Tigers Fall at Final Hurdle | Reserves Grand Final

By Ken Casellas

A vastly more experienced East Fremantle side crushed Claremont’s premiership dream with aresounding 29-point victory in the reserves grand final at Optus Stadium on Sunday.

The Tigers, who had won 16 of their 17 matches this season, performed below par and wererestricted to 6.7, their lowest total of the year, after managing just three goals up to three-quarter time and going into the final term with a deficit of seven goals.

Claremont had a fit of the fumbles while East Fremantle produced a splendid exhibition of
cohesive team football, highlighted with precision foot passing, hard running, sure marking and spirited tackling.

Much of this could be attributed to a big discrepancy in experience. East Fremantle fielded a team with ten of their 23 players having played a total of exactly 300 league matches, while the Claremont side contained nine players with league experience for a total of just 73 matches.

Six East Fremantle players had played in 40 or more league games, while Claremont had only one player with more than 14 league appearances --- full-forward Zane Sumich (32).

This superior advantage in experience certainly was not the reason for East Fremantle’s
meritorious victory, 11.6 to 6.7. Claremont’s performance was disappointing. The Tigers were monstered by East Fremantle’s superior skill and application.

Whether some of the players were overwhelmed by the sense of the occasion on the big stage is open to question.

Claremont regained some credibility by outscoring the Sharks 3.2 to 1.1 in the final quarter. But by that the stage the damage had been done and the result was a foregone conclusion.

Before the grand final, followers of form gave the Sharks a good chance of beating Claremont, the hot favourites, by referring to the round 13 match at Leederville Oval when the inaccurate Sharks scored 8.14 and lost by a point to the Tigers who scored 10.3.

A week after that match Claremont lost by three goals to South Fremantle at Revo Fitness
Stadium --- and then steadied with six wins in succession leading into the grand final.

It was left to the wholehearted efforts of tigerish midfielders Kai Dehavilland and Mitch Barron to carry the flag for Claremont. They were left battered, bloodied and bruised, along with Bailey Banfield. This trio combined to record 25 tackles, while Felix Rogers (nine), Sam Gilbey (six) Sean Williams (five) and Menno Inverarity (five) also stood out in the tackle count.

The writing was on the wall very early, with Jack Cocking booting a major in the opening minute of play. Ruckman Max Rohr stood out with his wholehearted efforts in the first quarter, during which the Tigers scored with an accurate snap by Dylan Mulligan from the goalsquare which followed a long kick forward from San van Rooyen.

Claremont’s second goal came midway through the second quarter after Rogers and Barron had combined to send the ball forward for Ben Evans to score. But soon after that the Sharks capitalised on a dropped Claremont mark to score their fifth goal and go into the half-time break with a 19-point advantage.

Coach Darren Harper switched Gilbey from a half-back flank to a wing, and Mulligan and van Rooyen were assisting West Love in the ruck, with Rohr moving into the defence.

Early in the third quarter Joe Matthews thwarted the Sharks by taking a splendid mark deep in defence, but East Fremantle slipped into top gear and outscored the Tigers 5.1 to 1.2 to go into the three-quarter-time break with an unassailable seven-goal lead after it had been an eight-goal advantage until a check-side kick from Sumich gave the Tigers their third goal late in the quarter.

Dehavilland hurled himself into the fray at the start of the last term, and his long shot registered a behind after the ball had struck a goal post. Just after a minute later a Dehavilland pass was marked by Riley Disisto, who kicked truly.

Claremont’s fifth goal came five minutes later when Barron drove the ball forward and Kim
Kantilla held a strong contested mark in the goalsquare before kicking truly.

Sumich contested a boundary throw-in four minutes later and he took possession and swivelled as his screw kick curled in for Claremont’s sixth goal.

Matt Burton replied with East Fremantle’s eleventh major which was the final goal.

Details:
East Fremantle 11.6 (72) beat Claremont 6.7 (43)

Scorers---EAST FREMANTLE: M. Burton 3.0; J. Cocking 2.0; N. Dean, C. Holmes 1.1; J. Meade, E. Paholski, Z. Rankin, D. Wills 1.0; J. McDonald, D. Pauline 0.1; 2pts forced. CLAREMONT: Z. Sumich 2.0; B. Evans 1.1; R. Disisto, K. Kantilla, D. Mulligan 1.0; S. Moody 0.3; K. Dehavilland, S. Gilbey, M. Inverarity 0.1.

Best---EAST FREMANTLE: R. McGuire, J. Meade, J. McDonald, A. Ball, E. Paholski, G. Vladich, M. Murphy, N. Dean, Z. Rankin, M. Burton. CLAREMONT: K. Dehavilland, M. Barron, M. Rohr, J. Peace, S. Williams, B. Banfield, S. Gilbey, F. Rogers