Turnovers galore, skill errors and wrong options. That, in a nutshell, was the story of Claremont’s highly disappointing performance in the round-13 match at the Showgrounds on Saturday morning when the game was played in ideal conditions under a warming winter sun and pleasant blue skies.

Ill-discipline crept into Claremont’s play, particularly in the final quarter when the Tigers squandered opportunities and East Perth turned a 16-point deficit at three-quarter time into a 15-point victory.

A strong, blustery breeze could not be blamed for Claremont’s poor effort. Both sides had to contend with that. The lack of composure emerged as the major concern from a Claremont viewpoint.

The Tigers managed to lose, despite having more disposals (302 to 278), more marks (78-75), more hit-outs (29-27), more clearances (34-27) and more inside 50s (47-38). East Perth were simply more poised, polished, professional and productive.

The Tigers, welcoming a handful of their WA under-18 players (Alec Waterman, Harry Taylor, Ryan Lim, Matt Palfrey and Harry Court) had the first use of a fresh breeze. But they blazed away at goal and were punished for dozens of terrible turnovers in the opening term.

Claremont’s first seven scoring shots were behinds before the first goal came with 17 minutes and 50 seconds on the clock --- when Scott Trickey gathered a rushed East Perth clearing kick and snapped truly with his trusty left boot. Seventy seconds later a long kick from Waterman bounced between several players for another major.

East Perth replied with the next two goals and a wasteful quarter saw Claremont go into the quarter-time break trailing by a point.

Claremont turnovers abounded in the second term during which they managed just one goal and held the Royals to two which saw the visitors clinging to a five-point half-time lead, 5.4 to 3.11. There were miskicks and erratic handballing galore. Two shots at goal sailed out of bounds on the full.

Isaac Baum was a driving force on the ball; Waterman was hard-working as usual; Aaron Birch and Taylor showed touches of brilliance on the wings and Nick Reid was outstanding in defence. But it was difficult to make excuses for the plethora of turnovers.

Claremont’s solitary second-quarter goal came after 21 minutes when Alex Manuel drove the ball forward and Josh Barty flew in a contested marking duel. The ball spilled to the ground and the lively Lawrence Evans pounced on the crumbs to snap accurately.

East Perth were held scoreless in the third term, but, again, the Tigers failed to make full use of their opportunities. In the opening 20 seconds Trickey burst into the clear, but his shot sailed out of bounds on the full in the right pocket.

Then the East Perth kick into play resulted in a free-kick to Claremont ruckman Will McSweeney in a marking duel. But his shot was touched through for a point.

A minute later Harry McCracken took a mark at centre-half-forward and booted a lovely 50m goal. McCracken was to the forefront again five minutes after that when he delivered the ball to the goalsquare where Manuel made a strong contest for the mark. The ball spilled to the ground and Ashley Johnson snapped another major.

No further goals came in the next eight minutes, during which time Adam Volaric thwarted a promising East Perth attacking thrust with a strong mark deep in defence.

Sixteen minutes into the quarter a clever kick across his body by Taylor went to an unattended Trickey 25m out. Trickey’s goal increased Claremont’s lead to 16 points.

However, the Tigers frittered away several scoring opportunities with a series of turnovers.

The Tigers fell into further error in the final quarter and poor discipline resulted in two 50m penalties to East Perth for two goals after Volaric had taken another wonderful strong mark to foil an East Perth attack.

Claremont’s only goal for the quarter came at the 19-minute mark. Jack Prendiville gained the clearance at a centre bounce and his kick found Evans, who passed to Palfrey, whose long shot at goal was marked strongly in the midst of a pack by Manuel in the right pocket. Manuel then shot truly.

But East Perth assumed control and scored the next two goals to finish with a clear advantage of 15 points.

By Ken Casellas

Details:

East Perth 11.6 (72) beat Claremont 7.15 (57)   

Scorers---EAST PERTH: J. Hick 3.0; L. Smith 2.0; K. Buckley, Z. Dent 1.1; B. Della Franca, J. Gare, S. Hille, T. Keitel 1.0; D. Barbaro, W. Young 0.1; 2pts forced. CLAREMONT: S. Trickey 2.0; H. McCracken, A. Manuel 1.1; L. Evans, A. Johnson, A. Waterman 1.0; J. Barty, I. Baum, H. Court, J. Delaporte, M. Guelfi, S. Humphry,  R. Lim, W. McSweeney, M. Palfrey, H. Taylor 0.1; 3pts forced.

Best---EAST PERTH: S. Hille, K. Buckley, Z. Dent, M. Zambotto, J. Hick, J. Anderson, K. Decke. CLAREMONT: I. Baum, N. Reid, H. McCracken, J. Prendiville, H. Taylor, A. Waterman.