Rogers Grateful to Earn Claremont Life Membership

WHATEVER role Bailey Rogers has played at Claremont he has become elite at and now the Sandover Medallist becomes a life member at the Tigers by reaching his 150-game milestone at a club he's grown up at.

Rogers spent his teenage years playing at Claremont before going on to play in the colts including in two premierships and making his league debut in 2015, and ever since has become a key component in the Tigers line-up.

That started as a defender where he became the best attacking weapon out of the back half in the WAFL. He then moved into the midfield and was so good that he won a Sandover Medal in 2021.

Then when he has played forward, he has become perhaps the toughest one-on-one match up across the competition and now he will earn life membership at the Tigers this Saturday at Revo Fitness Stadium when Claremont plays host to East Perth.

Reaching 150-game milestone

Having played with Ian Richardson, Jye Bolton, Anton Hamp, Beau Maister and Ryan Lim who have achieved life membership at Claremont, Rogers knows what a big deal it is.

While he has achieved a lot in his career, it's an accomplishment that will be hard to top.

Rogers is already a Sandover Medallist, a fairest and best winner with Claremont, a four-time State representative and has been named to the WAFL Team of the Year four times, but life membership with Claremont hits differently.

"It's an absolute honour to become a life member at the Claremont footy club and it's something that I'm very grateful for," Rogers said.

"I never really thought too much about it until the last couple of weeks when it was coming up and I'm so grateful to be part of such a great football club.

"I know a few life members who have played and also support staff that are life members, and they are great people and you catch up to them and being a life member means so much to them. So it will be a great membership to be a part of at such a great club with the great people involved."

Sharing milestone occasion

The timing has worked out nicely for Rogers' 150th game on Saturday as well with it turning out to be at home and for long-time teammate Callan England to also be playing his 100th WAFL game, with seven of those at East Perth while he was on West Coast's list.

While it's ultimately the result that matters with the Tigers trying to break back into the top five in the run home, there are plenty of people special to him that Rogers is looking forward to being there on Saturday.

"My grandparents who live down in Bunbury are coming up for the weekend to watch so that will be exciting to have them there because they don't get to come up too often," Rogers said.

"My parents will be there obviously and then I know there's quite a few school mates coming along and sharing it with my teammates that I've played with over a lot of my nine years since my debut will be special.

"I don't think I've played a single game without Jye so that will be special and Lachie Martinis has been there for the nine years too, same with Alex Manuel and it's also Callan England's 100th WAFL game. I look forward to sharing the game with him."

Reflecting on career to this point

While certainly he is living in the moment and just worrying about how important getting a win is on Saturday in the context of Claremont's season, reaching a milestone like 150 games does provide a moment for Rogers to reflect on his journey with Claremont.

He grew up playing with the Tigers including three seasons of colts before his league debut in 2015 and then it's been quite the contrasting journey over 149 games firstly as a defender, then midfielder and now splitting his time between on the ball and in the middle.

"I have had a think about it over the last couple of weeks knowing this game was coming up and it feels like I've been playing forever really I started that long ago when I was still 17 for my first game," Rogers said.

"I played as a lockdown defender to start with and then progressed to a rebounding half-back for a few years, and then Ash Prescott came to the club and settled me in the midfield.

"I had wanted to do that for a couple of years and he just gave me the opportunity, and everything I needed to be able to perform in the midfield at WAFL level. He has been great for my chance from a half-back to a midfielder and to help me develop my game up forward as well so I can be damaging on the scoreboard."

Position enjoy playing the most

Given how good Rogers has been in whatever position he's played, Claremont would love to have three of him – one coming out of the back-line, one on the ball and then one playing deep in attack.

In any of those three positions, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to say he has become the best at it in the WAFL as well but it's the current role he is playing where he spends most of his time on the ball and then rests forward that he enjoys the most.

"I think my best football, or the football I enjoy most, is as a midfielder No. 1 and having an eight or 10-minute stint inside and then being able to go forward and play that deeper forward role where I can be one-on-one deep and try to be as damaging as I can there as well," he said.

What 2024 team is capable of

Claremont has been one of the form teams of the competition as well leading into the bye last weekend having won six of the previous eight matches.

The Tigers have shown by beating top two teams, Peel Thunder and East Perth, in that run that their best football is capable of being as good as anybody in the WAFL in 2024, but the problem is they remain outside the top five.

Two losses in the first three rounds by a combined three points to West Perth and South Fremantle continue to haunt Claremont and even two weeks ago against Swan Districts it was another nail-biting loss.

Turn those results around and Claremont is pushing for top spot and not sitting outside the top five, but Rogers knows all they can do now is worry about winning the games ahead of them and hope they earn another finals opportunity.

"It's very close up the top and obviously our start to the year was very disappointing which is what put us in this position," Rogers said.

"It's no one's fault but our own and now we're in this position where we have to take it week by week. We haven’t spoken about the ladder or upcoming fixtures, we just have to focus on the game coming up and playing our brand.

"We have changed things around a lot since our disappointing start and we definitely believe our best is good enough to match it with the top teams. And if we slide into the finals, we believe our best is the best and that we can do some damage."

That hunger for a premiership

While Rogers has achieved a tremendous amount in his playing career to be among the most decorated current day WAFL players, he would comfortably give it all up to get that elusive premiership.

When Rogers started playing colts, Claremont's league team was in a dominant run winning premierships in 2011 and 2012, and then again earning a minor premiership in 2013 so he had every reason to think success would be something he would enjoy too on the back of his two colts flags.

However, his career just shows how hard premierships are to come by with him part of heartbreaking losing Grand Finals in 2020 to South Fremantle and 2022 to West Perth along with preliminary final defeats in 2019 and 2021, and first semi-final losses in 2018 and 2023.

The positive is that Claremont has been genuine contenders for virtually each of the past six seasons, but that only makes the pain of missing out so much more and that hunger is stronger than ever for Rogers to achieve premiership glory.

"That's why I play every year to win a premiership and that's why I'll keep coming back year after year," Rogers said.

"I would give up everything individual wise just to win a premiership with this club and these bunch players we have at the moment.

"It's a special group and we know how good we can be, but the last few years we just haven’t quite been able to take that last step. We do know it's not far away and it's obviously the major goal."

It's not just Rogers feeling like that. A lot of his current teammates have experienced that finals heartbreak alongside him and so has coach Ash Prescott, so that makes it a bond together they have to try and breakthrough that they don't even need to speak about.

"Going back to 2022 when we lost the Grand Final, we had a pretty young team and we still do now, but most of those guys have hung around and they are really starting to find out what kind of footballers they are," Rogers said.

"They've really matured and they want that success just like the rest of us older guys do who know that the chance doesn’t come around too often, and that time is running out.

"Those guys are feeling that way now and I think that's held us in good stead for this year and it will for years going on with that drive to have that ultimate success."

Life away from football

Not only has Rogers grown as a footballer at Claremont over the past 10 years on his way to his 150-game milestone, but he has grown into a man away from football as well and couldn’t be happier with the way things have panned out.

Whether it's his football with Claremont, his work as an insurance broker at Nexus Advisernet or life with partner Melissa, he is in a great place with life right now.

"I tried all sorts of things for work early on when I was 17, 18 but I fell into an insurance broking role when I was 21 and have been at the same place ever since," Rogers said.

"It also has a strong connection to the Claremont Football Club so that's been great over the years and it's a great place to go and work every day. It's become like a second home pretty much.

"Then a big part of my life is my partner Melissa and she's been there pretty much every step of the way. I was 19 when I met her and she has been amazing, and been there all my career and she hasn’t missed too many of the 150 games at all."