Unbeaten Run Comes To An End

A soaring high-flying pack mark by Ben Higgs late in the second quarter of the match at Claremont Oval on Saturday was a rare highlight on a bleak morning for the Tigers in their round-13 match against Peel Thunder.

The seriously-depleted Claremont side struggled to score and it stumbled to a 23-point defeat against the bottom side in the competition, one which had managed just one win from its previous ten matches.

Claremont went into Saturday’s contest undefeated in 11 matches, but the side was considerably under strength, being without 14 first-choice players who were absent because of commitments with the WA under-18 squad, PSA football and the club’s reserves side.

The 17-year-old Higgs, recruited from the Railways club in Albany in Claremont’s Great Southern zone, was the outstanding player in Saturday’s match, starring in his new-found role at centre-half-back before being switched to centre-half-forward in the final quarter.

His exciting high mark three minutes before half-time thwarted a promising Peel attack and it typified his superb performance which saw him finish the match with 12 marks, 23 kicks and three effective handpasses. He rebounded the ball out of Claremont’s defensive 50m zone eight times, and for good measure he also had a match-high tally on five entries into the attacking 50m area.

Higgs made one appearance with the Claremont colts in 2012 and he did not break into the side until round four this season. He quickly came under notice at centre-half-forward and has kicked 18 goals this season, including five against South Fremantle and a couple of three-goal bags.

However, he has shone in the side’s past two matches, with coach Ben Dyer switching him to centre-half-back in the absence of captain and WA under-18 squad member Tom Barrass.

Higgs proved far too good for Jake Millward and Nathan Fahey in the first three quarters on Saturday before he enlivened the forward lines with a six-kick last-quarter effort.

Others to perform strongly on Saturday included stand-in captain Jack Beeck, ruckman-forward Timm House, midfielder Jacob Crowe and Rowen Powell (switched from defence to centre-half-forward and then into the ruck). Others who made solid contributions included Mason Whitehead (wing and half-back flank), Francis Watson (half-forward and ruck) and Luke Rosher (full-back).

The side included three debutants, 17-year-old wingers Aaron Birch (Beagle Bay7 and Aquinas College) and Navrone Galova (Balgo and La Salle College) and 16-year-old half-back flanker Bailey Rogers (Marist).

All had their moments, particularly Rogers early in the second quarter when he put in a tremendous effort on the right wing when he smothered a kick off the boot of Peel’s Dylan Beswick and followed by tackling that player.

Beeck was making his fifth appearance for the season after recovering from a series of injuries and the left-footer excelled on the ball, showing all his natural courage and zest for the ball.

The Tigers were well beaten even though they got the ball inside their attacking 50m zone 30 times to Peel’s 32. But poor disposal by foot was a most worrying aspect of the side’s performance.

Peel got to an early lead with a goal from Cody Schnaars before Beeck replied with a grand goal from deep in the right pocket. Claremont’s next goal came after Jake Anderson scrambled a pass to Nick Steens, whose kick was marked by Jake Jones.

Strong efforts late in the first quarter by defender Reece Guelfi and House kept the Thunder at bay. Guelfi drew applause for his high-flying mark at left half-back and then House again foiled the visitors with an excellent smother off the boot of Dylan Winton.

Little went right for the Tigers in the second term when they managed only three behinds, one of them forced. Peel added two goals to go into the half-time break with a 17-point advantage.

Claremont started the third quarter full of zest and zing. Beeck won the clearance at the opening bounce. He passed to Harry McCracken and then Charlie Hutton drove the ball forward where a scrimmage developed. Beeck surging downfield, gained possession and snapped a grand goal with only 50 seconds on the digital clock on the scoreboard.

House gained the clearance at the centre bounce and he got the ball on to Beeck. But this move fell down. However, two minutes later Whitehead scored an inspirational goal, charging down the right wing to burst on to a Peel clearing kick and then bursting forward to shoot accurately.

The margin in favour of Peel was just six points. Beeck and Whitehead were leading the way and forwards Jyrin Woods and Pat Wilson were lifting their games to apply tremendous pressure on the Peel defence. Higgs was still under notice and he pulled down another great defensive mark.

Woods was tackled high at a boundary throw-in and received a free-kick. Only a point resulted and the margin was cut to five points. But Peel regained control and a 50m penalty enabled the visitors to score a major off the boot of Jarrod Bowman. And when Bowman got another soon afterwards Peel had regained the ascendancy.

Dyer made some significant changes and Higgs went to centre-half-forward at the start of the last term, with House switching from the ruck to centre-half-back and Powell moving into the ruck to share duties with Watson.

Powell gained the clearance from the opening bounce and Birch had a goal on the board after 44 seconds to reduce the deficit to 11 points.

But Peel scored the next two goals to go out to a 23-point lead. At the 15-minute mark a Peel kick sailed out of bounds on the full and Higgs received the free-kick. He passed accurately to Wilson for Claremont’s sixth and final goal. The final score of Peel’s 10.10 to Claremont’s 6.11 was in stark contrast to the scoreline when the teams met previously in round seven at Rushton Park when the Tigers won, 17.16 to 5.6.

By Ken Casellas

Details:

Peel Thunder 10.10 (70) beat Claremont 6.11 (47).

Scorers---PEEL: J. Bowman 4.0; J. Millward, B. Tingey 2.0; C. Schnaars, R. Shore 1.1; B. McGowan 0.2; N. Fahey, R. Gardiner, T. Goodrick, I. Wedderburn 0.1; 2pts forced. CLAREMONT: J. Beeck 2.0; P. Wilson 1.2; A. Birch, J. Jones, M. Whitehead 1.0; J. Fiegert, N. Galova, B. Higgs, C. Hutton, F. Watson, J. Woods 0.1; 3pts forced.

Best---PEEL: B. Tingey, P. Dawson, K. Ah-Chee, B. Hancock, J. Bowman, H. Davis, I. Wedderburn. CLAREMONT: B. Higgs, J. Beeck, T. House, J. Crowe, R. Powell, M. Whithead, F. Watson, L. Rosher.