By Ken Casellas

Statistically Coen Jackman wasn’t Claremont’s best player in the reserves match against South Fremantle at Fremantle Oval on Saturday.

But he wielded an enormous influence on the result, with the Tigers remaining unbeaten after their hard-fought four-point victory over the Bulldogs.

Jackman provided the vital energy in the early stages of the contest as he led by example with his fearless play and his ferocious attack on the ball.

In the opening moments wingman Kai Dehavilland’s great smother off the boot of a South Fremantle player was quite inspirational, and then three minutes into the contest Jackman was rewarded with a free-kick at centre-half-forward for his crunching tackle.

A behind was the result, but it was Jackman who was to the fore a minute later when another great tackle was rewarded with another free-kick which led to a goal to Ollie Sheldrick.

Jackman’s uncompromising attitude and team-first approach was contagious, and eleven of his teammates came under notice with tackles in the opening quarter, with one of the strongest of those delivered by Talon Delacey.

Sheldrick, on the ball, and captain Menno Inverarity, on a half-back flank, were outstanding in the first quarter during which Sheldrick had twelve disposals, six of them contested, while Inverarity, resplendent in his lime green boots, took four marks and had seven kicks and four handpasses in the first term.

Sheldrick finished the match with 17 kicks, 11 effective handpasses and six tackles, while Inverarity took eight marks, had 17 kicks and made nine effective handpasses.

Others who finished the match with good tackle counts were Ronin O’Connor (six), Mitch Barron (six), Delacey, Sean Williams, Kim Kantilla and Lawrence Evans (five) and Max Rohr (four).

South Fremantle led by five points at quarter time before the Tigers took the lead five minutes into the second term when Sam van Rooyen scrambled a goal after an attacking move initiated by Evans in the centre of the ground.

The Bulldogs replied with a long goal from Jaren Carr, and then the lead changed again after a strong tackle from Sheldrick led to Jackman taking a mark in the left pocket and scoring Claremont’s third goal.

Barron, Joe Matthews and Kantilla combined to get the ball to van Rooyen for a goal at the 25-minute mark, and this was followed two minutes later with a goal to Delacey following a forward thrust involving Sheldrick, Barron and Jackman.

Claremont outscored South Fremantle 4.3 to 3.3 in the third quarter to go into three three-quarter time break with a handy 21-point advantage. Goals in this term came from a busy Tyron Smallwoood (two), Delacey and Jackman.

Jackman’s goal at the 13-minute mark in this quarter stretched Claremont’s lead to 33 points, 9.8 to 4.5. However, the Bulldogs fought back strongly in the final 43 minutes to outscore the Tigers 5.7 to 1.2 to lose by four points.

Zane Sumich scored Claremont’s solitary goal in the final quarter after Dylan Mulligan had cleverly soccered the ball forward from the left wing.

It was Jackman to the fore again in the dying moments of the game when he thwarted the Bulldogs by taking a spectacular high mark in a pack at half-back.

Details:

Claremont 10.10 (70) beat South Fremantle 9.12 (66)

Scorers---CLAREMONT: S. van Rooyen 2.2; C. Jackman, T. Smallwood 2.1; T. Delacey 2.0; Z. Sumich 1.2; O. Sheldrick 1.0: M. Rohr 0.1; 3pts forced. SOUTH FREMANTLE: R. O’Hehir 2.1; C. Osborne 1.3; T. Kelly 1.2; J. Carr, C. Copeland, A. Drage, P. McCarthy 1.1; H. Harcourt 1.0; C. McDonald 0.1; 1pt forced. Best---CLAREMONT: C. Jackman, O. Sheldrick, M. Inverarity, R. O’Connor, M. Barron, J. Matthews, M. Rohr, D. Mulligan, T. Delacey. SOUTH FREMANTLE: J. Carr, A. Drage, G. Wessels, R. O’Hehir, E. Donaghy, J. Bellchambers.