John Townsend

The writing was on the wall from the opening moments.

Seeking to extend to 12 matches their record winning streak over East Fremantle to guarantee a second chance in the finals and at least one home final, a disappointing Claremont responded with their most inept performance of the season.

They gave up five straightforward shots at goal in the opening minutes at Revo Fitness Stadium on Saturday, did not score their first major until Jye Bolton bounced through a remarkable 60m bomb early in the second half and were unable to combat East Fremantle’s control of the match.

And the 45-point defeat to the Sharks left Claremont needing to beat West Coast in the final home-and-away game next Saturday to ensure the top three finish that appeared inevitable after their five consecutive wins since the start of July.

The most galling element of the 11.17 (83) to 5.8 (38) defeat was that victory would have lifted Claremont to top place on the ladder and given the Tigers a rails run for their first minor premiership since the flag-winning 2012 season.

Members of that premiership team were at the game to celebrate the 10th anniversary of that tough win over East Fremantle but their inspirational presence, unfortunately, did not rub off on the current team.

There was no pre-match warning of Claremont’s listless showing that produced a goalless first half and offered little resistance to the Sharks’ intensity and rapid ball movement.

More concerningly, there were parallels to the most recent losses to East Perth and South Fremantle in which Claremont could not match their opponents’ presence and command of the contest.

Claremont entered the game poised to extend the winning streak over East Fremantle that extended back to 2016 and included a nail-biting win in their first appearance back at the redeveloped Claremont Oval.

Instead, they were unable to match the impact of terrier-like on-baller Milan Murdock and the mercurial Jon Marsh who overwhelmed their opponents with their appetite for muscular contests.

If not for East Fremantle’s inaccuracy, which meant the scoreboard did not reflect their four-quarter dominance, Claremont might have suffered their biggest home loss to the Sharks in nearly half a century.

The difference was just 33 points at half-time and, with the Tigers responding to coach Ashley Prescott’s plea for greater commitment, early goals to Bolton and Timm House cut the deficit to 22 and gave their team hope of fighting their way back into the contest.

It was not to be. Even though Ryan Lim and Ronin O’Connor lifted their ratings after quiet first halves, and the class of Sandover medallists Bolton and Bailey Rogers eventually became evident, no player had a comprehensive win in his position. 

The few shining lights on Saturday included the break-out display by 21-year-old defender Anthony Davis, who returned from a suspension for three melee convictions to play a superb hand in the besieged backline.

Davis claimed nine marks, including a series of contested intercept captures under enormous pressure, in the best game of his short career.

And ruckman Ollie Eastland won a solid victory over his great mate and former team-mate Jeremy Goddard during an absorbing battle that would have surely enthralled their late mentor Percy Johnson.

Eastland won 28 hit-outs to Goddard’s 31 but was a much stronger force around the ground with 13 disposals, several clean clearances after grabbing the ball at ruck contests, to his opponent’s four.

Defenders Jared Hardisty, Jack Lewsey and Callan England were also prominent but were under relentless pressure due to the ball spending so much time in East Fremantle’s forward line.

In one of the few bright moments, full-back Steven Miller laid one of the tackles of the season to win a holding-the-ball decision against opponent Reuben McGuire in the final moments of the match. 

CLAREMONT 0.3 0.4 3.7 5.8 38

EAST FREMANTLE 4.4 5.7 9.13 11.17 83

GOALS – CLAREMONT: 1 B Rogers, J Bolton, T House, C England, T Smallwood.

EAST FREMANTLE: 4 J Marsh. 2 L English. 1 R McGuire, C Smith, J Jansen, J Hagan, T Monaghan.

BEST – CLAREMONT: A Davis, O Eastland, J Hardisty, J Lewsey, C England, J Bolton.

EAST FREMANTLE: M Murdock, J Marsh, C Eardley, R Lester-Smith, K Baskerville, J Hagan.