Background: Haydn Austin Bunton (born 5 April 1937) is a former Australian rules footballer and coach. The son of the legendary Haydn Bunton Sr., Bunton Jr. played for North Adelaide and Norwood in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL), as well as Swan Districts and Subiaco in the Western Australian National Football League (WANFL). Bunton was regarded as a tough and skilful player in both South Australia and Western Australia, but it was as a coach that he cemented a reputation alongside his father as one of Australian football's greatest identities. Bunton was inducted into the coaches section of the Australian Football Hall of Fame in 1996, as well as the Western Australian Institute of Sport Hall of Champions in 2003 and was made an inaugural member of the WA Football Hall of Fame in 2004 and the SA Football Hall of Fame in 2002.
Context: In 1984, Bunton junior returned to his former haunt of Subiaco, who as a result of the loss of such players as Mike Fitzpatrick had endured another bleak era over the previous nine seasons. The Lions had not participated in the finals since 1974 and had finished dead last in 1976, 1979, 1980 and 1982, when they were in danger of a winless season before beating East Fremantle in the seventeenth round. Since 1975 Subiaco had recorded only 44 wins from 189 games and had lost its "average" game over these nine seasons by a margin of 36 points.  However, under Bunton and aided by a powerful country zone, the Lions improved rapidly: from four wins and a percentage of 70 in 1983 they went to nine wins and a percentage of 100 in 1984 and fifteen wins and a percentage of 124.5 in 1985. Despite being in their first finals series since 1974, the Lions only just failed to beat East Fremantle in the grand final and gained ample revenge against the Sharks the following year by eleven and a half goals. Their team was sufficiently good to be competitive against VFL premiers Hawthorn in a post-season "challenge" match - ironically Hawthorn's win was led by Subiaco's one star of the bleak late 1970s and early 1980s in Gary Buckenara.  An irrepressible Claremont outfit under the innovative coaching of Gerard Neesham halted Subiaco in 1987, but the following year after losing the second semi to the Tigers and being unconvincing in the preliminary against East Fremantle, the Lions, playing a much more traditional game than Claremont and aided by the controversial inclusion of West Coast Eagle Laurie Keene, ran away to win by 62 points after an even first half.  The massive drain of players to the VFL meant Subiaco could not keep up this standard, and they won only six games each in 1989 and 1990 before returning to the Grand Final in 1991 only for Claremont to have its revenge. A thrashing by East Perth in the first week of the 1992 WAFL finals saw Bunton resign at the end of the season after having coached Subiaco's most successful era since before World War II.
Question: Why was it a bleak era?. Whats the answer?
The Lions had not participated in the finals since 1974 and had finished dead last in 1976, 1979, 1980 and 1982,