The primary task of a defender is to prevent his opponent from scoring and Luke Rosher fulfilled his obligation in superb style at Claremont Oval on Saturday when he maintained his steady rate of improvement and was a pivotal player in Claremont’s 43-point victory over East Fremantle.

Rosher was opposed throughout the contest by Mitchell Stewart and his spirited and disciplined play enabled him to restrict him to just one mark and two kicks for a tally of 1.1.

Rosher was under notice with some telling spoils and he also took six marks, had eight kicks and made two effective handpasses. He has replaced the angular Rowen Powell at full-back in recent weeks --- and Powell is now making a significant impression at centre-half-forward.

Powell took six marks and had 14 kicks against the Sharks as well as proving effective as a ruckman at bounce-downs in the forward lines. He proved the master of Kyle Colvin, Matthew Minervini and Marshall De Meo. A couple of delicate tap-ons by Powell to a teammate running past underlined his skill.

Another encouraging feature of Claremont’s performance was the splendid debut by 16-year-old schoolboy Eddie Simpson, who was called into action to lead the ruck in the absence of WA under-18 player Darcy Cameron and Timm House, who has spent a couple of weeks working on a station in central Australia.

Simpson performed admirably at bounce-downs and boundary throw-ins and he capped a strong effort with two goals in the final quarter.

Stung by their first defeat of the season, at the hands of bottom side Peel Thunder, at their previous outing, the Claremont players came out full of vim and vigour and had eight goals on the board before the Sharks scored their first major, from a free-kick to James Rayner 19 minutes into the second term.  

Claremont now have 48 points from 12 wins and one loss and lead the premiership table from Subiaco, South Fremantle and East Fremantle, all on 32 points.

The Tigers, led by midfielder Jake Anderson, dominated the opening stages of the contest, and Anderson posted the first major after only 74 seconds of play. Three minutes later an Anderson handpass enabled Jack Carruthers to kick the side’s second goal.

Hard-working midfielder Jacob Crowe, continuing to impress, notched the third goal after receiving a free-kick, and then an excellent pass from Jack Beeck was marked by Powell for the first of his two majors.

The Tigers continued to overwhelm their opponents and Francis Watson booted two goals late in the quarter, the first coming after he had marked a long kick from Jyrin Woods and the second after marking a pass from Jordan Law.

Watson opened the scoring in the second quarter with his third goal after receiving a pass from Powell, but it took the Tigers another seven minutes to post their eighth goal, a shot from long range from Harry McCracken, after Jared Hardisty had shown great dash at half-back and Anderson had taken a spectacular one-handed mark on the left wing.

The scoreboard showed that Claremont were leading, 8.2 to 0.2, at the ten-minute mark of the second term. But Tigers then failed to add to their score for the rest of the quarter, while East Fremantle scored three goals in the final six minutes to trail by 29 points at half-time.

The Sharks had all the momentum going into the third term and three goals in the opening eight minutes saw them draw within 11 points of the home side. Hardisty then was moved from a half-back flank on to the ball and Claremont scored a steadying goal, with Anderson and Kadan King-Davies combining to get the ball to McCracken in the right pocket. McCracken’s kick veered to the left pocket where Pat Wilson took the mark and kicked truly.

The Sharks hit back with a goal (from a free-kick to Mitchell Wake). Ben Higgs, playing solidly at centre-half-back, then held up an East Fremantle attack with a strong mark and Claremont steadied with the final two goals of the term.

Harrison Court got the ball to Wilson for the first of those goals. Wilson took a mark 65m out at left half-forward and then received a 50m penalty. Soon after that Wilson gained possession at right half-forward and got the ball on to Beeck for the side’s 11^th goal.

Claremont had regained the ascendancy and went on to control play in the final quarter, adding four goals to East Fremantle’s one. Joel Fiegert continued in fine form and he produced a sparkling burst before sending a beautifully weighted kick to Powell, who took the mark and booted his second goal 95 seconds into the term.

Two 50m penalties gave East Fremantle’s Jack Cripps a goal four minutes later. It took 13 minutes for the next goal (to Simpson) after a good move down the scoreboard flank involving Anderson, Beeck and Powell.

Two minutes later a Fiegert short pass found Anderson, whose shot was off line. However, Simpson flew skywards in the right pocket to pull down a fine mark before he used a wonderful screw kick to post the side’s 14^th goal.

Fiegert was finishing full of running and he booted Claremont’s final goal after gaining the clearance from a stoppage at half-forward.

By Ken Casellas

Details:

Claremont 15.6 (96) beat East Fremantle 8.5 (53).

Scorers---CLAREMONT: F. Watson 3.0; R. Powell 2.1; E. Simpson, P. Wilson 2.0; J. Anderson, J. Beeck, J. Carruthers, J. Crowe, J. Fiegert, H. McCracken 1.0; K. King-Davies 0.2; H. Court 0.1; 2pts forced. EAST FREMANTLE: S. Browning 2.0; K. Colvin 1.1; J. Cripps, J. Drennan, J. Rayner, M. Wake 1.0; R. Bourne, J. Cunningham 0.1; 2pts forced.

Best---CLAREMONT: L. Rosher, R. Powell, J. Anderson, J. Fiegert, J. Hardisty, J. Crowe, J. Law, M. Bentley, B. Higgs. EAST FREMANTLE: J. Green, J. Rayner, J. Cunningham, J. Cripps, B. Barone, L. O’Donnell.