On a morning during which Claremont registered a remarkable six posters, pint-sized forward Scott Trickey provided a delightful highlight by booting three goals in the space of six minutes early in the third quarter as the Tigers steamrolled East Perth and charged to a 73-point triumph.

It was a solid dress rehearsal for the finals by a side which was without a handful of key players, including Jared Hardisty, Jack Prendiville, Francis Watson, Lawrence Evans and Harry Court.

Swan Districts colts coach Trent Cooper, flanked by his lieutenants, was a keen observer and he is sure to have spent the past few days planning strategies to combat Claremont’s strengths when the sides clash in the second semi-final at East Fremantle Oval next Sunday morning.

Swans, who had the bye on Saturday, headed the premiership table on 72 points after losing only two of their 20 qualifying-round matches. Claremont (14 wins) finished in second spot and the first semi-final will be between South Fremantle (13 wins) and East Perth (nine wins and a draw).

The Tigers stamped their authority from the outset, but were extremely wasteful, scoring four behinds in the opening three minutes and having 1.7 on the board after 14 minutes, with the Royals yet to score.

Three of the first seven behinds were posters, with a Tom Gajewski soccer kick hitting the base of the right goal post, an Alex Manuel soccer hitting the base of the left post and a deliberate kick from Russell Wynne thumping into the top of the left post.

In between all those behinds came Claremont’s first goal, a snap by Manuel from close range after the centre-half-forward had received a deft handpass from Sam Seton.

Just one minute after his poster, Wynne made amends with a clever snap after pouncing on a hit-out from ruckman Will McSweeney. East Perth’s only score for the quarter came after 21 minutes when Alteyeb Mohammed made the most of a 50m penalty.

Midfielder Bailey Rogers was in dynamic form in the first quarter with five kicks, four effective handpasses, two clearances and five inside 50s. He was involved in a good passage of play with McSweeney and Gajewski which ended with a snapped goal from dominant midfielder Ryan Lim shortly before quarter time.

Wynne was prominent early in the second term. He seized on a poor East Perth kick to snap a goal. Five minutes later a left-foot snap brought up a behind. He met with interference. The behind was not signalled and Eddie Simpson was the beneficiary of the relayed free-kick 15m out. Simpson obliged with the first of his three majors.

A goal to Tyler Keitel gave the Royals some hope at the ten-minute mark. But that was to be the home side’s only goal until ten minutes in the final quarter. After a quiet first quarter Trickey was getting into the action and a surging burst from Lim resulted in a goal to Greg Colbung.

The Tigers registered their fourth poster when a shot from Sam Bevan struck near the top of the right post. Then a Wynne tackle enabled Trickey to pass to Manuel for Claremont’s seventh goal and at half-time the Tigers had stretched their lead to 40 points.

It was all Claremont in the third term during which they added 5.7 and kept the Royals scoreless. Josh Barty started with yet another poster before Trickey stole the show with his three majors in six minutes. The first came after a free-kick on the left flank. Then he capitalised on a 50m penalty from the left wing for his second and then he brought up the hat-trick after Barty and Sam Humphry combined to work the ball forward.

After a couple of behinds Adam Volaric drove the ball forward where the angular Bevan took a grand contested mark opposed to Kester Decke. But his shot slammed into the right post.

A minute later Trickey was in the action again and he passed accurately to Sam Seton, whose pass found Isaac Baum. Then Baum delivered to Simpson for the big man’s second major. Just before three-quarter time a Humphy handpass to Gajewski ended with Barty for Claremont’s 12th goal which increased the margin to 77 points.

 Star midfielder Alec Waterman was suffering from a slight knee strain, and as a precaution, was rested for in the final quarter during which the Tigers scored just one goal before coasting home by 73 points.

The solitary goal came three minutes into the quarter. Manual handpassed to Gajewski, whose kick was marked by Humphry. Then Humphy’s kick fell short and was marked in the square by Simpson for his third. 

The Royals kicked the final two goals of the contest to finish with 4.3 against the substantial Claremont total of 13.22. It was a solid dress rehearsal for the second semi when the all-conquering Swan Districts will prove a far more formidable opponent.

Details:

Claremont 13.22 (100) beat East Perth 4.3 (27)

Scorers---CLAREMONT: S. Trickey 3.1; E. Simpson 3.0; A. Manuel 2.4; R. Wynne 2.1; S. Bevan 1.3; J. Barty 1.1; G. Colbung 1.0; R. Lim 0.4; T. Gajewski, A. Waterman 0.2; W. McSweeney, S. Seton 0.1; 2pts forced. EAST PERTH: T. Keitel 1.1; A. de Placido, C. Hodgson, A. Mohammad 1.0; M. Dobson, S. Hille 0.1.

Best---CLAREMONT: B. Rogers, S. Trickey, S. Humphry, H. McCracken, R. Lim, S. Seton, I. Baum, M. Cairns. EAST PERTH: S. Hille, A. de Placido, T. Keitel, W. Young, J. Gare, M. Marinoni, K. Chrisp, K. Decke.