Ravenhill an Upcoming Star

By Ken Casellas

Powerful key forward Lucas Ravenhill continued his emergence as a star of the future with an impressive performance for the Claremont colts in the grand final against Swan Districts at Optus Stadium on Sunday.

AFL scouts are constantly on the lookout for tall, muscular forwards --- and the 18-year-old
Ravenhill fits the bill perfectly.

He booted three goals on Sunday and also revealed his versatility when he took a few turns in the ruck to give the dominant Aiden Riddle a breather. A product of the North Albany club, Ravenhill played in all of Claremont’s 18 matches this season and finished with a tally of 35 goals.

Also starring in Claremont’s 35-point victory was co-captain and outstanding midfielder Hamish Davis, a smooth mover who never appears flustered or under any great pressure.

Davis was a shining light throughout the grand final, finishing with three marks, 19 kicks, 11 handpasses and sending the ball inside his side’s 50m attacking zone seven times. He was a most worthy winner of the Mel Whinnen Medal as the best player on the ground.

Co-captain Austin van der Struyf and William Hayes excelled on the wings, and they along with Davis, Cody Angove and Jaxon Douglas enjoyed the honour of playing in successive colts premierships for the Tigers.

One of the notable performances in the grand final came from 16-year-old Will Malajczuk, who kicked Claremont’s first and final goals and certainly had a good reason to celebrate his 17TH birthday the day after the big game. Interestingly, Malajczuk had kicked only one goal in his career in colts football, and that was on debut in a round four contest against Subiaco on April 20 this year.

Another player who shone brightly was the unsung 17-year-old Charlie Cotter, whose task was to keep the diminutive and potentially destructive forward Anthony Hansen under wraps. He fulfilled his assignment to perfection, restricting Hansen to two kicks and one handpass.

Cotter took two marks, had five kicks and seven handpasses, as well as applying three tackles. His crunching tackle on Hansen early in the second quarter was a highlight.

Claremont now has won the colts premiership 18 times, and the club shows the way from East Fremantle (11 premierships), South Fremantle (nine) and Swan Districts and Perth (eight).

The Tigers lost only two of their 18 matches this year and great credit is due to first-year coach Ricki Smith, who took over from Ash Clancy, who retired for family reasons a year ago after the 2023 premiership victory.

Smith has had a long association with Claremont, having been heavily involved since 2008 in the club’s talent pathway and being an assistant colts coach in the premiership years of 2013 and 2023.

Swans got away to a flying start on Sunday when Colby McDonald took a mark and kicked a goal in the opening minute of play. Nine minutes later Malajczuk soared skywards to take a superb mark in a big pack of players, and then kicked his side’s first goal.

A couple of minutes later Luke Pynes passed accurately to Lachlan Cattalini, whose pass found a fast-leading Rory Luscombe, but the left-footer’s shot slammed high into the left goal post.

Claremont’s third goal came at the 19-minute mark after Ravenhill marked a short pass from Pynes and kicked truly.

A free-kick and a goal to Tom Cathcart brought Swans to within three points of the Tigers early in the second quarter. Pynes was in the action again six minutes later when his short pass found Ravenhill for his second major.

Max Hansen-Knarhoi was under notice with a couple of powerful tackles, and Douglas brought the crowd to life with a spectacular one-handed mark after chipping in to collect a Swans clearing kick. Douglas played on and Cody Curtin took the mark, but his shot slewed off the side of his boot and sailed out of bounds on the full.

Inaccuracy saw the Tigers leading by just six points at half-time, with 4.8 on the board against the opposition’s 4.2.

Claremont asserted their authority and dominated the third term, adding 3.5 to a solitary goal. Curtin took little time to make amends for his wayward shot by kicking a goal after taking an excellent contested mark 20m out just 20 seconds into the quarter.

The dashing Hayes was sizzling on his wing, and the hard-running midfielder Hugh Boxshall continued to shine on the ball.

A great tackle by Douglas on Blake Kelly as he was charging forward and preparing to take a shot for goal earned Douglas a free-kick, and this resulted in Pynes snapping a goal. An excellent defensive mark by Jett Sibosado led to Tom Cosson snapping Claremont’s seventh major.

Otis Harvey scored a goal for Swans with 53sec. on the clock in the final quarter, but the Tigers replied with goals to Luscombe, Ravenhill and van der Struyf in the space of five minutes.

Luscombe’s goal followed his great contested mark after Hansen-Knarhoi’s searching kick
forward; Davis and Luscombe combined to deliver the ball to Ravenhill for his third goal; and van der Struyf’s major followed Clancy Dennis’s dash out of defence and handpasses from Davis and Pynes.

No goals were scored in the following eight minutes until Luke Cotellessa’s long shot bounced and rolled through for the final major for the Swan Districts side. Malajczuk then snapped the last goal of an entertaining contest.

Claremont and Swans have been great rivals in colts football, with the sides clashing 201 times for 133 wins for the Tigers and 68 for the Swans.

Details:

Claremont 11.16 (82) beat Swan Districts 7.5 (47)

Scorers---CLAREMONT: L. Ravenhill 3.0; W. Malajczuk 2.2; T. Cossom 1.3; C. Curtin, R.
Luscombe, J. Sibosado, A. van der Struyf 1.1; L. Pynes 1.0; H. Davis 0.2; J. Grahame, M. Hansen-Knarhoi, W. Hayes, A. Riddle 0.1; 1pt forced. SWAN DISTRICTS: T. Cathcart 2.0; O. Harvey 1.2; C. Martinson 1.1; L. Cotellessa, C. McDonald, T. Oliver 1.0; L. Kickett, L. Steed 0.1.

Best---CLAREMONT: H. Davis, L. Ravenhill, W. Hayes, H. Boxshall, A. Riddle, C. Cotter, A. van der Struyf, J. Sibosado, C. Angove, L. Pynes. SWAN DISTRICTS: L. Andrews, L. Cotellessa, B. Kelly, O. Harvey, C. McDonald, C. Martinson.