Claremont Football Club

By Ken Casellas

The Claremont Tigers slumped to mediocrity at Claremont Oval on Saturday when they crashed to a shock defeat at the hands of seventh-placed Perth in a match in which the home side lacked its normal composure, over-used the ball and frittered away many opportunities.

In calm conditions on a fine, sunny afternoon Claremont struggled to score eight goals and conceded the final six goals to an enthusiastic Perth side.

The Tigers looked comfortably placed 21 minutes into the third quarter as they led by 29 points. Perth failed to register a score in the second quarter and they had struggled to have a meagre 4.4 on the board to Claremont’s 8.9 at that stage.

By Ken Casellas

The prime objective of a defender is to restrict his opponent to as few possessions as possible. And Claremont half-back flanker Matt Goyder fulfilled his obligation almost to perfection in the match against Perth at Claremont Oval on Saturday.

He lined up against Corey McGuire and his close-checking tactics restricted his rival to a mere two kicks and one handpass.

Goyder and Mackenzie Morgan in a back pocket and Lachlan Davey at centre-half-back and full-back were the standout performers in a defensive unit which held the Demons to a total of 7.10 on a fine, sunny morning after torrential rain had flooded the ground on Friday night.

By Chris Pike

CLAREMONT'S Kane Mitchell made a tremendous debut for Western Australia in Saturday's win over Queensland as he continued his emergence as an elite player in the WAFL.

Mitchell was rewarded for having a superb 2010 season for the Tigers and so far an even better 2011 by being one of five Claremont players picked to play for WA in Saturday's State match at Bendigo Bank Stadium and he didn’t let coach Brian Dawson or the selectors down.

Mitchell provided tremendous run and drive all day in Mandurah and finished the game with 29 possessions and seven marks. He did kick three behinds, though, which is the only area he felt he could have improved on after he overcame some early nerves.

The weekend of 18^th & 19^th of July saw Lake Grace host the Great Southern Carnival yet again in 2011. With eight representative teams from across south regional Western Australia, the carnival provides an excellent opportunity for our 16-19 year old country footballers from across the state show their wares.  

Three teams involved in the carnival held particular interest to the Claremont Football Club this year with representative sides from the Great Southern Football League and Ongerup Football League directly zoned to Claremont. The Clontarf Football Academy from Perth also contained a number of players from our Kimberley zone at the other end of the state.

By Ken Casellas

A dominant midfield division and a potent attack paved the way for Claremont’s tremendous 46-point win over the Northern Bullants in the Foxtel Cup quarter-final at Metricon Stadium on the Gold Coast on Saturday.

And it was also a magnificent defensive unit which played a significant role in the victory which enabled the Tigers to qualify for a semi-final appearance on Saturday, July 16 against the winner of next Saturday’s quarter-final between Port Adelaide and North Adelaide.