A New Role For Williams

John Williams, used almost exclusively as a defender in his first season with Claremont in 2013, looks set for an important new role this year.

New coach Michael Broadbridge has used Williams in attack in the club’s interclub scratch matches against South Fremantle and Swan Districts, and the experiment has been highly successful.

Williams played at full-forward, on a half-forward flank and in a pocket against Swans at Bassendean Oval on Saturday and he excelled in a revamped forward line which will be without prolific goalscorers Chad Jones, Paul Medhurst and Ian Richardson.

Williams was opposed to Kirk Ugle, Graham Jetta and Alex Howard and did well to take eight marks and have ten kicks, three of which were goals. Of particular importance were his defensive skills as he illustrated clearly that forwards are not on the ground with the sole purpose of kicking goals.

The Tigers warmed up for their first-round match against Perth at Lathlain Park this coming Saturday with a solid businesslike performance against Swans, winning by 50 points, 16.11 to 8.9. It was an encouraging effort after suffering an eight-goal defeat at the hands of South Fremantle at Fremantle Oval the previous Saturday.

The Tigers had 12 individual goalscorers against Swans, showing that there is a plan to share the load instead of relying on major individual tallies from the big guns who are absent this year. Tall forward Jackson Starcevich did not score a goal, but he shows good promise. He was particularly impressive the development squad match against South Fremantle.

Key forward Anton Hamp did not score a goal against the Swans, but he moved well and made position cleverly. He delivered the ball inside his side’s 50m attacking zone five times and is set to play a leading role in attack this year.

Claremont were without Andrew Foster and Aaron Holt last Saturday, but both should be fit to take the field against the Demons. However, lively small forward Jack Bradshaw damaged an ankle against Swans and is most unlikely to be fit to play this week.

Brenden Abbott stepped up from the development squad side against Souths with the minimum of fuss and he showed that he has the potential to develop into a powerful defender. He also revealed a touch of class with a splendid left-foot short pass to Darcy Cameron early in the third quarter when Cameron’s pass was marked by Williams for his second major.

 It was also most heartening to see Brandon Franz, after a year away from the club, return to the full-back position. Trinity Handley, Keifer Yu (whose spearing pass found Williams for his third goal), Tom Taylor, Tom Willett, Steven Edwards and Alec Waterman also were solid in defence.

The strongly-built 17-year-old Waterman was more impressive when used on the ball in the second half and he finished the match with five clearances from stoppages and five tackles, a tally exceeded only by Matt Davies (six). Davies, normally a high half-forward throughout last year, enjoyed his time on the ball against South Fremantle. Bernard Sneeuwjagt also gave a sample of his ability in the midfield.

Midfielder Tom Ledger, back after three years at St Kilda, is a wonderful acquisition this year and he looks set for an outstanding season. As usual, captain Jake Murphy and vice-captain Luke Blackwell excelled in the midfield, with Murphy hurting Swans on the scoreboard with three goals in the third term.

Speedy wingers Ryan Neates and Sam Fong completed a powerful midfield unit, which included the indefatigable Matt Orzel, back at Tigerland after a two-year spell with Peel Thunder.

Details:

Claremont 6.1, 7.1, 15.4, 16.11 (107) beat Swan Districts 1.1, 6.4, 7.5, 8.9 (57).

Scorers---CLAREMONT: J. Murphy, J. Williams 3.0; J. Bradshaw 1.3; M. Davies 1.1; L. Blackwell, D. Cameron, T. Handley, R. Neates, J. Richardson, M. Seaby, L. Smith, T. Taylor 1.0; S. Fong, M. Orzel 0.2; A. Hamp, K. Yu 0.1; 1pt forced. SWAN DISTRICTS: R. Carey 2.1; M. Jukes, M. Rogers 1.1; A. Anderson, N. Blakely, J. Burnham, M. Riggio 1.0; B. Duckworth, B. Smith 0.2; B. Boekhorst, A. Elari 0.1.

Best---CLAREMONT: J. Murphy, L. Blackwell, M. Seaby, J. Williams, R. Neates, T. Ledger, T. Taylor.

by Ken Casellas