West Australian (Perth, WA : 1879 - 1954), Monday 18 June 1934, page 8


VICTORIA PARK WINS AGAIN.

ConruMMu Phv br Luinr Team.

In defeating Claremont-Cottealoe by more than nine* goals at- Claremont Oval on, Saturday, Victoria Park played » good deal of excellent football and made a de

termined stand to. gain the leaa alter an indifferent start. The losing team, although soundly beaten, played a game which redounded greatly to its credit. It led until a few minutes before half-time and fought with spirit when Victoria Park, gained, control of .the game /in 'the third quarter. Unfortunately, at a critical stage Clarke, the brilliant half-back, was disabled and only 17 Claremont; men remained, the 19th man having previously been utilised.. Lax umpiring tended to make the play rough and, on isolated occasions, spiteful, and- in the last quarter many breaches were allowed to pass unpenalised. Following were the teams: — . VICTORIA ?;PABK.-rBacks: .Wormald. , Brown, Crooks. Half-backs: Hungerford, P. Fitegerald. Shepherd. Centres: . Ransom, H. Grigs;, H.

Davey. Half -forwards: Warner, Johnston, O'Callaghan. Forwards: Warner, Gook, A. Srigg. Ruck: G. Davey, Dewar, Lucas (rover). Nineteenth man: Hetherington (did not play). CLAREMONT-COTTESIiOE. — Backs: Deans, Bait, DingwalL Half-backs: Hough, White, Clarke. Centres: Edmeades, Oliver, Neileon. Half-forwards: Birch, R. Moloney, O'Reilly. For. wards: & Maloney, Skinner, Lovegrove. Ruck: Browcott, Mitchell, Steward (rover). Nineteenth man: Garside (replaced Mitchell tn last luarter). v UMPIRE.— T. H. Campbell. Both teams were slow to find their feet and only three points were scored in the first ^ten minutes of playi the kicking ef both sides being poor. From a mark Robson scored the first goal. Well served by its backs. Claremont-Cottesloe played with dash and understanding in the midd-'e of the quarter, goals being scored by Steward and O'Reilly. ClaremontCottesloe was the faster and held its own in the air. Victoria Park lacked its customiry precision in the forward line, Gook twice failing on fairly easy shots. It was Claremont-Cottesloe's quarter and the team led with 4.2 to 1.3 at the change. Claremont-Cottesloe was hard pressed soon after the second term opened, but again Victoria Park failed in front _ of goal, the players fumbling or kicking badly. No score was registered for several minutes until H. Grigg, picking up the ball on the half-forward line, kicked a goal. In a hard-fought battle in the ruck Claremont-Cottesloe held a slight advantage, and, with Steward playing brilliantly, the work of its forwards was by far the better. The pace was fast and at times the play became rough. It was not until the closing stages of the quarter that Victoria Park found* its true form. Within four minutes ClaremontCottesloe's lead had been reduced to three points. Gook goaled twice and Johnston kicked the fifth goal. The Victoria Park ruck and centre line carried all before it and only remarkable play by Batt, the full-back, minimised the scoring. The complexion of the game had changed completely and Claremont-Cottesloe faltered. Gook goaled for the third time from a mark, and Victoria Park lead with 6.7 to 5.6 at half time. Although continuously in attack for ten minutes after the start of the third quarter, Victoria Park scored only one 'goal, Gook scoring after a sensational high mark. Claremont-Cottesloe was now badly beaten in the air. Claremont-Cottesloe fought hard but it played in haphazard style. Generally it was beaten for pace and only the back men were able to hold the high-marking Victoria Park players. Penalties were few and hard knocks, kicking in scrimmages and slinging were frequent. Claremont-Cottesloe lost ground because its players failed to back up and shepherd and it rarely managed to take the ball past the centre line. Victoria Park was 50 points in the lead at three-quarter time, the scores Teading:— Victoria Park, 12.15; Claremont-Cottesloe, 5.7. Claremont-Cottesloe's ruck was powerleB against Dewar and G. Davey, out it continued to play with great spirit. Skinner marked close to the posts and goaled and Steward ran through a crowd of players to score the team's seventh goal. At one stage the game developed into a fierce scramble. Clarke was carried from the ground with a leg injury.' Skinner again goaled and Claremont-Cottesloe flung itself into the play. Victoria Park defended desperately and two shots by O'Reilly realised only points. Claremont-Cottesloe died hard, but two forward moves were fruitless. Victoria Park steadied and Dewar and Gook goaled, making victory sure for the team. Gook goaled again, making the final scores: —

VICTORIA PARK . . . 17.22 (1 24 pts.) CLAREMONT-COTT. . 8.13 (61 pU.) Goal-kickers.— Victoria Park: Gook (7), Lucas (4), Dewar (2), A. Grigg, H. Grigg, Robson and Johnston; ClaremontCottesloe: Steward (4), Skinner (3), and O'Reilly. There was no player in. the Victoria Park team -who did more effective work than H.' Davey, the wing man. He beat his opponent badly and made many openings for the forwards. With him, H. Grigg and Ransom formed an excellent centre-line. P. Fitzgerald, Brown, Shepherd and Wormald were outstanding in defence, Fitzgerald being particularly safe: Warner gave valuable service and Lucas and Gook did splendidly in attack. Dewar and G. Davey worked hard in the ruck. ' , S. Clarke was again ClaremontCottesloe's best man and he. was closely, followed by the goal-keeper, F. Batt. Both were brilliant. At half-back Hough played with, great dash and intelligence and White,, after, an uncertain start, rose' to great heights in the closing stages of play. Steward: and- Growcott worked hard, -the former rot always as effectively as ho might: have. ' ? ? i ;