This year may have started with a bang, but 2025 was a big one for WA sport. Here are the most discussed moments and memories from the past 12 months.
Bear market
The latest WA addition to the NRL became the will-they, won’t-they story of the Perth sporting scene.
The Bears were linked to a host of high-profile players after recruitment manager Dane Campbell announced his hopes to recruit 10 players by Christmas.
The Perth Bears are on the lookout for big-name players ahead of 2027Credit: Monique Westermann
A number of overseas-based players took up the offer, including Toby Sexton from the Catalans Dragons, Harry Newman from Leeds Rhinos, in addition to Emarly Bitungane and Luke SMith from the London Broncos.
The club’s first major signing happened in December, with Penrith premiership-winning prop Liam Henry agreeing to a four-year deal.
On the same day the club announced it had secured a two-year deal with Iszac Fa’asuamaleaui, who will join Sexton next year at Catalans before heading to Perth for the 2027 season.
However, with an entire NRL season still to play before the club officially joins the league on the field, and more players edge closer to coming out of contract, expect the list of big names linked to the Bears to grow, especially with the additional pull of NRL legend Mal Meninga as coach.
Robinson’s 9.5 ride
Considered one of the biggest waves in the world, Margaret River’s Jack Robinson took to Teahupo in Hawaii back in August to claim the Tahiti Pro in one of the finest displays from an Australian surfer in recent memory.
WA’s Jack Robinson won the Tahiti Pro in 2025.Credit: World Surf League
And it was even more impressive considering the Olympic silver medallist had seriously injured his leg at the world-renowned break back in 2024.
Needing a win to cement his place in the top five on the World Surfing League ladder, Robinson scored a 9.5 to start the final against American Griffin Colapinto, the WA local only needed to catch two waves to secure the victory.
Kerr’s comeback
It had been a long couple of years for WA’s queen of football after injuries and surgery delayed her return to the pitch.
Add to that a serious court case that put her in the tabloids for much of 2023 and the birth of her first child with partner Kristie Mewis, It has been an eventful 24 months for the homegrown star.
Sam Kerr played for 45 minutes in the match against New Zealand.Credit: Getty Images
However, Kerr was back in the headlines for all the right reasons in 2025 when she was announced fit to play for the Matildas. A return for Chelsea in September, where she quickly added her 100th goal for the club against Aston Villa, had Australian fans looking forward to seeing her play once more for the green and gold.
There was even speculation that she could appear at the two games played in her home state when Australia faced Panama in Perth and Bunbury back in July.
However, the comeback would have to wait until the Matildas played Wales in October for Kerr’s official return to the field, with the Australian team locking in a 2-1 victory. She then added to her international goal tally in Australia’s victory over New Zealand.
It was ultimately a disappointing year for WA football fans, with the Fremantle Dockers scraping into the finals only to be knocked out by a last-minute point kicked by retiring Gold Coast star David Swallow.
Although it was a significantly more successful year than their cross-town rivals, after West Coast managed only a solitary win for the entire season.
A raft of retirements created headlines for both clubs, highlighted by dual Brownlow Medallist Nat Fyfe hanging up his boots and Eagles defender Jeremy McGovern forced out of the game due to multiple concussions.
Docker Murphy Reid was last year’s Rising Star award winner.Credit: AFL Photos
However, it wasn’t all bad news. Fremantle’s Murphy Reid won the AFL Rising Star award following a sensational debut when he kicked four goals in a row against Geelong in round one.
For West Coast fans, an impressive draft haul to end the year gave hope for the future. The club picked up talented youngster Willem Duursma with the number-one selection before taking Cooper Duff-Tytler with the fourth pick of the draft.
In the AFLW competition, West Coast made it through to their maiden finals appearance but the Daisy Pearce-led squad were ultimately knocked out by Carlton in the first round.
West Coast’s Ella Roberts continued her impressive rise in the sport with back-to-back Club Champion and All Australian awards, while Fremantle’s Mim Strom was again named as the league’s best ruck with a second consecutive All Australian jumper.
Fast finish for Scorchers
After losing three of their first five games of the season, the Perth Scorchers WBBL squad quickly kicked into gear, winning almost all of their remaining matches for the rest of the tournament. The only team to beat the WA side in the back end of the season were the eventual winners Hobart Hurricanes.
Katie Mack and Beth Mooney celebrate a 100-run opening partnership for the Perth Scorchers.Credit: Getty Images
The Tasmanian side defeated the WA team in the 29th round of the fixture, before the Scorchers turned it on to record a four-game winning streak before facing the ’Canes in the deciding match of the season.
