Tigers Youth on the March

By Ken Casellas

In Claremont’s formative years, as Claremont-Cottesloe in the late 1920s, the club, in its infancy, was well known as the Babies.

And now, the Claremont Tigers, celebrating their centenary, have every right to again be regarded as the Babies of the WAFL league competition.

Renowned Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw famously said last century: “Youth is a wonderful thing; what a pity it is wasted on the young.”

But that is certainly not the case with the current Claremont league combination which flourished at Revo Fitness Stadium last Saturday when the Tigers side included four teenagers, one 20-year-old and three 21-year-olds, all of whom who made a significant contribution to a splendid 17-point victory over the Perth Demons in the qualifying final.

These eight youngsters form an integral part of the side which is a mixture of youth and experience, and there is a firm belief among the members of the squad that all players are equal and are happy to share the load.

This was apparent in the match against Perth when each individual was prepared to work diligently at fulfilling his specific role.

One of the tyros who did his job as a deep forward was 19-year-old Rory Luscombe, who led astutely, marked strongly and scored three goals in his ninth senior appearance.

The other 19-year-old in the side, Joey Hopkyns, was far from overawed in his sixth senior appearance when given the task of keeping Perth’s experienced star forward Aaron Clarke under wraps. He did a fine job in restricting the dangerous Clarke to three goals.

Claremont’s defence worked wonderfully well to keep the Demons down to eight goals despite the visitors penetrating their 50m forward zone 54 times, whereas Claremont scored 12 goals from 40 entries inside the 50m arc.

The side’s backmen included 20-year-old Jasper Peace, who was a tower of strength in the last line of defence, and 21-year-old half-back Josh Howard.

Bailey Banfield, who turned 21 two days before Saturday’s match, ran strongly and effectively, forward and back, on a wing, while Sam van Rooyen (21) continued to work hard as a half-forward.

And completing the youth squad were 17-year-old George Gale and 18-year-old Heath Mellody, with each playing in his third league contest and showing their class, with Gale on a wing and Mellody as an inside midfielder.

On Saturday, it was a pair of 24-year-olds in Ben Elliott and Talon Delacey who stood out as they set the standard for total commitment with their full-blooded and robust play, while the seasoned standard-bearers Dec Mountford, Alec Waterman, Ollie Eastland, Bailey Rogers and

Callan England maintained their outstanding form in Saturday’s side which carried no passengers.

On a sunny afternoon the Demons were first into stride with Clarke accepting a handpass from Blake Schlensog and popping through a goal after three minutes of action.

Three minutes later Elliott and Delacey combined to send the ball forward where Tyson Headland snapped a goal with his left boot, and in mid-quarter the Tigers slammed home three goals in the space of four minutes.

Waterman was rewarded with a free-kick after a spirited chase and powerful tackle on Perth’s Archer Gardiner, and his goal was followed by majors from Jack Musika and Luscombe (after receiving a handpass from the inspirational Waterman).

Claremont’s three second quarter goals came from Mountford (after receiving a handpass from Kieran Gowdie), Luscombe leaping high to mark a left-foot pass from Musika (following good work from Mellody and van Rooyen) and Rogers, who marked a pass from defender Anthony Davis, who had charged downfield and took three bounces before delivering the ball.

Claremont outscored Perth, four goals to two in the third term, to go into the three-quarter-time break with a 21-point advantage. These goals came from Mellody after a Gowdie handpass; Waterman snapping from the goalsquare after a van Rooyen handpass; Lucombe after taking a chest mark from a Delacey pass; and Elliott snapping truly after a Headland handpass.

Four minutes into the final quarter the Tigers extended their lead to 27 points when Elliott and wingman Ollie Sheldrick combined to get the ball forward where Delacey fought tigerishly to keep the ball in front of him in the left pocket and soccered an amazing goal — which was to be Claremont’s only score in the final term in which Perth also managed just one major.

The Tigers defended stoutly in the final stanza during which Peace took two grand intercept marks, and Hopkyns took an outstanding one-handed contested mark in the closing stages.

Claremont will travel to Mandurah next Saturday to oppose the minor premiers Peel Thunder at Rushton Park.

Details:

Claremont 12.5 (77) beat Perth 8.12 (60)

Scorers—CLAREMONT: R. Luscombe; A. Waterman 2.0; T. Delacey, T. Headland, B. Rogers 1.1; B. Elliott, H. Mellody, D. Mountford, J. Musika 1.0; G. Gale, K. Gowdie 0.1. PERTH: A. Clarke 3.1; B. Schlensog 2.0; L. Paton, R. Wills 1.1; J. Watson 1.0; J. Kluske 0.2; J. Bodle, A. Davis, Z. Harding, W. Tilbee 0.1; 3pts forced.

Berst—CLAREMONT: B. Elliott, T. Delacey, H. Mellody, J. Peace, O. Eastland, A. Waterman, R. Luscombe, B. Rogers, D. Mountford, A. Pearce, C. England. PERTH: C. Byrne, C. Dean, C. Constable, O. Hine-Baston, A. Davis, E. Scoble, B. Philip, L. Paton, Z. Harding, P. Baxter.