Costly Tigers fade-out

By Ken Casellas

For the fifth time in seven matches this season Claremont’s all-too-predictable final-quarter fade-out proved extremely costly when the side buckled under South Fremantle’s pressure and stumbled to a disappointing eight-point defeat at the Claremont Showgrounds on Saturday.

A goal to the Tigers early in the final term gave the home side a comfortable 25-point advantage. But the Bulldogs then took control and scored the final five goals of the contest.

In four of Claremont’s five losses this season the side has been in front at three-quarter time, but has failed to go on and secure a win when kicking against the breeze in the final term. The concern is that perhaps the players have been feeling the pressure of maintaining the side’s superiority when the opposition has the final use of the breeze. If that is the case the conclusion is that the problem boils down to a mental attitude.

Kicking with the wind does not guarantee any side victory and, conversely, kicking against the wind does not mean that a side cannot go on and record a win.

The disquieting truth is that in Claremont’s five losses the side has managed only a total of 6.8 in the five final quarters, while the opposition has been able to score a total of 23.18. This is a huge and worrying discrepancy.

Even though the Tigers are languishing in seventh place on the premiership table, with two wins and five defeats, all is not lost. The team has played some splendid football this season and a succession of wins is not far away. Certainly Claremont have the talent, the enthusiasm and the drive to qualify for the finals in September.

It is well worth recalling that in 1938 Claremont lost five of their first nine matches and appeared most unlikely to qualify for the semi-finals. The side then won six in a row and finished the qualifying rounds in second spot with 13 wins from 20 matches before beating East Fremantle in the second semi-final. The grand final resulted in a draw before a week later the Tigers defeated East Fremantle by 22 points to notch the club’s first premiership.

It is difficult to fathom Claremont’s final-quarter fade-outs (1.2 against Perth, 1.2 against Swans, 1.2 against Peel, 2.1 against West Perth and 1.1 against South Fremantle).

A hamstring problem forced dynamic forward Ian Richardson out of the side on Saturday and it was wonderful to witness the response of Jack Bradshaw, who produced a superb performance in attack where he made position perfectly and worked tirelessly for his nine marks, 18 kicks and three handpasses. He finished with five goals and Darcy Cameron continued in excellent form with a couple of majors.

While goalkicking is a glamorous occupation, other players sacrifice their ball-getting ability by accepting negating roles. And once again Hugo Breakey demonstrated his great worth to the side and his absolute dedication in his assignment to tag Bulldogs star midfielder Ashton Hams, who had amassed 178 disposals in six matches this season (an average of 29.6 per game).

Breakey wore Hams like a glove as he denied his opponent any space in which to move. Hams did not manage a single possession in the opening quarter and at half-time he had had two kicks (one of which was a free-kick) and did not have a handpass.

Claremont started the contest with the aid of a fresh breeze, but there were some early worrying signs, with an unacceptable total of five Claremont kicks smothered off the boot in the first quarter, along with some confidence-sapping turnovers.

Tom Ledger, Bradshaw, Jye Bolton, Ryan Neates, Mitch Andrews and Darcy Cameron were causing the Bulldogs plenty of early problems with their spirited play. South’s Blaine Johnson opened the goalscoring after three minutes and Claremont quickly had the chance to reply, with a Ledger left-foot pass to Cameron. But Cameron’s shot was just off line.

Zach Strom posted another major for South Fremantle the hard-working Ledger cleverly intercepted a Bulldogs handpass and snapped truly.

The scores were level after 11 minutes when Jared Hardisty scored a freakish goal from deep in the right pocket, with the ball bouncing and bobbling its way through the tall timbers. Two minutes later a spearing low pass from Matt palfrey was marked by Bradshaw for his first goal which gave the Tigers a six-point advantage.

The home side stretched its lead to 12 points when Andrews handpassed to Ledger, whose long kick was marked by Cameron for his first major. Claremont led, 4.3 to 2.2 at the first change, but the Bulldogs showed that they meant business with a long goal to Mason Shaw two minutes into the second term.

However, Claremont replied with another goal to Bradshaw. This moved started at half-back where Andrews marked a South Fremantle kick and handpassed to Bradshaw, who got the ball on to Ryan Lim.

Lim then distributed the ball to Hardisty, who drove the ball forward where the hard running Bradshaw marked in the left pocket, played on and booted his second to extend the home side’s margin to 12 points.

But the Bulldogs replied with goals to Matt Gundry, Tim Kelly and Johnson before Bradshaw scored his third goal in time-on, a left-foot snap after receiving a handpass from Lim, who had chipped in to seize a South Fremantle handpass.

The Bulldogs held a three-point advantage at half-time and spectators were treated to a full-scale melee as the players began to leave the field. Hams had his jumper badly torn and several players from both sides received a $50 fine for engaging in a melee.

For the third quarter in a row South opened the scoring in the third term with a goal to Shaw. Neates replied with a clever snap a couple of minutes later and then Palfrey sent a long kick into attack where Bradshaw held a strong contested mark and booted his fourth goal.

Claremont were beginning to assert their authority and goals followed from Cameron, Busher (a soccered kick after Keifer Yu had booted the ball forward) and Beau Maister, who marked a kick from Palfrey in the left pocket.

The Tigers started the final term with all guns blazing, but two deliberate shots at goal fell short and Bradshaw blotted his copybook with a behind. This was all in the first two minutes of play --- and then Breakey again drove the ball into attack where Bradshaw swooped and licked a brilliant grubbered goal to put Claremont 25 points in front.    

However, South Fremantle refused to surrender and the side was being marshalled superbly by captain Ryan Cook. The Tigers had 12.5 on the scoreboard with just under three minutes on the clock, but they did not add to that total in the remaining 26 minutes and 44 seconds of the quarter. In that time the Bulldogs had a picnic, adding 5.3 to record an eight-point victory.

Details:

South Fremantle 12.13 (85) beat Claremont 12.5 (77)

Scorers---SOUTH FREMANTLE: B. Johnson 3.2; M. Shaw 3.1; R. Cook 2.0; Z. Strom 1.2; S. Edwards 1.1; M. Gundry, T. Kelly 1.0; H. Schloithe 0.2; J. Dragovich, T. Stewart 0.1; 3pts forced. CLAREMONT: J. Bradshaw 5.1; D. Cameron 2.3; H. Busher, J. Hardisty, T. Ledger, B. Maister, R. Neates 1.0; M. Palfrey 0.1.

Best---SOUTH FREMANTLE: R. Cook, S. Hockey, T. Stewart, B. Johnson, S. Edwards, A. McIntosh, B. Higgins, Z. Strom, M. Shaw. CLAREMONT: J. Bradshaw, R. Neates, H. Breakey, J. Bolton, T. Ledger, H. Busher, D. Cameron, J. Hardisty, B. Rogers.