West Australian (Perth, WA : 1879 - 1954), Tuesday 8 June 1937, page 16


STRENUOUS TO THE END. Thrilling Game at Bassendean. After anxious minutes of strenuous bumping, brilliant marking and game individual efforts. Interspersed with flashes of system which by contrast seemed unnaturally deliberate and cool. the Swan Districts team forced its way to a valuable seven-point victory over Claremont at the Bassendean Oval yesterday. It was a remarkable match. Claremont, playing in its usual o'en, fast style but missing opportunities, outclassed its opponent early and then had to withstand the forceful, non-stop methods of Swan Districts. Reeves had to leave the field injured. This left Swan Districts dominant in the ruck and confident because of the necessity for Claremont to reshuffle its men. At half-time Claremont was three points ahead and a brief period of beautiful marking and kicking before the end of the third quarter left it only two points behind the fiery Swan Districts side. In the last term Claremont tried bravely to match finesse with vlgour and before long the crowd was in an uproar of excitement. Swan Districts could not pass Claremont's half-back line and Claremont found the opposing full backs too strong. Each goal was wellearned and kicked from an awkward angle, Claremont missing two or three comparatively easy shots. Half-way through the quarter the scores were level, players were going down right and left and neither side could gain the upper hand. A goal to Swan Districts was answered by one to Claremont and four minutes from the end the scores were still eaual. Then Claremont failed to keep the ball from the accurate Holdsworth and Swan Districts took the lead. Bravely Claremont battled on without success and sore, tired players welcomed the sound of the siren, though there was still plenty of- spirit left in the Claremont men. Following were the teams:CLAREMONT.--Backs: Edmeades, Batt. Maitland. Half-backs: Headon, Clarke, Grieve. Centres: Reid, G. Moloney, Hosken. Half-forwaras: Bee, Compton, Boy. Forwards: Morris, Hopkins, O'Reilly. Ruck: Reeves, S. Moloncy, Hooper (rover). Nineteenth man: Cook (replaced Reeves. cut orer eye, at start of frat term). SWAN DISTRICTS.-Backs: Zilko. Avery, Murray, Half-backs: Penberthy, Sinclair, Buirchall. Centres: Erepp. Darmody, Mosey. Half-fnrwards: Moiler. Ditchburn, F. Halt. Forwards: Randall, Holdsworth, Rose. Ruck: Bravo, MeInnernry, Forden (rover). Nineteenth man: C. Bastow (replaced Hall, head injury, at threequarter time).UMPIRE.-V. UMPIRE.-V. Sparrow. Chances of scoring were missed by each side before Hopkins goaled from an acute

angle. Mosey was playing well for Swan Districts but Clarke was marking unfailingly in Claremont's defence. Open forward play made Claremont the better side and a succession of behinds did not then worry the supporters greatly. Then Darmody struck form in the centre and Swan Districts attacked, only to see S. Moloney and others clear strongly. Clever hand-ball and clean marking enabled Claremont to forge ahead until Reeves's disablement weakened its ruck. Holdsworth kicked his second goal and Clarke marked three successive Swan Districts kicks to prevent further scoring before quarter time, when Claremont led with 4.9 to 2.2. Until Reid was moved to centre-halfforward and Bee and then Compton went into the ruck Claremont used Boys as a follower. A tendency to cling to the ball caused the play to become cramped and Swan Districts, with Krepp and Darmody working prettily together, attacked hotly. Edmeades and Headon defended ably but Swan Districts scored two goals. Swan Districts' pace rivalled Claremont's high marking and goal for goal was scored until half-time, when the scores were 7.10 to 7.7 in Claremont's favour. Within 15 seconds Claremont had another goal on the board and the Swan Districts men had to defend desperately before the pressure was relieved. With Penberthy prominent and Murray guarding Reid closely. Swan Districts kicked three goals. Claremont seemed to be unsettled but it rallied, chiefly through Maitland's efforts. Short passing near the goal was disastrous and Swan Districts goaled again before Reid's perfect marking and kcking brought about a recovery. At three-quarter time Swan Districts led with 11.10 to 10.14. Claremont's followers at the start of the last quarter were O!'eilly and S. Moloney. A free-kick to Holdsworth gave Swan Districts a goal Clarke played brilliantly for Claremont. whose kicking was poor. Reid kicked three behinds before he levelled the scores with a good goal. There was a great strain now

E. Holdsworth, the Swan Districts goalsneak, who kicked eight goals against Claremont yesterday, flies in an unsuccessful attempt to mark the ball in the goalmouth. F. Batt, the Claremont goalkeeper, is the other player.

on the back lines and they worked well. Bursting through from beyond the centre line. Darmody gave Forden a chance to goal and he acepted it. Play was held up by the umpire because of its fierceness and Claremont fought back to score an equalising goal. By sheer force the ball was taken to Holdsworth. who goaled and Zilko and Avery broke up subsequent Claremont attacks. A point to Sinclair settled the issue and the final scores were:SWAN DISTRICTS . 14.12 (96 pts.) CLaREMONT .. .. 12.1 (89 pts.) Scorers.--wan Districts: Holdsworth, 8.3; Porden, 2.2; Moiler and Ras, 11 each; Randall and Hall. 1.0 each; Darmody, 0.2; Bravo and Sinclair. 0.1 each. Claremont: Reid. 5.3; Hooper, 32; Hop-' idns. 3.1; Bee, 1.4; O'Reilly. Morris and Hosken. 0.2 each. For Swan Districts many players gave consistently good service and Darmody. the centre man, was outstanding. He led and marked well, showed great pace and determination, and disposed of the ball well. Next to him must be ranked Krepp and Bravo; Krepp was fast and heady and combined effectively with Darmody while Darmody's marking and rack work were invaluable. Mosey was successful on his wing and Murray and Penberthy were prominent in the ruck and defence. Holdsworth's kicking for goal after the early stages was of a high standard. Zilko. Forden, Ross, Randall and Avery were the best of a fair remainder. Claremont's best player was Clarke, whose marking was brilliant, especially in the last quarter. His disposal early was not of the best but he played courageously. Little behind him in merit was Headon. another half-back who beat his man pointless but had two penalties awarded against him in the last few minutes. Maitland performed well in the ruck, considering that he had to do the bulk of the work. When he went to the half-forward line Reid distinguished himself by his long kicking and fine marking. Edmeades gave a good display in a back pocket and Grieve was seldom beaten. G. Moloney, who started and finished well. did a number of clever things. Hosken, Hooper, Boys and S. Moloney were the best of the others. Batt was a hard worker.