Finishing the season in fourth place meant the Perth team had to get to the decider the long way round, taking care of the Melbourne Stars and the Sydney Sixers in elimination finals.
Hobart, after finishing in first place and losing just one match during the regular season, were able to enjoy a few days of well-earned rest before taking on the Scorchers and claiming the title in relatively comfortable fashion.
The Fever celebrate after winning the major semi final at RAC Arena, which put them into this weekend’s Super Netball grand final.Credit: Paul Kane/Getty Images
Fever dreams denied
The West Coast Fever looked unstoppable at times throughout last season, making it to the grand final after winning an incredible 13 games in a row to set a new league record. The winning streak included a massive 32-goal win over the NSW Swifts in the major semi-final to head into the decider as clear favourites.
It was a year of records for the WA club, who set a new crowd benchmark in their round 14 match against the Vixens when 12,813 fans packed out RAC Arena.
The scene was set for the Fever to add another piece of silverware to the trophy cabinet after their breakthrough victory back in 2022.
The local side faced a packed crowd of more than 15,000, including a strong WA contingent, at Rod Laver Arena for the deciding match for the season when they faced the Vixens.
In a thrilling match, the Fever took it up to the Melbourne team, but were ultimately unable to clinch the title, losing the match by a solitary goal.
Glory coach delivers quote of the year
After finishing on the bottom of the A-league ladder for the past two years, two losses to start the season proved too much for Perth Glory bosses who turfed out coach David Zdrilic following a 4-0 loss to Melbourne City in round two.
The local club then installed Adam Griffiths to take over the role as an interim coach, where he promptly lost the next two matches.
Adam ‘The Lion’ Griffiths at HBF Park after Perth’s defeat of the Wanderers.Credit: Getty Images
However, he then won the next three, including overcoming a 40th-minute red card to Trent Ostler to post a famous 1-0 win over Western Sydney at HBF Park.
But what really got people talking after the final result was the post-match press conference.
“I ask you guys to imagine a sheer cliff, 200 meters high, and a mountain goat sitting on it, and he’s eating some moss, some nutrients,” Griffiths began.
“But this mountain goat, he’s been there for 25 years. He knows the terrain. He knows every little step that he needs to take.
“He’s seen other mountain goats stepping in these places. Some are falling, some are still going.
“So this mountain goat loves, loves being on this mountain. He loves the risk. He loves the decision making. He loves everything about it, being on this mountain.
“Now I want you to forget about the mountain goat. Erase it from your memory. Erase it from your grey matter. Delete it.
“I am a lion.”
The speech made headlines around the country and had many football pundits comparing the coach to outspoken greats like Eric Cantona or Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
Last-second controversy in WAFL grand final
After dominating for most of the year, losing just one match during the home-and-away season, South Fremantle looked to be heading towards a comfortable victory against East Perth at half-time in the WAFL grand final.
Up by 20 points with one quarter left to play, the Bulldogs appeared to have the game well in hand.
East Perth had other ideas. A late flurry from the Royals had spectators at optus Stadium glued to their seats as the team kept coming and closed the gap to within just two points with seconds left on clock.
In the dying moments of the match, the umpire’s whistle blew to give a free kick to East Perth’s Jordyn Baker. As the siren sounded, Bulldog Aaron Drage kicked the ball away leading East Perth players to call for a 50m penalty and the chance to steal the match.
Confusion reigned as Bulldogs players and fans celebrated the victory, while Royals loyalists argued for the chance to win the decider after the siren.
Eventually, the 50m penalty was not paid and the Bulldogs survived to claim their 15th WAFL premiership.
The two-day Perth Test
It had been the talk of two nations in the lead up to the opening match of the latest Ashes series between Australia and the old rivals in England. And there had been a fair bit said ahead of one of the world’s greatest sporting rivalries.
Travis Head raises his bat after his stunning knock in Perth.Credit: Getty Images
Stuart Broad had dubbed the English side the best chance to taste victory on Australian soil in years and also piled on the pressure on the home side by suggesting they were the worst team since 2010.
Add to that the fact that Australia was set to miss captain Pat Cummins and fast bowler Josh Hazlewood, it meant there was plenty of discussion about who would fare the best on an Optus Stadium pitch.
It could be argued that the series was won in WA when a depleted Australia, led by impressive bowling from Mitchell Starc and a batting masterclass from Travis Head, were able to beat the English into early submission that they never really recovered from.
