Lee notches his century

 By Ken Casellas

Tom Lee left Claremont on a high as a member of Claremont’s 2012 league premiership side --- and he made a wonderful return to the Tigers, after four years with St Kilda, with a brilliant five-goal performance against East Fremantle at East Fremantle Oval last Saturday.

The third of his five majors took his tally of goals in senior football for the Tigers to one hundred --- and he has become the 69^th player in the history of the club to notch a century of goals.

The 26-year-old Lee now has booted 87 goals in 47 WAFL matches for Claremont and he also has scored 15 goals in six Foxtel Cup contests.

Lee, who played at centre-half-forward against the Sharks, also had several stints in the ruck to relieve the hard-working Mitch Andrews, was the club’s leading goalkicker in 2012 with a tally of 60 goals and just 20 behinds.

Ian Richardson, who booted 62 goals to head the Claremont goalkicking list in his debut season in 2008, added another major to his tally last Saturday to move within one goal of a great milestone --- his 350^th in WAFL ranks.

The left-footed Richardson is a true champion of the Claremont Football Club, often understated, but always at the coalface. His contribution in his 167 WAFL matches has been outstanding.

His 349 league goals puts him in fourth position in the club’s all-time goalkicking list --- behind such stars as Warren Ralph (564 goals), George Moloney (555) and Wayne Harvey (389). Jack Stewart (319) and Steve Malaxos (308) are the only other players to have scored 300 or more goals for the Tigers.

Not only did the Claremont players enjoy the round one victory over East Fremantle, but they celebrated several birthdays. Tom Ledger turned 25 last Friday, Beau Maister chalked up his 31^st birthday on Monday, the same day as Ryan Lim turned 21. And Bailey Rogers was 20 on Wednesday.