By Ken Casellas

Athletic big man George Graham celebrated his first appearance in Claremont’s league side in memorable style by gaining the clearance at the opening bounce in last Saturday’s pre-season scratch match against the West Coast Eagles WAFL side at Revo Fitness Stadium.

He drove the ball inside’s Claremont’s forward 50m area where Max Minear gained possession and passed accurately to Bailey Rogers, who took the mark and booted the opening goal with 40 seconds on the clock.

The 20-year-old Graham impressed with his spirited ruck work and his great endeavour, so much so that he looks set to make his league debut in the round 1 contest against West Perth at Joondalup on Good Friday, if, as is most likely, the Tigers’ No. 1 ruckman Ollie Eastland will not be quite ready after battling stress fractures in his back, a problem which has hampered his pre-season preparation.

Also, Claremont will be without the services of powerful ruckman Kieran Gowdie, who is making a good recovery from knee surgery.

Graham, a Scotch College graduate who has shown considerable promise with the Claremont colts side in 2021 and 2022 and with the reserves in 2021 and last year, impresses with his mobility. He took two marks, had six kicks, made two handpasses, applied one tackle early in the second quarter and gained the knock 18 times in ruck contests.

Little separated the sides throughout the afternoon, and West Coast deserved a two-point victory, 12.8 to Claremont’s 12.6. The West Coast side which contained 13 AFL-listed players was slicker, cleaner and used the ball more efficiently than the home side.

However, there was much to like about Claremont’s overall performance, with the only disappointment being an injury in the first quarter sustained by Teia Miles, who lined up on a half-back flank where he took a mark and sent a perfect pass to Ben Edwards before bruising his right heel and being forced out of action for the rest of the afternoon.

Sharing the ruck duties with Graham were key forwards Jack Buller and Minear. Each was effective in the ruck, and each took six marks, with Minear having six handpasses to go with his ten kicks, which included three goals. Buller had nine kicks and five handpasses. His clever dribbled goal in the third quarter after receiving the ball from defender Lachie Martinis was a highlight.

Claremont’s defence was solid, with ace recruit Jack Maibaum taking seven marks and having nine kicks, and Martinis, Jye Bolton, Anthony Davis and Dec Hardisty in splendid early-season touch.

Bolton was in grand form on a half-back flank until he moved on to the ball late in the final quarter. He took four marks, had 17 kicks, three handpasses and three tackles. A feature of his play was his incredibly precise kicking, with eleven of his 17 kicks being marked by a teammate and four others going to a teammate who gained possession.

Ten of Martinis’s 12 kicks went directly to a teammate, and he also fired out nine handpasses.

Claremont fans were delighted with the form of Joel Western on a wing where his sizzling pace set up many attacking moves. He had seven kicks and made eight effective handpasses, and is sure to be a great asset this year.

It was quite an interesting fact that eight of West Coast’s 12 goals were scored by former Claremont players, with Jake Waterman and Cooper Nitschke each scoring three and the livewire Sam Petrevski-Seton scoring two.

Waterman was a dominant force, frequently setting up attacks by departing the forward line and getting into the clear on a wing. He finished with 13 marks and 17 kicks.

Details:

West Coast Eagles 12.8 (80) beat Claremont 12.6 (78).

Scorers--- WCE: J. Waterman 3.3; C. Nitschke 3.0; S. Petrevski-Seton 2.0; I. Winder 1.1; Barnett, J. Levien, J. Nelson, 1.0; J. Browne, T. Dewar 0.1; 2pts forced. CLAREMONT: M. Minear 3.1; J. Carter 2.0; B. Rogers, O. Sheldrick 1.1; S. Alvarez, J. Buller, B. Elliott, C. England, T. Smallwood 1.0; L. Lewsey, A. Manuel, R. O’Connor, Z. Mainwaring 0.1.  

Best---WCE: J. Waterman, S. Petrevski-Seton, E. Hewett, I. Winder, B. Hough, L. Foley, C. Nitschke, H. Barnett, C. Burgiel. CLAREMONT: J. Bolton, B. Rogers, L. Martinis, M. Minear, B. Edwards, J. Buller, A. Davis, T. Smallwood, D. Hardisty, G. Graham.