Simpson Medallist Bolton turns focus back to winning at ClaremontTuesday, June 14, 2016 - 11:27 AM - by Chris Pike

JYE Bolton was honoured to win the Simpson Medal after his scintillating display in Saturday's 134-point state game win over Tasmania but his focus is on trying to achieve success at Claremont still this year before he even thinks about what 2017 might hold.

Bolton is in his first season at Claremont in the WAFL after crossing from VFL club Werribee and his form with the Tigers demanded selection in the WA state side to play Tasmania at Steel Blue Oval on Saturday.

The 24-year-old delivered a remarkable performance in WA's record win finishing with 46 possessions, 12 marks, seven clearances and two goals to make him the standout choice to win the Simpson Medal as best on ground.

It continues Bolton's remarkable form and combined with his performance in Claremont's 80-point win over Swan Districts prior to the bye and state game, he has now delivered 83 possessions and six goals in the last eight quarters of football he has played.

Bolton enjoyed the chance to play state football for the first time in his career and while honoured to come away with the Simpson Medal, he just enjoyed everything about the experience and especially to take part in the big victory.

"I loved the opportunity and it was a great honour to represent a league and a state. I'm very grateful for the opportunity," Bolton said.

"Any chance you get to represent any sort of league or state it's a great honour. It will have to be up there as one of my highlights for sure.

"It's good recognition but I just tried to play my role for the team so we could get the best result and get the win. I just played my role in the midfield and as a half-forward at the start. I just tried to do everything the coaches asked me to and it's good to get that bonus."

Bolton enjoyed the chance to play with the best of the best in the middle for WA on Saturday starting with ruckman and captain Paul Johnson who was ably supported by Bolton's Tigers teammate Darcy Cameron.

Bolton was then part of a dominant on-ball brigade including West Perth's Shane Nelson, South Fremantle's Ashton Hams, Subiaco's Leigh Kitchin and Perth's Clint Jones.

He also enjoyed having Cameron, Brett Peake and Ben Saunders up forward to drive the ball down to with the trio combining for 16 of WA's 25 goals.

"He (Johnson) is a really good leader in terms of making sure we get up and do the right things. He was talking out there all day to make sure we did all the right things around the stoppages and obviously he's a great tap ruckman as well and put it down our throats all day, which gave us the best chance," he said.

"I loved playing with some of the other top quality midfielders in the comp and then playing with our targets up forward like Darcy Cameron who I get to play with every week and then we had Peakey and Saunders as well. I think we had a really good team and it was a lot of fun out there."

Bolton had cemented himself as a strong performing midfielder in the VFL but when his club Werribee went into a full alignment with North Melbourne it forced him to think about other options in his career.

He was told that playing in the WAFL would likely suit his game to a tee and if he was any chance of getting another look in at an AFL club then that might be his best opportunity.

Bolton listened and landed at Claremont, and his form certainly has him right in the running to add a Sandover Medal to his Simpson Medal by the end of 2016, and he couldn’t be happier with the move west.

"I just thought that it would be a bit of a change and I'm 24 so I think I've got a fair bit to offer. I have a lot of development left in my game as well and if I went into a full-time environment I feel I could improve a lot of my game even more. I'd love that opportunity," he said.

"I'd love the opportunity to go to the higher level again. I think you should always try to play at the highest level you can as long as you can. If that opportunity came it would just be a bonus for me playing my role for the team."

While Bolton's individual season has been outstanding to date, it hasn’t quite gone to plan with Claremont sitting in seventh position with a 3-7 record.

However, the Tigers were in winning positions in the majority of those losses and that gives Bolton and his teammates the confidence that the season still has plenty of life left in it.

That begins this Saturday against West Perth at the Claremont Showground with Bolton to do battle in the midfield with the likes of Nelson, Aaron Black and Jay van Berlo who he just enjoyed being teammates with.

"It's just business as usual next week again. We'll try to get the win and get the four points, none of us will be doing each other any favours after playing together this week that's for sure," Bolton said.

"Honestly we have to take it one game at a time. We have to make sure we fix the things that we've been a little off at and as long as we can improve in those areas then I think we should see some better results in the back half of the season.

"I played in some prelims and that sort of stuff in the VFL and just missed out so obviously that's my main goal now to try and win a premiership.

"Whether that's achievable at Claremont this year or not, we're not sure but we do think we have a pretty good list that can cause some damage if we make the finals. But we aren’t looking that far ahead at the moment.