By Ken Casellas

A flying start of a five-goal-to-nil first quarter paved the way for Claremont’s impressive 37-point victory over Perth at Lathlain Park on Saturday in a match dominated by big Claremont ruckman Eddie Simpson.

It was an extremely important win which enabled the Tigers to consolidate second position on the premiership table, one win ahead of the third-placed Perth.

The 20-year-old Simpson dominated the ruck duels and was also a tower of strength around the ground. He gained 38 hit-outs in the ruck, took eight marks, had 13 kicks, made nine handpasses and had a match-high tally of eight tackles.

A feature of his performance came early in the third quarter when he took two excellent marks deep in defence to thwart the Demons.

Another match highlight was the splash of brilliance from Jack Richardson, when he scored Claremont’s seventh, eighth and ninth goals in the space of 13 minutes. The first of those majors came after he took a mark moments before the siren sounded for half-time.

The second of those goals was a delightful left-foot snap 11 minutes into the third term. The third came two minutes later after a forward sortie initiated by Jake Patmore at half-back finished with Tom Shanahan booting the ball long and deep into attack where Richardson took one of his seven marks.

Two minutes later a right-foot snap gave Richardson a behind. He finished with a tally of 5.2, with Matt Palfrey and elusive little forward Corey Mitchell each scoring two majors. Palfrey was also seen in the unusual role of ruckman, providing valuable assistance to Simpson.

Key forward Kaiden Gilbert was laid low by a leg injury and was unable to play any part after half-time. Experienced defender Luke Maddock then was switched to centre-half-forward where he provided a focal point and used his strength to good effect to make life comparatively easy for the smaller forwards.

The final quarter turned into a bit of a shoot-out, with each side adding four goals. The term opened with an excellent passage of play involving Richardson, Palfrey, Lachie Martinis and Richardson (again). It resulted in Richardson’s fifth goal and was followed a minute later by Mitchell’s second. Morgan Davies and Nick Winmar each put the icing on the cake of fine individual performances with a last-quarter goal.

It was great to see colts and WA under-18 star Jake Patmore appear in his first reserves match. He worked hard and showed flashes of his ability on a centre wing where he took four marks, had eight kicks, made ten handpasses and three tackles, as well as sending the ball inside Claremont’s 50m attacking zone on two occasions.

Another colt in action was midfielder Jack Blaauw, who in his second reserves match took five marks, had eight kicks and eight handpasses, as well as three inside 50s.

Details:

Claremont 14.11 (95) beat Perth 9.4 (58)

Scorers---CLAREMONT: J. Richardson 5.2; C. Mitchell 2.1; M. Palfrey 2.0; Morgan Davies 1.1; L. Martinis, E. Simpson, B. Wilson, N. Winmar 1.0; T. Shanahan 0.2; K. Gilbert, D. Holt, L. Maddock 0.1; 2pts forced. PERTH: L. Marlin 3.0; J. Irons, B. McPhail, A. Mercer, C. Papertalk, S. Perkusich, N. Taylor 1.0; C. Chivers, T. Gooch, C. Leonard, Z. Roe 0.1.

Best---CLAREMONT: E. Simpson, N. Winmar, Morgan Davies, J. Richardson, M. Palfrey, L. Martinis, F. Gilbert, J. Patmore, L. Maddock. PERTH: J. Schleicher, B. McPhail, J. Ugle, A. Mercer, C. Marshall, L. Marlin, Z. Hill.