Round 6 Report: Tigers go down in arm wrestle

Match Report - Claremont V Peel Thunder

By Ken Casellas

A defiant, dogged and determined Claremont side matched a strong Peel Thunder combination, boosted by the inclusion of 14 AFL-listed players, in a classic arm wrestle at Leederville Oval on Saturday before going down by 21 points.

It was a spirited performance which indicated that the Tigers will be a force in the competition and capable of playing a significant role in the finals in September.

Little separated the combatants for the first three and a half quarters before Peel finished the better to kick the final three goals and extend their flimsy three-point lead at the 15-minute mark of the final term to 21 points. Peel led at every change --- by six points at quarter-time, by one point at half-time and by two points at three-quarter-time.

Claremont sit in fifth place on the premiership table and will now travel to Kulin next Saturday to take on West Perth, who ended a losing streak of three by beating Swan Districts by 23 points at Bassendean Oval.

Claremont have a splendid record in WAFL matches played in the country, winning 13 and losing six. One of those six defeats was at the hands of West Perth in a round-13 clash in Newdegate on June 29, 2002. West Perth prevailed, 16.8 to 8.7 in this contest, the only one between the sides at a country venue.

The lead changed hands six times and the scores were level on two occasions in Saturday’s match at the neutral Leederville Oval where the fans experienced the highly unusual tally of six posters. Claremont’s posters came from Ian Richardson, Ryan Neates and Ryan Lim, while Gerald Ugle, Blair Bell and Nick Suban had posters for Peel.

Twenty-year-old Darcy Cameron maintained his splendid early-season form, taking six marks and booting four goals. His strong display at full-forward and in occasional turns in the ruck earned the tall right-footer the Ralph Honner award as Claremont’s best player in the Anzac Day fixture.

And the side also received tremendous service from the two Ryans --- winger Neates and midfielder Lim. Both worked tirelessly up against a powerful Thunder midfield which boasted the talents of experienced Fremantle Dockers Matt de Boer, Tendai Mzungu and Nick Suban and 2013 Sandover medallist Rory O’Brien.

Neates covered a lot of ground to finish with 12 marks, 20 kicks and three effective handpasses. Both he and Lim got the ball inside the side’s 50m attacking zone four times. Lim took three marks, had 13 kicks and made eight effective handpasses

Lim also gained the clearance from stoppages six times, a tally bettered only by the game’s star player de Boer (seven) and equalled by Claremont ruckman Mitch Andrews. Fourteen of Lim’s 22 possessions were contested, a tally bettered only by de Boer (16) and equalled by Tigers captain Jake Murphy.

Defender Bailey Rogers gave an early indication that the Tigers were switched on when he foiled a shot at goal by Peel’s Tanner Smith with a fearless smother off the boot when the match was just two minutes old.

But Peel took an early lead two minutes later when the lively de Boer drove the ball forward where Matthew Uebergang took a mark and booted the first goal of the afternoon. Jye Bolton was also performing strongly on the ball and his short pass to centre-half-forward Haydn Busher resulted in a goal and a perfect reply by Claremont.

It was goal for goal. De Boer booted Peel’s second goal and Claremont hit back with a goal from Cameron in the left pocket. Handpasses by Ian Richardson and Bolton set up Cameron, who passed to Murphy. Cameron ran forward to accept Murphy’s pass before he brought up the first of his four goals.

Keifer Yu came under notice with a great smother off the boot of Peel’s Josh McMahon in the middle of 12 minutes of play which did not produce a single goal. It was during this period that Dylan Ross shone in defence for Claremont with a couple of excellent spoils.

And then it was de Boer again as he passed to Blair Bell, who shot truly from 55m out. A great defensive mark by Claremont’s Oliver Tate ended the quarter with the Thunder leading, 3.4 to 2.4.

Goals to Bradley Walsh and Joshua Deluca in the opening five minutes of the second term stretched Peel’s lead to 18 points. But Claremont steadied with the next three goals, to Ian Richardson (snapping truly after some good work from Tate, Tom Ledger and Lim), Cameron (after marking a Jack Bradshaw pass) and Busher.

Then shots from Bell and Ian Richardson each hit a goalpost to have the spectators enthralled with the scores locked together at 5.7 apiece.

Once again, it was Peel Thunder who were first into stride with the opening goal of the third quarter. Smith took a mark in the first minute and kicked truly before Cameron replied 90 seconds later after marking a long kick deep into attack.

The Tigers took a three-point lead 6min. 40sec. into the quarter after a wonderful passage of play down the left flank which was started in the last line of defence by Anton Hamp and involved Bolton, Ian Richardson, Bradshaw, Busher and Jack Richardson before Cameron put the icing on the cake with his fourth goal (from the pocket).

Claremont’s lead was short-lived, with the busy Connor Blakely booting Peel’s seventh major. Claremont supporters groaned, with the side’s next four scoring shots registering behinds --- posters to Neates and Lim and points to Beau Maister and Jack Richardson.

Jack Richardson’s point came after some great defensive work from Matt Davies, Jack Beeck and Jared Hardisty, with Neates then passing to Ian Richardson, who speared a magnificent pass to his namesake. The quarter ended the same way as the opening term, with Tate pulling down a fine mark deep in defence.

It took nine minutes of unrelenting football before Peel’s McMahon scored the first goal of the final quarter. A minute later a Busher pass found Ian Richardson, whose second goal got the Tigers to within two points of the Thunder.

However, Peel finished slightly the stronger and three goals in the space of just over four minutes sealed the issue. In between two goals from O’Brien, Deluca scored his second goal after Peel had received a free-kick at a centre bounce because a Claremont trainer had erred by running into the centre square.

Peel gained the centre clearance after Deluca’s goal, but a grand high mark by Hamp foiled the Peel attacking move. The Tigers continued to work hard and Bolton and Tate combined to get the ball to Jack Richardson in the right pocket. But Richardson’s shot was off line and registered only a behind, the final score of the spirited contest.

Details:

Peel Thunder 11.17 (83) beat Claremont 8.14 (62)

Scorers---

PEEL: R. O’Brien 2.2; J. Deluca 2.1; B. Bell 1.3; B. Walsh 1.2; C. Blakely, T. Smith 1.1; M. de Boer, J. McMahon, M. Uebergang 1.0; E. Langdon, B. Lawler, N. Suban 0.1; 1pt forced.

CLAREMONT: D. Cameron 4.0; I. Richardson 2.2; H. Busher 2.1; J. Richardson 0.3; R. Lim 0.2; J. Bradshaw, B. Maister, R. Neates 0.1; 3pts forced.

Best---

PEEL: M. de Boer, R. O’Brien, B. Bell, B. Walsh, E. Langdon, T. Smith, C. Blakely, E. Hughes, C. Thorne, T. Mzungu, J. Deluca, B. Bootsma.

CLAREMONT: R. Neates, R. Lim, I. Richardson, D. Cameron, A. Hamp, J. Bolton, O. Tate, D. Ross, J. Murphy, J. Beeck, J. Richardson.