‘Process-driven’ Tigers too ferocious for Sharks

John Townsend

Claremont’s 90-point loss to East Fremantle in round 2 was their worst performance since the 2012 premiership season.

Claremont’s 24-point win over East Fremantle in the elimination final on Sunday may not have been their best performance since 2012 but it was the one marked by the hardest edge.

Fired by a degree of ferocity that unsettled the Sharks and kept them to just one goal in each of the first three quarters, and driven by a core of young and emerging players who relished their blue-collar responsibilities, Claremont ended the reigning premier’s season with an emphatic display of commitment, desperation and no small amount of skill.

The 12.7 (79) to 7.13 (55) result was Claremont’s 500th league win at Claremont Oval, even though they were playing as the away team at Revo Fitness Stadium, while the victory provided Ash Prescott with a rare coaching feat.

Displaying a level of animation on the boundary and during the breaks unusual throughout his successful career, Prescott became the first one-club coach in WAFL history to win a final in every one of at least eight seasons.

He also equalled Gerard Neesham’s 171 matches at the club while his 117 wins trail the four-time premiership coach by just six.

Any club board would probably take a guaranteed final win at the start of a new season while the victory ensured Claremont would post its seventh consecutive top four finish.

But Claremont’s challenge starts now – they will travel to Mandurah on Sunday to take on Peel on the rebound in yet another sudden-death encounter.

It is familiar territory for the Tigers, as Callan England explained after his sparkling impact, Ollie Eastland’s ruck dominance and Jye Bolton’s timely contributions helped his team expose the Sharks’ midfield.

England’s game-high 24 disposals, many gathered at pace and delivered with precision, ensured the ball spent much of the match in Claremont’s half and denied East Fremantle the chance to build any great momentum.

“It is an unreal feeling to win a final,” England said. “That’s why you play footy.

“But we have three weeks to go and we aren’t getting ahead of ourselves.

“We are very process driven – we take it week by week and just try to be as connected as possible.

“It is the most intense football in the time I’ve been at the club and it is just a great place to be at the moment.”

East Fremantle were wayward in the first term when they had much of the play but missed half a dozen shots at goal.

But Kieran Gowdie ensured Claremont had momentum going in the second term when he marked strongly just before the break and converted his long shot after the siren.

Bailey Rogers threaded the handball to Ollie Sheldrick to set up Gowdie’s pack mark and it as notable that that pair provided many of the scoring opportunities throughout the game.

Rogers also had 24 possessions and kicked a remarkable second quarter goal that bounced over and around several despairing defensive hands but even that splendid finish was outshone by Sheldrick who speared a clever grubber from next to the behind post midway through the last term to extinguish any prospect of an East Fremantle comeback.

Claremont’s combination of defensive pressure and greater finesse was underlined by them having 26 more disposals and 31 more kicks but also laying 18 more tackles, providing 11 more spoils and repeatedly smothering opposition kicks when players appeared clear of the congestion.

It has been a feature of Claremont’s recent resurgence that unheralded players have come to the fore.

Former Sydney listed player Jack Maibaum has been a solid contributor in his two seasons but his defensive presence went to a new level against East Fremantle’s potent attack while his 15 disposals, most gained in contests, was his biggest return at the club.

Eighteen-year-old Hamish Davis is at the other end of his career but displayed a cool head and deft ball-handling with a brilliant match that included four goals from 21 touches.

Davis converted a neat pass from Jye Bolton in the second term as part of a burst of goals that put substantial scoreboard pressure on the Sharks, got into the right place for a Martin Frederick chip inside 50 in the third and then kicked an excellent goal on the run early in the last to stymie an opposition push.

When Gowdie handballed to the loose man in the goal square after another strong mark inside 50, Davis’s enthusiastic kick celebrated Claremont’s appearance in next week’s first semifinal.

CLAREMONT 1.4 6.4 9.6 12.7 79
EAST FREMANTLE 1.7 2.10 3.12 7.13 55

GOALS – CLAREMONT: Davis 4; Manuel 2; Rogers, Gowdie, Alvarez, Sheldrick, Bolton,
Waterman.
EAST FREMANTLE: Leggett 3; H Marsh 2; Cleaver, Boekhorst.

BEST – CLAREMONT: England, H Davis, Eastland, Rogers, Maibaum, Sheldrick, Elliott.
EAST FREMANTLE: Marlin, Murdock, H Marsh, Murphy, Jansen, Jupp