and Sandover Medalist David Bain.

The Hall of Fame criteria has now expanded to recognise East Perth people who have made significant contributions and to celebrate achievements in football away from East Perth. This has been done to recognise the changing landscape of our great game, to allow the club to correctly recognise and celebrate the achievements of people we are proud to call our own.

The inaugural Hall of Fame honoured 35 individuals – 25 players and 10 others who have made outstanding contributions to the club as coaches, administrators or honorary officials. The 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2021 and 2023 inductions have seen a further 42 East Perth identities celebrated and included in the Hall of Fame.

This year’s inductees take total of inductees to 81.

There is no doubt that the 2025 inductees have made an impact on the history of Australian Football, not only in Western Australia but nationally.

Hall of Fame Inductee Profiles

John “Jack” Smith

East Perth’s fourth-highest all-time goalkicker, alternating between full-forward and centre-half-forward, Jack Smith played in an era where the Royals finished fifth seven times in his first nine seasons.

Tall, with a long reach and having exceptional pace on the lead, Smith topped the club’s goalkicking every year between 1950 and 1953, including hauls of 88 (1951), 77 (1952) and 72 (1953).

He kicked 10 goals against Swan Districts at Perth Oval in both 1951 and 1952 and six bags of eight goals, with his consistency reflected by 33 match hauls of five-plus goals. Adding to the merits of Smith’s stellar goalkicking record was that he was originally a ruckman and then played at centre-half-back later in his career.

Writing in the Daily News, South Fremantle’s former champion full-forward, Bernie Naylor said: “He (Smith) was capable of dynamic play, which often lifted East Perth from mediocrity to brilliance.”

Smith’s last game for the Royals was the Grand Final loss of 1957, having missed the drought-breaking 1956 premiership season while managing a pub in Three Springs. He also represented WA twice.

Career Record

1947–1957: 133 games, 389 goals (2.92 goals per game)

State Games at EPFC: 2

FURTHER HONOURS

East Perth’s fourth-highest all-time goalkicker

Club leading goalkicker 1950–1953

Dean Turner

Dean Turner made an auspicious debut in Round 2, 1978, booting 3.5 in the Royals’ 72-point thumping of Swan Districts at Perth Oval.

One of just five players to make 100-plus appearances for both East Perth and in the VFL/AFL, Turner played 110 games in his first stint in blue-and-black, winning the prestigious F.D. Book Medal in 1981, before joining Fitzroy for the 1984 season.

Turner played 54 games for the VFL Lions, before being selected in West Coast’s inaugural squad in 1987. He added a further 56 games with the Eagles, bowing out after the 1990 preliminary final.

Turner’s second stint (1987–1991) at East Perth saw him play a further 33 games, for a career tally of 143 that also included 129 goals, highlighted by a bag of six against Perth at Perth Oval in 1983.

Granted life membership of East Perth in 1999, Turner also gave great service to the club in his role as CEO between January 2013 and April 2025, where he can be credited with turning around the club’s financial fortunes and setting up the Royals for future success both on and off the field.

Career Record

1978–1991: 143 games, 129 goals

FURTHER HONOURS

EPFC Fairest and Best 1981

Fitzroy 1984–86: 54 games, 19 goals

West Coast 1987–90: 56 games, 28 goals

East Perth Life Member (awarded 1999)

Glen Bartlett

Predominantly a powerful key forward who had occasional stints as a defender, Glen Bartlett was East Perth’s leading goalkicker between 1989 and 1991, winning the Bernie Naylor Medal in 1990 with a tally of 69 goals.

However, his best season in front of goal was 1991, when he booted 90 goals (including two nine-goal hauls against South Fremantle and West Perth) in 22 games, as the Royals saw finals action for the first time in seven years.

East Perth’s skipper between 1988 and 1991, Bartlett also played four games for the West Coast Eagles in their inaugural season (1987) and one state game, kicking three goals against South Australia in 1990

He was also drafted by the Brisbane Bears in midseason 1990 but opted to stay in Perth.

Bartlett was awarded life membership of the club in 1991. Post his playing career, he served as president of the Melbourne Football Club between 2013 and 2021.

David Bain

David Bain made a superb debut in Round 1, 1985, gathering an equal-game-high 28 possessions in East Perth’s 14-point win over Claremont at Perth Oval.

In a struggling Royals outfit of the mid-to-late 1980s, Bain’s career went from strength to strength, culminating in him winning the Sandover Medal in 1988. He also won East Perth’s prized F.D. Book Medal that year to ice a stellar season. When opportunity knocked after 72 games with the Royals and two games for Western Australia, Bain joined the Brisbane Bears in 1989.

He played 86 games in five seasons with the Bears, highlighted by 1990 when he finished equal-fourth in the Brownlow Medal and won the club champion award, capped off by two post-season games of International Rules against Ireland.

Bain joined Fitzroy in 1994 and despite playing 12 senior games with the Lions, polled enough votes to win the Gardiner Medal awarded to the VFL/AFL reserves’ best and fairest player.

After one season in Melbourne, Bain returned to Queensland and joined QAFL powerhouse Southport, with his six seasons with the Sharks including four successive premierships (1997–2000) and dual Grogan medals (1995 and 1999),

awarded to the best and fairest player in the QAFL. Bain, who was inducted into the Queensland Football Hall of Fame in 2023, holds the unique record of being the only man to win the Sandover, Gardiner and Grogan medals.

Career Record

1985–1988: 72 games, 41 goals

State Games at EPFC: 2

FURTHER HONOURS

1988 EPFC Fairest and Best

1988 Sandover Medal

Brisbane Bears 1989–93: 86 games, 44 goals

1990 Brisbane Club Champion award

1990 Equal-fourth Brownlow Medal

1990 International Rules representative

Fitzroy 1994: 12 games, 4 goals

1994 Gardiner Medal

1995, 1999 Grogan Medal (QAFL)

Southport (QAFL) 1997–2000 premierships

Queensland Football Hall of Fame (2023)