Jim Gosnell

ERA:  1901 – 1930

PLAYER: 1918-29 – West Perth 120; WA 15

HONOURS: Sandover Medal 1924; runner up (by one vote) in 1925-26; West Perth Fairest and Best 1926-27

West Perth’s 1924 Sandover  Medallist  Jim Gosnell was the middle member of the famous Medal-winning half-back line, with Harold Boyd (1922) and Jim Craig (1927) either side of him and also on the field, with the high-flying  Gosnell in between his two colleagues.

He won his Sandover Medal in defence, but it was at centre where he played for  Western Australia, with his display agains South Australia, at Perth Oval in the mid-1920’s, rated as outstanding.  Gosnell graduated to West Perth in 1918 from the North Perth juniors, but during the 1919 season he was transferred to Coolgardie with the WA Government Railways and it was there he established his football credentials with Railways, winning successive premierships on the Goldfields.

Gosnell returned to West Perth in 1921, but was forced to retire in 1929, with an ankle injury, suffered against  South Australia the year before.  However, a 1930 transfer to Kalgoorlie at age 31 saw him add two seasons with Railways, who had 11 players with league experience from Perth and he won the Goldfields fairest and best trophy in 1932.  In 1934 Gosnell returned to Perth, taking on the coaching role with the Claremont reserves, lifting them from last to the 1935 finals. 

His 15 State games included the 1924 Carnival in Hobart, where the eight-point loss to Victoria was often rated alongside the 1961 Carnival victory in Brisbane.  Gosnell was a talented all-round sportsman, playing cricket on the Goldfields where he top-scored for Kalgoorlie in 1921 (with 28 and 17) against the Australian team led by Warwick Armstrong  en-route to England for an Ashes series.

He played for Subiaco-Leederville in 1921, winning the club’s batting average twice in four seasons, before joining  Nedlands when they entered the first grade competition – and he was that club’s first century-maker.

Yachting was another passion and he was in the crew of the 18-footer Eileen which won the national title when the Australian Championships were held on Perth Water in 1926.