WA Football Hall of Famer, Chris Lewis (17.06.2026)

**Mark Duffield** (0:00)
Welcome back to the SENWA studio out here at Optus Stadium. This is Duff and the Doctor coming to you thanks to Blackline, BLAK Line, Aboriginal Lone, Business, Delivering Signage Print, Promotional Products, and Creative Services with Cultural Integrity and Impact. One of my favorite Indigenous players on the line at the moment, West Coast Champion, Chris Lewis. Chris, welcome.

**Chris Lewis** (0:25)
Morning, Duff, how are you going, mate?

**Mark Duffield** (0:27)
I'm not too bad, mate, yourself?

**Chris Lewis** (0:30)
Yeah, yeah, good, good, yeah, just up in sunny Headland, mate, so yeah, good at the moment.

**Mark Duffield** (0:34)
So I'm sitting here with Doctor Sean Gorman, and I know all of our guests marvel at the fact we call him Doctor Sean Gorman, but he would love to know off the top, is life treating you well?

**Chris Lewis** (0:46)
Yeah, yeah, g'day Sean, yeah, mate, yeah, life is good, actually. Just yeah, doing what I do as a 57-year-old, and yeah, it's been a bit of a journey, but it's been great.

**Mark Duffield** (0:59)
Mate, I first met you when you were 16, and you'd come down to visit your brother Clayton, who I was playing footy with down at South Bumbry, there in Bumbry, and we'd heard about this guy, Chris Lewis, and what an incredible talent you were at the time, and that proved to be right.
The number of firsts that you were involved in at West Coast. So you played in their first ever Foster's Cup match out at VFL Park against Footscray. You played in the first game against Richmond. You played in their first final against Melbourne in 1988 You played in their first winning final against Melbourne in 1990, their first grand final in 1991, and their first flag in 1992 It was quite the career for you.

**Chris Lewis** (1:44)
You've done your research, haven't you, mate?

**Mark Duffield** (1:48)
Well, you were a West Coast Eagle, and the Eagles were pretty big back in those days, but I can do most of that from memory.

**Chris Lewis** (1:55)
Yeah, actually, what you first touched on was that trip to Bumbery was quite an eye-opener for me, Duff. I remember vaguely leaving the highway hotel, but it has been a very good journey for me, mate, in terms of first and actually getting to do the things that you want to do as a young player and a young child, and being very fortunate. A lot of hard work along the way, but a lot of good people and a lot of good support, so it's made my journey a lot more easier and enjoyable.

**Mark Duffield** (2:34)
You come from a famous football family in Western Australia. So Father Irwin was a star with Clamon, and obviously brothers Cameron and Clayton, both Waffle League players. It must be amazing to be part of a clan like the Lewis family.

**Chris Lewis** (2:52)
Oh, look, those three people that you just mentioned always sort of had an influence on me. And, you know, when you're the youngest child in the family, you sort of get told what to do and how to do it and why aren't you doing it. So I learned very quickly. I had an older sister, which I grew up, Carolyn. She was very influential to me at a young age and taught me a few things about humility. And obviously our mother, Lorna, you know, brought up poor kids and actually had poor kids, which I think is amazing.
And yeah, very influential and very supportive and probably, you know, set the concrete for the foundation very early.

**Sean Gorman** (3:36)
Chris, my first recollections of you were in 1984 I can remember that because of the CIG Cup, which was played and I was living up in Northern at the time and Northern got through all the finals and all we had to do was beat Christchurch to get through to the grand final. I think it was against South Fremantle High or something like that. Anyway, I remember someone saying, oh yeah, we will get through this as long as we stop this kid called Lewis. You know, there was no worries at all. And because I'd broken my arm, I was the goal umpire for the day. And I think I got to incurred another neck injury because of all the balls that you got out of the middle and kept kicking. I think you kicked six or seven that day and did it really seamlessly. I just remember thinking, my god, this guy is really good. And I'd seen a lot of good footballers in the country up until that point. But there you were just a cut above everyone else at the time. So, but the other thing is, I remember the great Martin Flanagan, who used to write for the age, he called you the last of the pre-Marbo footballers in terms of your aboriginality. And the reason he mentioned that is because he was talking about the fact that in 92, that's when the Marbo decision came in and then in 93, Nicky does his thing with the, and then 95, that's when they bring in the vilification law. So you had several years where you were open to the on-field criticisms and the sledging and the abuse that was going on.