Tigers Pounce On Royals

Claremont has continued its fine run of form from the second half of 2014 after defeating East Perth by 30 points in a pre-season match at Medibank Stadium.

After holding the Royals scoreless in the opening term, the Tigers never looked back as they prevailed 11.9 (75) to 7.3 (45) despite having several experienced players on the sidelines.

Jake Murphy, Mark Seaby, Tom Taylor, Beau Maister, Tom Swift, Kepler Bradley, Jack Bradshaw, Jordan McAllister and Tom Willett did not feature for the Tigers, while Anton Hamp was impressive for the Reserves after an injury-interrupted pre-season.

Former Perth player Haydn Busher showed some pleasing signs in his first game for the club, while fellow recruits Oliver Tate and Toby Plant also impressed on debut.

On a glorious yet stifling day for football, the Tigers were quick out of the blocks as Aaron Holt kicked truly following a centring pass by Keegan Knott to give Claremont an early six-point lead.

Some fine work from Tom Ledger proved to be the catalyst for the Tigers’ bright start as the midfielder found himself winning plenty of the football, while John Williams and Matt Davies were creating opportunities for their teammates.

When Ian Richardson gathered the ball 40m out from goal at the six-minute mark, the popular Tiger, playing his first game since 2013, kicked truly to extend Claremont’s lead to 13 points as the Tigers dominated the early stages of the contest.

Busher would then be the beneficiary of two 50m penalties in the space of three minutes, with the forward registering a behind and his first goal for the club as the Tigers extended their lead to 20 points at the halfway mark of the opening term.

A late goal to Shane McAdam capped off a fine term for the Tigers as the side repeatedly forced the Royals into turnovers on the way to a 26-point lead at quarter time.

Coach Michael Broadbridge was delighted in his team’s efforts, with the forward pressure, team discipline and positioning in the back half highlighting the Tigers’ performance early on.

A second goal to Richardson at the nine-minute mark of the second term pushed the Tigers’ lead out to 33 points, with the forward benefiting from some more excellent team play in forcing a turnover.

Two minutes later and the Royals finally had their first score for the game after Lewis Wilson kicked truly, yet the Tigers still led by 25 points.

When Murray Newman kicked the Royals’ second goal three minutes later, the lead was reduced to 22 points as the hosts began to work their way back into the contest.

A goal to the hard-working Knott at the 24-minute mark resulted from a quick transition of play and saw the Tigers take a 29-point lead into half-time.

The Tigers had entered their attacking 50m zone 26 times in the first half, as a high press and quick ball movement on the counter continued to trouble the Royals.

Claremont began the third term as they did the previous two, with Knott kicking his second goal to extend the lead to a game-high 35 points, however, East Perth would then enjoy their first sustained period of dominance for the match.

Despite being well held in the previous two quarters, Garry Moss kicked the next three goals of the game to give the Royals some confidence heading into the final term.

Broadbridge was not impressed with the Tigers’ scrappy third term which saw the team turn for home with a 15-point lead, and implored his troops to return to the play which had served them so well in the first half.

The message worked wonders as goals to Sam Petrevski-Seton, Knott (third) and a booming effort by Corey Yeo saw the Tigers’ lead extended to 36 points at the 16-minute mark of the final term.

Agid Gardoud and Daniel Perkins salvaged some pride for the Royals in the closing stages, however, the Tigers would have the final say of the contest as a second goal to Holt saw the visitors home in an encouraging display.

On an afternoon full of positives for the Claremont coaching staff, the blooding of players such as Petrevski-Seton, Ryan Lim, Francis Watson, Sam Bevan and McAdam gave the Tigers’ faithful an exciting look towards the future, while the team evenness across the board confirmed that competition for spots will be intense for the season ahead.

Broadbridge pointed out the positives and negatives following the win.

“You wouldn’t expect to come out of a first practice match without a few areas for improvement and there were a few aspects of the game in which we need to tighten up on, but overall it was very positive.” Broadbridge said.

 “I thought the second and third quarters we lapsed a little bit, got a bit sloppy and gave them opportunities to score, which they did.”

Broadbridge was also quick to lavish praise on the first-half performance.

“It was a really good start to the game. I think they kicked their first goal at the ten-minute mark of the second quarter which was great,” Broadbridge said.

“We had a lot of field position and dominated the game during that period of time.

“The last quarter was really positive as well. There’s a lot there to work on and I think the kids who came into the side all showed glimpses of their potential and they were exciting along with some of our new players who we’ve brought to the club.”

Mitch Andrews was handed the task of competing against East Perth’s Paul Johnson in the ruck, and Broadbridge was delighted with his performance.

“Mitch was great. I thought some of his tap work was really good.” Broadbridge said.

“I think we’ve got some work to do to capitalise on those taps – we didn’t get too many clearances, but I thought Mitch competed really well, he positioned himself around the ground and he got some useful possessions where you want the ruckman to get the ball.

“Mitch has had a great pre-season and hopefully he’s going to make it hard for anybody else to push him out of that spot.”

With a host of senior players missing the impressive win, Broadbridge was forecasting a number of changes for next week’s match against Peel Thunder at Bendigo Bank Stadium.

“Hopefully we’ll get a few extra numbers back.” Broadbridge said.

“We were a little bit light this week with a number of guys who were just not quite right to play and so I’m expecting at least half a dozen players to come back into contention for both the Reserves and the seniors which is what we want moving into round one.”

Earlier in the day East Perth defeated Claremont by eight points in the Colts, while new coach Brad Trpchev saw his first game in charge of the Reserves result in a five-point win to the Tigers.

CLAREMONT 4.2 6.6 7.6 11.9 (75)

EAST PERTH 0.0 2.1 5.3 7.3 (45)

GOALS

CLAREMONT: 3 K. KNOTT, 2 I. RICHARDSON, A. HOLT, 1 H. BUSHER, S. MCADAM, S. PETREVSKI-SETON, C. YEO

EAST PERTH: 3 G. MOSS, 1 L. WILSON, A. GARDOUD, D. PERKINS, M. NEWMAN

BEST

CLAREMONT: M. DAVIES, T. LEDGER, C.YEO, K. KNOTT, H. BUSHER, J. WILLIAMS, M. ANDREWS, S.MCADAM