Round 15 WAFL Match Report vs Claremont

It proved to be a remarkable day at Steel Blue Oval on Saturday as Swan Districts celebrated the milestones of Jesse Turner and Tony Notte with a thrilling seven-point win against Claremont.

Both teams entered the match up as the hottest teams in the WAFL to set the stage for the occasion that included Turner playing his 150th game to earn life membership and Notte equalling the club's games record of 305 to join the legendary Bill Walker.

It turned out to be a tremendous contest as well and with just seconds remaining scores were level. However, Aidan Clarke managed to kick the go-ahead behind for Swan Districts and then his goal went through after the siren for the thrilling 12.10 (82) to 10.15 (75) victory.

The win means that Swans have now scored seven straight victories to sit in third position on the WAFL ladder with a 9-4 record.

The two milestone men had a big say in the final result for Swans as well with Jesse Turner marking his 150th game with 26 possessions and two goals while Tony Notte reached 305 games and finished with 21 disposals and eight marks.

Leigh Kohlmann continued to provide a terrific target in attack for Swan Districts with another four goals from seven kicks and seven marks with Aidan Clarke and Tom Edwards also kicking two goals.

The Swans midfield was once again outstanding up against the big guns from Claremont with Nik Rokahr finishing with another 32 possessions and five inside 50s with partner-in-crime Jye Chalcraft finishing with 32 disposals, four marks and four tackles.

Clarke also had 25 touches to go with his two goals with Josh Cipro collecting 21 possessions, jehb O'Donohue 16, Jackson McLachlan 16 and Jarvis Pina 15.

Down back Swans were strong too and alongside Notte, Jake Pasini had 20 possessions and seven marks, Will Collins 20 touches, nine marks and a wonderful running goal, and Brenton Hilton 14 disposals and eight marks.

Claremont got off to a fast start with a goal to Alec Waterman a minute into the game and then the Tigers added another through Talon Delacey to have the first two goals of the contest inside 10 minutes.

Swan Districts responded with a terrific kick from a tight angle by Leigh Kohlmann in front of the McDonald Stand and then shortly after he had another to put the black-and-whites in front.

However, Claremont hit back with the last two goals of the first quarter and that saw the Tigers head into quarter-time with the 13-point advantage.

It was Swans then who made the perfect start to the second quarter with a goal in under a minute to 29-year-old debutant Kristian Caporn.

Callan England answered with a goal to Claremont soon after before the Tigers also managed the next two of the game to open up a 27-point lead and things were starting to get away from the black-and-whites.

Resilience has been a key strength of this Swan Districts team, though, and that was again on show with the two late goals to Aidan Clarke and Jesse Turner of the first half to cut the deficit to 15 points at the main break.

Swans then kept the momentum going with Turner kicking the first goal of the second half in his 150th game and then Tom Edwards brought the black-and-whites back within four points.

Claremont responded again with the next two goals but Swans go the last of the third quarter, and it was a beauty.

Will Colins took the mark in front the main grandstand on the wing before taking off. He then got the handpass back and kept on running, kicked the goal from outside 50 and Swans went into three quarter-time with momentum despite being down by 10 points still.

Kohlmann then brought the margin back to three points early in the fourth term and then put Swans in front with his fourth goal of the afternoon before there was a 14-minute drought without a goal from either side with the tension mounting.

Who else but Edwards kicked a crucial goal to give Swan Districts the six-point lead at the 23-minute mark but then Alec Waterman responded for Claremont and scores were all level.

It was a frantic last two minutes after than but Clarke found himself in a bit of space in front of goal at the 27-minute mark and his snap might have been a behind, but gave Swan Districts the lead.

Then from the resulting kick-in, Swans kept the ball in their half and ultimately Clarke got a kick away just before the siren which dribbled through for a goal after the siren to complete the memorable seven-point victory.

The day's proceedings began with the colts match up and that was a 13.14 (92) to 9.5 (59) victory in favour of Claremont with Swan Districts still remaining in fourth position despite the loss with a 6-5 record.

Scores were all level at three quarter-time but Claremont then kicked six goals to one in the last term for the 33-point win despite Colby McDonald, Anthony Hansen and Tylah Williams kicking two goals apiece for the black-and-whites.

Blake Kelly also picked up 26 possessions for Swan Districts, Luke Cotellessa 26, Otis Harvey 22, Max York 21, Chayse Martinson 19 and Tom Cathcart 17.

The reserves match up then saw Claremont also score the 10.10 (70) to 5.9 (39) victory against Swan Districts to leave Swans with just the two wins for the season after 15 rounds.

Swan Districts managed to kick just the one goal in the first half with Lewis Zolnier-Owens then ending up with two while Max Chipper collected 29 possessions, Brodyn Fitzgerald 21, Jak Watson 20, Tom Panuccio 19, Luke Taylor 17, Ethyn Kane 16 and Matthew Germs 16 to go with 44 hit outs.