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Eastland Leads the Charge

Author: Admin
By Ken Casellas

Ollie Eastland was the undisputed star at Revo Fitness Stadium on Sunday when he gave a
herculean performance in the ruck to excel as the driving force behind Claremont’s stirring
eight–point victory over East Perth in the WAFL preliminary final.
In an era when coaches use the interchange system frequently in a bid to keep their players
fresh, Eastland went to the bench for a brief respite only twice in the first three quarters before,
close to exhaustion, he had an eight–minute spell in the middle of the final term.
He returned to action late in the quarter with the result in the balance, and immediately made
his presence felt by pulling down a grand fighting mark on the left wing to keep the Royals at bay.
In a gruelling encounter during which each side had its periods of ascendancy the Tigers
defended their own turf in resolute fashion to emerge triumphant against a dogged opponent to
earn the right to meet the Peel Thunder side, stacked with professional AFL–listed footballers
from the Fremantle Dockers, in next Sunday’s grand final.
Eastland will be one of five Claremont men on the field at Optus Stadium who have felt the
anguish of playing in the club’s past two grand final losses — by three points against South
Fremantle in 2020, and by 12 points against West Perth in 2022, the others being this year’s co–
captains Bailey Rogers and Callan England, former captain Dec Mountford and resolute
defender Dec Hardisty.
By next Sunday much water will have flowed under the bridge since the Tigers won their latest
WAFL premiership by beating East Fremantle by 26 points on September 23, 2012, — 5110 days
ago.
These famous and favourite five footballers will be joined by a band of energetic and skilful
younger men who will enter the deciding contest hellbent on helping the side to end a 14–year
premiership drought.
Peel will go into the grand final as warm favourites, with the significant advantage of so many
full–time professional players. But nothing is impossible in life and in sport — and the
Claremont men will approach next Sunday’s task full of enthusiasm, energy, vigour and
confidence in their own ability.
Eastland served notice of his intention to dominate proceedings on Sunday by gaining the hit–
out, straight to England, at the opening ball–up.
It was Claremont’s livewire forward Zac Mainwaring who notched the first goal, a clever snap
after gaining possession, following defender Sam Alvarez’s kick inside the 50m attacking zone
11 minutes after the start.
The Royals bounced back with goals from William Cassidy and Sebit Kuek before Claremont’s
dependable half–back flanker Josh Howard took a spectacular mark and sent the ball forward
where Ben Elliott snapped a goal. Then a behind from a free–kick to Royals midfielder Tom North
saw the scores level at quarter–time.
It was tough, tight football in the second term when East Perth managed only two behinds while
Claremont added three goals to hold a handy 20–point advantage at half–time, leading 5.6 to
2.4.
The first of these three majors came when winger Ollie Sheldrick sent the ball forward and the
fiercely determined Alec Waterman took an excellent contested mark; the second came after
Alvarez took a contested mark against Cassidy; and the third was at the 25–minute mark when
Rogers intercepted and marked an East Perth clearing kick, played on and booted an uplifting
goal.
It was all East Perth in the third quarter when they scored 4.3 and held the Tigers to three
behinds, the third of which was a poster from Kieran Gowdie.
The lead changed hands twice in the opening couple of minutes in the final quarter, with
Claremont’s sixth goal coming after Sheldrick surged forward, took two bounces and sent the
ball to Rogers, whose wobbly pass was marked by Heath Mellody, whose goal gave Claremont a
two–point advantage.
The Royals were not to be denied, and after gaining the clearance at the resultant centre ball–up,
Coby Burgiel dashed forward and his long kick bounced through for a goal which saw the lead
again change hands.
Eastland then capitalised on a free–kick and penalty by scoring Claremont’s seventh goal six
minutes into the quarter, and a couple of superb saving marks by Jasper Peace denied the
Royals.
Five minutes later Mountford, whose work on a wing could not be underestimated, fired a great
handpass to Tyson Headland, whose amazing snapshot from deep in the right pocket resulted
in a magical goal to give the Tigers some breathing space with a seven–point lead.
Rival defenders were working overtime and with good effect, and the only score by either side
for the remainder of the contest came with a behind to Talon Delacey 13 minutes after
Headland’s inspirational goal.
While Eastland was regaining his strength on the bench during the final quarter, full–back Max
Minear was switched on to the ball where he accepted the challenge superbly by gaining several
vital hit–outs at ball–ups.
Details:
Claremont 8.10 (58) beat East Perth 7.8 (50)
Scorers—CLAREMONT: S. Alvarez, B. Elliott, O. Eastland, T. Headland, Z. Mainwaring, H.
Mellody, B. Rogers, A. Waterman 1.0; T. Delacey, K. Gowdie, J. Musika 0.2; J. Howard, S. van
Rooyen 0.1; 2pts forced. EAST PERTH: T. Graham 2.0; S. Kuek 1.2; C. Ameduri, C. Burgiel, W.
Cassidy, M. Schofield 1.0; T. North 0.2; H. Brayshaw, S. van Diemen, 0.1; 2pts forced.
Best—CLAREMONT: O. Eastland, B. Rogers, D. Mountford, J. Peace, A. Waterman, C. England,
S. Alvarez, J. Howard, A. Pearce. EAST PERTH: T. North, W. Cassidy, H. Brayshaw, L. Foley, J.
Soutar, A. Walsh, J. Sturrock, C. Ameduri, Z. Raykos, X. Milner.
Attendance: 4595
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