Dramatic slump wrecks the Tigers

By Ken Casellas

Sixteen minutes of madness in the second quarter cost Claremont dearly at Leederville Oval on Saturday when Subiaco wrested control from the Tigers and piled on six goals to nil to turn the contest upside down.

After dominating the opening quarter Claremont extended their lead to 29 points three minutes into the second term when Jye Bolton drove the ball forward and Jack Bradshaw scored the second of his three goals.

A major upset was looming. To this stage the Lions were faltering under great pressure from the Tigers, who inexplicably went missing in the second quarter. The Subiaco midfielders took charge at the stoppages and constantly drove the ball into attack and this purple patch paved the way for the home side’s 26-point victory.

Claremont supporters were stunned as they watched their side surrender a 6.2 to 1.3 scoreline to trail, 6.2 to 7.5, at the 24-minutes mark of the second quarter. At that stage the inside 50m count for the term stood at 18-3 in Subiaco’s favour.

Late goals in the time-on period (to Bradshaw and to Subiaco’s Hamish Shepheard and Kyal Horsley) gave the Lions a 16-point half-time lead after outscoring their oppo0nents 8.3 to 2.1 in a brilliant quarter which ended with an inside 50m count in favour of Subiaco, 20-5.

Claremont paid the penalty for injudicious switch kicking across the face of goal and for taking other unwise options which led to turnovers.

To Claremont’s credit, the side lifted after half-time and went down fighting. The defeat saw the Tigers slip down the premiership table from seventh to eighth with a dismal record of three wins and nine losses.

However, all is not lost. The Tigers still have a chance to finish in fifth position and to play in the finals in September. The side is poised to return to the winning list when it clashes with the lowly Perth Demons at the Showgrounds on Saturday this week.

A week later Claremont will clash with the high-flying South Fremantle side at Fremantle Oval, but the side’s final six matches are eminently winnable --- against East Perth, Peel (twice), Swan Districts, West Perth and East Fremantle.

As predicted in last week’s match report, Peel and East Perth are on a slippery slide and will battle for further wins this season, leaving the door well and truly ajar for the Tigers to scramble into fifth place.

The worst news to come out of last Saturday’s loss to the Lions is the injury to the ever-reliable full-back Brandon Franz, who received a nasty fracture to a thumb in the first quarter and was unable to take his place in the side in the second half. This injury will keep him out of action for several weeks.

However, hopes are high that captain Jake Murphy (calf), vice-captain Ryan Neates (heel), defender Matt Davis (hamstring), ruckman-forward Darcy Cameron (facial injuries) and midfielder Tom Shanahan (elbow) will recover in time to play against Perth this week, or at least against South Fremantle the following week. 

The match against Subiaco saw Ben Higgs and Rowen Powell line up for their first league match with Claremont and Gerrick Weedon play his first league match since he was a member of Claremont’s 2012 premiership side. Their promotion came as just rewards for consistently good performances in the reserves side and they acquitted themselves in good style.

Higgs (20), who started in attack and finished in defence, joined the Tigers from the Railways club in Albany in 2012 and played in 18 matches for the colts side and 47 in the reserves side.

The rangy Powell (20) played soundly on a half-forward flank against Subiaco. He is from Broome in Claremont’s Kimberley zone and played colts and reserves football for the Tigers before being drafted by the West Coast Eagles. He made 13 league appearances for East Perth when he was on West Coast’s list.

The 25-year-old Weedon, a versatile and strongly-built footballer, hails from Broome and he took a break from senior ranks in the city after the 2012 season and enjoyed three years playing in Derby before returning to Claremont this year.

Subiaco, the reigning WAFL premiers and at the top of the premiership table, were thrown off stride by a vibrant Claremont in the first quarter. The Tigers opened the scoring after Bolton started a move at half-back which resulted in a rapid transference of the ball which ended with Harry McCracken, in a forward pocket, booting a major with just under four minutes on the clock.

Subiaco replied with a goal (after a free-kick) to Liam Ryan before Claremont scored the next four goals of the quarter, during which McCracken earned plaudits for a tremendous tackle on Chris Bryan. A behind to the energetic Ryan Lim was followed by an opportunistic goal to captain Ian Richardson after he marked the kick-in.

A long kick from the left wing from defender Jack Beeck saw Weedon take a grand contested mark against Aaron Heal. But only a point resulted. Bailey Rogers and Mitch Andrews then thwarted a couple of Subiaco attacking moves with strong marks deep in defence.

Beeck was again in the action and he passed to Bradshaw at left half-forward. Beau Maister marked Bradshaw’s kick in the left pocket and screwed in a clever goal. Centre-half-forward Maister also was working hard as back-up ruckman to the hard-working Andrews.

McCracken got his second goal after receiving a handpass from Lim. This followed a good passage of play involving Beeck, Ian Richardson and Weedon.

The Tigers extended their lead to 23 points with a goal on the siren to Bradshaw after Keifer Yu had handpassed to Anton Hamp, who delivered to Bradshaw.

Bradshaw’s goal early in the second term saw the lead balloon out to 29 points. But nobody predicted the dramatic change that was to come as the Lions flexed their muscles.

Two minutes after Bradshaw’s goal Subiaco’s Clancy Wheeler held a diving mark. But a strong mark in the goalsquare by Andrews denied the Lions. Subiaco were still under extreme pressure and it came as somewhat of a surprise when Dylan Clarke snapped a major eight minutes into the term. This was the start of an avalanche which saw goals come from Ben Sokol, Ryan (two), Shepheard (two), Craig Hoskins, and Kyal Horsley.

Claremont’s second goal for the term came at the 28-minute mark when Higgs soccered the ball forward, enabling Bradshaw to pounce and snap accurately.

The Tigers regained a good deal of their composure in the third quarter when they outscored the Lions, 3.5 to 3.3, with the goals coming from Maister, Powell and Jack Richardson.

Maister’s goal was a beauty from the boundary line in the right pocket after he had received a pass from McCracken. Powell’s goal came after Bolton took an excellent mark in the midfield and delivered to Maister, who got the ball on to McCracken, whose short pass was marked by Powell.

Jack Richardson’s goal at the 27-minute mark gave the Tigers plenty of hope going into the final term. He marked a Yu pass after some good work from Cameron Palmer and Bolton.

Claremont tried hard, but managed just one goal in the last quarter --- to Maister after a forward thrust involving Francis Watson and Justin Speed.

Subiaco’s advantage was 16 points and they sewed up the contest by scoring the next two goals to triumph by 26 points.

Remarkably, Claremont finished with more marks (89-76), more kicks (208-206) and more handpasses (156-108).

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Details:

Subiaco 15.11 (101) beat Claremont 11.9 (75)   

Scorers

SUBIACO: L. Ryan 4.2; B. Sokol 3.2; D. Clarke, H. Shepheard 2.1; W. Fetherstonhaugh, K. Horsley 1.1; B. Fimmano, C. Hoskins 1.0; S. Moore, C. Phelan 0.1; 1pt forced.

CLAREMONT: J. Bradshaw, B. Maister 3.0; H. McCracken 2.1; R. Powell 1.1; I. Richardson, J. Richardson 1.0; R. Lim 0.2; J. Bolton, A. Hamp, J. Hardisty, G. Weedon 0.1; 1pt forced.

Best

SUBIACO: K. Horsley, L. Ryan, C. Phelan, L. Kitchin, C. Hoskins, J. Latham, B. Sokol, H.. Shepheard, B. Maloney.

CLAREMONT: J. Hardisty, R. Lim, H. Busher, B. Maister, H. McCracken, J. Bolton, T. Ledger, I. Richardson, M. Andrews.