Eastland Rises to the Occasion

By Ken Casellas

It was a relentless arm wrestle in the first half of Claremont’s clash against East Fremantle in wintry, windy conditions at East Fremantle Oval on Saturday before Ollie Eastland changed the course of the game with an outstanding third-quarter performance.

Only one goal was scored in the second quarter — a snap at the 22-minute mark by Alec Waterman from a goalmouth scrimmage — which enabled the Tigers to lead, 3.5 to 2.4 at half-time.

Eastland, the State’s premier ruckman, took charge in the third term during which he gained 22 hit-outs and Claremont, with the use of the breeze, scored 6.2 to East Fremantle’s 3.0 to go into the final quarter with a 27-point advantage which was extended to a 33-point lead after Jaiden Hunter scored his fourth goal 59 seconds into the last term.

But then, losing Austin van der Struyf and Dec Hardisty to injuries did not help Claremont, and East Fremantle reduced the margin to five points when Liam Robinson booted a goal at the 32min. 30sec. mark.

Claremont captain Callan England gained the clearance from the resultant centre ball-up and sent his side into attack where Hunter managed to scramble a behind moments before the final siren, with the Tigers prevailing by six points.

Eastland’s dominance played a vital part in Claremont scoring three goals in the opening seven minutes of the third quarter. The busy Waterman drove the ball forward in the first minute of the quarter and Kieran Gowdie took a mark and scored a goal, and three minutes later Jack Musika initiated another attack which resulted in another major to Gowdie.

The Sharks replied with a goal to Oskar Smartt, and England gained the clearance from the resultant centre ball-up, with Zac Mainwaring marking the kick and scoring Claremont’s sixth goal.

Gowdie was in the thick of things from the start of the match when he took two marks inside Claremont’s attacking 50m zone in the space of two minutes. His first shot with the blustery wind sailed out of bounds on the full before he made amends moments later.

Claremont’s third goal came at the 26-minute mark of the quarter when Mainwaring gained possession in the middle of the ground, burst forward and took two bounces and sent the ball forward where Hunter pounced and snapped the first of his four goals.

Hunter was seen in a different role 18 minutes into the third quarter when he contested a boundary throw-in in Claremont’s left forward pocket, seized the ball and snapped a goal. A few minutes later he marked a Musika pass and his goal and an accurate snap by Tyson Headland gave the Tigers a handy lead going into the final quarter.

Claremont, without injured defenders Samson Jennings-Hopkins, Max Minear and Anthony Davis, as well as dynamic midfielder Bailey Rogers, were further weakened when van der Struyf and Hardisty were injured and forced out of action in the final quarter.

Four minutes into the quarter van der Struyf was flattened in a marking duel in which he suffered a broken nose and a possible fractured cheekbone at the four-minute mark, and eight minutes later Hardisty received a nasty leg injury.

Claremont errors did not help the side’s cause, with Austin Ball scoring a goal after pouncing on a poor Tigers defensive kick, and Noah Dean scoring another major after suffering interference and receiving a free-kick. The Sharks scored five goals to Claremont’s one in the final term, and now the Tigers are preparing for an important battle against league leaders Peel Thunder at Rushton Park on Saturday.

A pleasing feature of Claremont’s performance against East Fremantle was the spirited display by tall defender Clancy Dennis, who proved the master of Griffin Vladich, restricting him to five kicks, including his only goal when he capitalised on an error by another Claremont defender.

Musika was outstanding in his effort against East Fremantle star half-back flanker Cam Eardley, with eleven of his 16 possessions being contested. He also executed ten tackles, a tally exceeded by one by Talon Delacey and Dec Mountford, and he delivered the ball inside his side’s 50m attacking zone a game-high seven times.

England maintained his superb form, finishing with four marks, 12 kicks, 18 handpasses and six tackles, while Ben Elliott was also a damaging and constructive midfielder, with three marks, 14 kicks, eight handpasses, eleven clearances and seven tackles. Eastland also had eleven clearances and registered 47 hit-outs.

Details:

Claremont 10.11 (71) beat East Fremantle 10.5 (65)

Scorers—CLAREMONT: J. Hunter 4.2; K. Gowdie 3.0; T. Headland 1.2; Z. Mainwaring, A. Waterman1.0; T. Delacey 0.2; O. Eastland, O. Sheldrick 0.1; 3pts forced. EAST FREMANTLE: P. Knight, L. Robinson, O. Smartt 2.0; N. Dean 1.1; A. Ball, C. Eardley, G. Vladich 1.0; 4pts forced.

Best—CLAREMONT: C. England, B. Elliott, O. Eastland, J. Musika, K. Gowdie, C. Dennis, A. Waterman, J. Hunter, T. Delacey, A. Pearce, S. Alvarez. EAST FREMANTLE: J. Cleaver, L. Carrello, T. Joyce, C. Eardley, Z. Rankin, C. Dunscombe, Z. Peterson, O. Smartt.