It was an historic occasion last weekend as our game against Swan Districts was taken to Broome in the first WAFL Colts fixture to be played outside the metropolitan area for premiership points. A joint initiative between the two clubs, the match was moved to showcase the talent from the State’s North West and, from our perspective, it was certainly a worthwhile exercise.

Our Kimberley zone is full of untapped indigenous talent, and the opportunity to expose the best colts aged players in the region to our club’s pathway was invaluable.

Six players from our team flew to Broome last Thursday to join another twenty who were selected following the Kimberley Colts Championships held in Fitzroy Crossing in June. Rowen Powell (Broome), Joel Fiegert (Kununurra), Francis Watson (Balgo) and Shane McAdam (Halls Creek), all hail from the north of our State and they made the trip, along with Jordan Law and Jared Hardisty.

The contribution of these players was to be a crucial component of the trip as we sought to expose the Kimberley boys to some different training methods in our two sessions together before the game.

Our new teammates embraced the training and proved to be a great group to work with, whilst our boys marvelled at the amazing skill level on show from the first session until the game on Saturday afternoon.

The boys also had an important role to play in a workshop conducted by sponsor Leighton Contractors on Friday morning. The opportunity to combine football with a traineeship or apprenticeship was explored, and our boys spoke openly with the group about their experiences when first arriving in Perth and the importance of engaging in something worthwhile outside of football.

Swan Districts also flew some Perth based players in for the game and made up their side with players from their Pilbara zone. The game, played at the Father McMahon Oval in temperatures exceeding 30 degrees, was an amazing exhibition of open, free flowing football. Stoppages were scarce, high marks were the order of the day, and Claremont piled on the goals as the inside prowess of our Perth based players complimented the outside games of our Kimberley boys beautifully.

Javen Pye (Yakanarra) kicked five goals and was a standout in the forward line, whilst Zenneth Cox (Halls Creek), Leighton Bilgin (Fitzroy Crossing) and Ezekial McKenzie (Broome) controlled proceedings in the midfield. Other players of note included Lucas Long (Halls Creek) who excelled at both ends of the ground, and defender Basil Althouse (Kununurra). Shane McAdam was a worthy winner of the John Jones medal as Claremont’s best player.

The trip was superbly coordinated and supported by Kimberley sport and recreation provider Garnduwa, who play a leading role in engaging youth in a range of sporting and personal development programs. Garnduwa CEO Alan Bishop was a driving force behind establishing the game, whilst Mick Albert, Michael Farmer and their staff made the initiative work and deserve real credit for the quality job that they are doing up there.

Our Kimberley players now have a very real affiliation with the Claremont Football Club thanks to these people, and also have a significantly clearer football and employment pathway available to them.

A big thank you must also be directed to all the Claremont Football Club Staff and Volunteers who had a hand in the organization and implementation of the event. There was plenty of ground work to be done to get this off of the ground and the efforts of those people must certainly not go without praise.

And finally, thank you to the Kimberley Regional Service Providers (KRSP) who had a huge hand in the funding of this event. None of this could be done without funding, and the budget list can grow very quickly with travel involved, so we thank KRSP for their contribution and support.

Ben Dyer - CFC Colts Head Coach

Match Results:

Claremont 33.14.212 def Swan Districts 4.9.33

Goal Scorers:

Claremont: 5 - S.McAdam, J.Scanlon, J.Pye, 3 - G.Stretch, 2 - J.Fiegert, M.Sampi, F.Watson, 1 - J.Thomas, Z.Cox, J.Hardisty, T.Bin Busu, L.Long, J.Leach, B.Althouse, A.Dryden, E.McKenzie

Swan Districts: 2 - D.Nelson, 1 - C.Lill, K.Cook

Best:

Claremont - S.Mcadam, Z.Cox, J.Hardisty, J.Pye, F.Watson

Swan Districts - C.Lill, D.Coppin, I.Razali, C.Cross, C.Firns