Bentley's Quartet From A Wing

Star footballers are often referred to as Rolls Royce performers, but it was a sleek Bentley of the Maximillian variety who gave a turbo-charged display and provided the highlight of Claremont’s runaway 118-point thrashing of bottom side Swan Districts at Claremont Oval on Saturday.

Max Bentley exploded into action to dominate the third quarter in which he booted four of his side’s five goals.

No, the 18-year-old Bentley is not a key forward. He produced his remarkable fireworks playing on the left wing. The former Scotch College student has been a resolute and dependable defender, mainly on a half-back flank, and, at times, in a back pocket for much of the season.

Coach Ben Dyer switched him to a wing for the round 19 match against Subiaco at Leederville Oval on July 27 --- and he has flourished as an aggressive, attacking wingman since then.

There were many outstanding performers on a sunny morning when the Tigers had 13 individual goalscorers in the lop-sided contest against a side experimenting with several 16 and 17-year-olds.

The Tigers cannot afford to get carried away by the ease of the victory and they will need to be fully switched on to meet powerful challenges from Perth and East Fremantle in the final two rounds of qualifying matches.  Claremont will clash with Perth at Lathlain Park on Saturday this week, fully mindful that the Demons have won 11 matches in a row.

Claremont defeated Perth by 46 points in a round 8 fixture on May 4. However, the Demons have shown considerable improvement since then.

Some of the many features of Claremont’s victory on Saturday included a masterly performance on a half-back flank by Jack Beeck, an almost flawless display from Rowen Powell at centre-half-back, Darcy Cameron’s control of the ruck duels and his ability to take 12 marks and kick three goals, and a dynamic 23-kick performance by midfielder Harry Court.

The only downside was an ankle injury sustained half-way through the third quarter by hard-working and fearless rover Jordan Law. 

It was Law who scored the opening goal after marking a pass from Court with the digital scoreboard clock showing that six minutes and 30 seconds had been played.  Beeck was playing with great dash and assurance and he burst through the centre to deliver a delightful short pass with his natural left foot to a leading Eddie Simpson for goal No. 2.

The third goal came at the 16-minute mark after Bailey Rogers drove the ball forward with a long kick. He was flattened while delivering the ball and Nick Steens was awarded a free-kick where the ball landed in the left pocket. This gave Steens the first of his two goals in the space of two minutes. His next major came after he gained possession on the right flank.

Powell and Jordan Crockett then combined to get the ball to Beeck, who kicked truly from a difficult angle deep in the left pocket. The sixth goal came just a few seconds before the quarter-time siren after Jack Carruthers capitalised on some good work from Cameron, Law and Jyrin Woods.

A five-goal second term gave the Tigers a commanding 61-point lead at half-time, 11.8 to 2.1. Big forward Jake Jones got things moving with a pass with his non-preferred left foot to Cameron for the opening goal of the quarter. Soon after that Cameron handpassed to Woods, whose shot at goal was marked by Jones one metre out for the next major.

Then followed a ten-minute goal drought, during which time Powell continued to excel at centre-half-back. Eventually the next goal came after Woods fought hard to start an attacking move involving Harry Wilkinson, Law, Powell and Beeck and ending with a mark to Simpson for his second goal.

It was Ben Higgs to Court for the next goal and Cameron scored his side’s eleventh following a move started at left half-back by Beeck, who passed to Court. Winger Aaron Birch continued the move and he delivered to forward Francis Watson, whose low, short pass found Cameron.

The third quarter belonged to Bentley, playing on the left wing. He dashed forward in the opening minute to steer through a marvellous goal from long range. Then followed four behinds in a seven-minute period during which Joel Fiegert flew to take a spectacular mark and Powell continued in grand form.

It was Bentley who set up the next goal, gaining possession on the left wing and handpassing to Law before charging forward to accept the handpass from Law and then booting his second. Watson got into the act with the next goal, following a Jared Hardisty kick from half-back, a two-bounce burst from Woods and a pass from Higgs.

Bentley got the next goal from long range after a surging run. Mason Whitehead was playing strongly deep in defence and he was the architect of a move which finished with Court, whose shot grazed a gaol post. Powell, Higgs and Watson were enjoying themselves and Bentley booted his fourth goal late in the quarter, from 55m out, following marks and accurate passes from Cameron and Higgs.   

Claremont added two more goals in the first two minutes of the final term. It was a Bentley handpass to Powell which set up the first of these, a long shot by Higgs from the right flank. Then Steens handballed to Court, whose pass was marked by Cameron for the big man’s third major.

Higgs was having a ball and he recorded a “poster” shortly before he drove the ball forward where Woods steered a goal with his left boot. Whitehead ventured downfield and joined the list of goalkickers after a move involving Fiegert, Steens and Higgs.

With two minutes remaining Beeck capped a wonderful performance by earning a free-kick at half-forward and then a 50m penalty which he converted into Claremont’s 21^st goal.

By Ken Casellas

Details:

Claremont 21.19 (145) beat Swan Districts 4.3 (27).

Scorers---CLAREMONT: M. Bentley 4.0; D. Cameron 3.0; J. Beeck, E. Simpson, N. Steens 2.0; B. Higgs 1.6; F. Watson 1.3; J. Woods 1.2; H. Court, J. Law 1.1; J. Fiegert 0.2; R. Powell 0.1; 1pt forced. SWAN DISTRICTS: T. Yorkshire 2.0; J. Daniels, W. Bielawski 1.1; C. Daniels 0.1.

Best---CLAREMONT: J. Beeck, R. Powell, H. Court, D. Cameron, M. Bentley, B. Higgs, A. Birch, N. Steens, J. Fiegert. SWAN DISTRICTS: J. Daniels, L. Ridley, B. Whitsed, W. Bielawski, T. Yorkshire.