By Ken Casellas

Jye Bolton, the State’s premier midfielder, surprised the Claremont faithful at Revo Fitness Stadium on Saturday when he lined up on a half-back flank in the league scratch match against Swan Districts.

The experiment was an instant success, with Bolton playing brilliantly as he continually surged out of defence and sent the Tigers into attack with a series of well-directed passes. 

The dual Sandover medallist also had the duty of taking the kick-ins from goal after behinds scored by Swan Districts. Bolton’s move into defence had an immediate effect as he marked a clearing kick from Anthony Davis and booted Claremont’s opening goal.

Bolton ventured into the midfield for the first time late in the third quarter when he gained the clearance, with a telling handpass, at a centre bounce-down. He then removed his boots and watched the final quarter from the sidelines.

Another successful tactical ploy employed by the Tigers was to use champion midfielder and the 2021 Sandover medallist Bailey Rogers on a half-forward flank for lengthy periods while he was rested from his midfield activities.

Rogers was a constant danger to Swans, particularly late in the third quarter when he made position cleverly to take a couple of marks and kick the side’s eleventh and twelfth goals.

Rogers finished with six marks, 15 kicks, eight effective handpasses and three tackles. Bolton took eight marks, had 21 kicks (including five kick-ins from goal), made four effective handpasses and laid three tackles.

Ryan Lim produced a splendid four-quarter effort on a wing where he took six marks, had 14 kicks, made eight effective handpasses and laid two tackles. He kicked Claremont’s fourth goal and ten of his other 13 kicks went directly to a teammate.

Fellow winger/midfielder Ben Edwards made a welcome return to action, finishing with 14 kicks, six handpasses and four tackles. Sam Alvarez maintains his excellent form on a wing, while midfielder Ronin O’Connor ran hard and set up many attacking moves, particularly with his creative handpassing.

Max Spyvee, Callan England and Bailey Bennett continued in solid form in the midfield, but it was disappointing when captain Dec Mountford suffered a damaged left calf muscle in the first half. However, Mountford is making good progress and should be fit to lead the Tigers into battle in the match against West Perth at Joondalup on Friday.

Key forward Max Minear came under notice when used in the ruck to provide some much-needed relief for Steve Miller. Minear leapt high to gain some excellent hit-outs, and his second and third efforts on the ground were extremely commendable.

Claremont’s forwards, led by Timm House, shared the load, while the defenders combined well and performed admirably in restricting Swans to seven goals. Claremont held Swans to a solitary point in the third term in which the Tigers added 5.4 before winning by 50 points. 

Details:

Claremont 15.8 (98) beat Swan Districts 7.6 (48).     

Scorers---CLAREMONT: T. House, B. Rogers 2.1; I. Barton 2.0; C. England, M. Minear, R. O’Connor 1.1; C. Anderson, B. Bennett, J. Bolton, L. Guelfi, R. Lim, M. Spyvee 1.0; S. Alvarez, B. Edwards 0.1; 1pt forced. SWAN DISTRICTS: T. McDonald 2.0; E. Bashemule, N. Ireland 1.1; A. Cartright, E. Hewett, J. Odonohue 1.0; J. Pina 0.1; 3pts forced. 

Best---CLAREMONT: R. Lim, B. Rogers, J. Bolton, R. O’Connor, B. Edwards, S. Alvarez, J. Lewsey, M. Spyvee. SWAN DISTRICTS: J. Odonohue, T. McDonald, M. Bain, B. Hilton, J. Pina, L. Riley, E. Hewett.