By John Townsend | Match Reporter

Claremont’s season starts now.

Jye Bolton was delighted to reach 150 games at the club he will “be part of for life” but the champion Tiger quickly turned his sights to a greater challenge.

“It is a great honour to get to 150,” he said after starring in the 49-point point win over Perth at Revo Fitness Stadium.

“I am going to be part of this club for the rest of my life but there is a still to play out this season.”
Bolton wants a premiership to crown his host of individual accolades and identified the win on Saturday as the first step on that path.

“This is our first final,” he said

“We wanted to get some form going because we had lost a bit of momentum with injuries to key players.”

Bolton’s milestone was just one element of an important day for the Tigers who knew that victory would guarantee a finals place but an upset loss to the second-last Demons would put their September campaign at risk.

Perth kicked the first goal in the opening minute but Claremont landed the next five in the 13.12 (90) to 6.5 (41) result to ensure the contest was effectively over by quarter-time.

The bright opening burst featured big ruckman Kieran Gowdie producing the best quarter of his short career while Bailey Rogers (29 disposals and 4.1) maintained the impact that could help him match Bolton’s record with a second Sandover Medal.

The second half was marred by a lack of efficiency and an array of skill and decision-making errors that could get punished in the coming month of sudden-death finals but Claremont’s best in the first half was the equal of any team this season.

It also provided an ideal recognition of the day’s second – and far more understated – 150-game milestone.

Unlike Bolton, coach Ashley Prescott will not receive automatic life membership for reaching 150 games though that is a potential honour likely to be discussed by club management.

Prescott coached Claremont into three grand finals in his first stint earlier this century and maintained his record of a top three finish in each of his first two seasons after returning in 2021.

This is his seventh season at the helm; only WA Hall of Famers Jerry Dolan (12 from 12 seasons at East Fremantle) and Phil Matson (nine from nine at East Perth) have got their teams into finals in every season of a longer stint at a WAFL club.

The milestone would have come a week earlier but for the game he missed in 2007 to be at the birth of his son Xavier.

Interim coach Brad Wira still talks about his 100 percent winning record based on that stand-in performance.

Gowdie has been on a slow return to league football after knee surgery but imposed himself in the opening term with four contested marks, two of which were converted, while he could have had an even better start only for his long set shot after the siren to drift out of bounds.

Rogers started forward and kicked a goal in each term to equal his career-best return but it was his ability to create clean opportunities from contested situations, and then exploit those chances, that made him the most dangerous and effective player on the ground.

His driving centre clearance to start the fourth quarter, which led to a Gowdie mark and goal within 19 seconds of the ball-up, underlined his explosive qualities.

Rogers missed a month of football midway through the year but his record of kicking multiple goals in four victories, and often doing so in spectacular fashion, could be significant in what is likely to be a tight Sandover Medal count.

Bolton and ruckman Ollie Eastland are probably Claremont’s best two other chances and both had strong days against Perth.

Bolton (38 disposals) reached 30 touches for the 10th time this season – while his total of 532 possessions at an average of 29.6 are the highest in the league and strong indicators of his polling potential.

And Eastland maintained his influence with 19 possessions and 28 hit-outs as he wore down Perth’s ruck duo.

Claremont did not have a passenger in a performance in which every player made a valuable contribution at various times.

The small forwards Talon Delacey, Zac Mainwaring and Tyron Smallwood bobbed up at various times to keep alive the race for the leading goal-kicker; prolific mids Ben Edwards, Teia Miles and Ben Elliott had excellent moments and there were a series of fine individual performances.

Callan England ran down Perth centreman Corey Byrne to set up Rogers’ second goal, Sam Alvarez eluded tacklers to land a long bouncing goal from the centre square and AFL-bound defender Daniel Curtin several times shrugged off opponents to get the ball clear of danger.

Claremont have achieved their first goal for the season by qualifying for finals; the next stage of the journey starts now.

CLAREMONT 5.2 7.6 11.10 13.12 90

PERTH 1.0 2.0 5.4 6.5 41

GOALS – CLAREMONT: Rogers 4; Gowdie 3; Martinis, Alvarez, Delacey, Manuel, Smallwood, Hardisty.

PERTH: Stubbs 3; Ajang, Clark, Quartermaine.

BEST – CLAREMONT: Rogers, Bolton, Gowdie, Miles, Edwards, Delacey, Eastland.

PERTH: Stubbs, Byrne, Davis, Dellamarta.