By Ken Casellas

Morgan Davies is an exciting and talented midfielder, blessed with delightful skills. He is innovative, enterprising, entertaining and attacking.

But the 21-year-old Claremont left-footer has revealed another side of his footballing character in recent weeks, shining as a dogged, determined, dedicated and disciplined tagger.

His performance in dulling the brilliance of South Fremantle’s 2017 Sandover medallist Haiden Schloithe in the match at Albany’s Centennial Stadium on Saturday was of the highest order and was a most heartening feature of Claremont’s disappointing 27-point loss to the Bulldogs.

Davies wore regular match-winner Schloithe like a glove and kept him under tight wraps for the entire contest. Schloithe was restricted to just six kicks and six handpasses. Four of his six kicks were from free-kicks, two of which were from a hard-tackling Davies and the other two from other Claremont players.

Schloithe managed to kick three goals, two from free-kicks, one of which included a 50m penalty. But Davies was the significant victor of the duel. He sacrificed personal glory as he relentlessly pursued his rival, harassing him everywhere he went.  

Davies finished with just two marks, five kicks and ten handpasses, as well as seven tackles. His was a task performed with distinction against an experienced opponent who in his three previous matches this season had averaged 26.3 disposals (16 kicks and 11.6 handpasses).

In Claremont’s first four matches this season Davies, who was recruited by the Tigers from the Royals club in Albany, has taken 16 marks, had 47 kicks, made 29 handpasses and applied 20 tackles. And, for good measure, he has driven the ball inside his side’s 50m attacking arc 15 times.

In his first 17 league matches Davies has laid 76 tackles, an average of 4.47 a match. He was one of several spirited Claremont performers on an afternoon during which the Tigers strongly challenged South Fremantle before fizzling out in the final quarter.

Is there any justice in football was a question raised after the defeat in a fiercely-contested physical affair which saw the Tigers have more kicks (191 to 188), more marks (82 to 68), and more handpasses (132 to 98).

Claremont’s tally of eight goals was a poor reward for 31 entries into the side’s 50m attacking zone. Again, the Tigers had difficulty in scoring goals. So far, in their first four matches this year Claremont have ventured inside the 50m area 170 times for just 39 goals.

The best news to come out of Saturday’s match was that fearless defender Keifer Yu has not sustained any serious ill-effects from a neck injury incurred when he was at the forefront of a strong physical contest seven minutes into the final term.

The Bulldogs then held a 14-point advantage, and after a six-minute delay while Yu received medical assistance and was taken from the field on a stretcher, they maintained their superiority to stretch the margin to 27 points when the siren sounded with 38 minutes and 40 seconds on the clock.

It was a disappointing end for the Tigers who had promised so much when they trailed by just one point at half-time and by two points at three-quarter time.

A highlight of the match was the tremendous effort from 20-year-old Olly Eastland in his ninth league appearance when he conceded 21kg to South’s mountainous ruck giant Brock Higgins, but did not shirk the issue and contested the ruck duels with great vigour throughout the match. He set the scene in the first few minutes of the match when he held a splendid contested mark against Higgins before firing off an accurate pass to Ian Richardson. 

Another former Scotch College student and 20-year-old in Declan Hardisty made an auspicious league debut, filling in for the injured Fraser Gilbert in a back pocket. Hardisty, not related to Claremont’s dynamic midfielder Jared Hardisty, acquitted himself well, mainly opposed to Blaine Johnson and Dylan Main.

Claremont’s defence held up in fine style, with Haydn Busher quelling the effectiveness of Ben Saunders, Anton Hamp keeping Mason Shaw goalless and Jack Beeck, Bailey Rogers and Ryan Murphy also defending stoutly.

Claremont’s run and carry, as well as their fierce tackling, placed Souths under constant pressure in the first three quarters. The Bulldogs simply were given little or no room in which to move or to create avenues to goal.

Richardson enlivened proceedings with three magnificent goals, and Tom Lee weighed in with another three and Ryan Lim with two. Kane Mitchell, Jye Bolton, Jared Hardisty and Lim worked hard on the ball and Jordan Law and Alex Manuel again came under notice in the forward line with their strong attacks on the ball and their crunching tackles.

Details:

South Fremantle 12.13 (85) beat Claremont 8.10 (58)

Scorers---SOUTH FREMANTLE: H. Schloithe 3.0; B. Donaldson 2.2; M. Parker 2.0; B. Johnson, B. Saunders 1.1; D. Cabassi, B. Higgins, D. Main 1.0; M. Shaw 0.3; A. Hams 0.2; S. Bewick, N. Suban 0.1; 2 pts forced. CLAREMONT: T. Lee, I. Richardson 3.0; R. Lim 2.0; K. Mitchell, M. Palfrey 0.2; B. Bennett, H. Busher, O. Eastland, B. Maister, A. Manuel, R. Murphy 0.1.

Best---SOUTH FREMANTLE: B. Donaldson, S. Hockey, B. Higgins, D. Main, N. Suban, S. Edwards. CLAREMONT: M. Davies, K. Mitchell, J. Bolton, H. Busher, O. Eastland, J. Hardisty, A. Hamp.