Harris confident Tigers can continue growthThursday, March 28, 2019 - 12:07 PM - by Chris Pike

CLAREMONT took significant steps forward in 2018 and are expected to be right around the mark by many in the 2019 WAFL season with coach Darren Harris feeling comfortable with how their preparation and player retention has gone.

Claremont finished the home and away season in fourth position last year to earn a home elimination final, which they went on to win against East Perth at Claremont Oval before having their season ended a week later in the first semi-final against West Perth.

But to reach the second week of the finals showed significant growth for the Tigers under Harris and now the highly-regarded, successful and experienced coach is looking for some further steps forward in 2019.

Despite the loss through retirement of Beau Maister and Keifer Yu, stability of the playing group has been the order of the day in the off-season with Claremont as well which Harris feels could be the biggest factor in whatever success they achieve in 2019.

With experienced players like Jye Bolton, Kane Mitchell, Tom Curren, Haydn Busher, Ian Richardson, Anton Hamp and Tom Lee remaining along with an emerging group led by Jared Hardisty, Ryan Lim, Bailey Rogers, Jack Beeck, Lachlan Martinis, Oliver Eastland, Declan Hardisty and Kaiden Gilbert, it's an impressive squad.

Harris is happy that the majority of the 2018 playing squad is back again in 2019 as they look to go from a team just happy to take part in finals action, to being a genuine contender to go all the way. 

"We feel like we are starting to mature as you get a year further into things. The year before we had a few retire or move on, but this year we haven’t lost many at all. We hope that we continue to mature and understand the way we play," Harris told 91.3 SportFM.

"We are feeling pretty good about ourselves but there are a few things that still need to come together in regards to the fitness of our list. We are pretty close though.

"You always want your absolute best list available but that's the challenge for all of us after a long pre-season to try and make sure everyone is fit and firing by the end of it. 

"But we have a little bit of confidence with the way we're playing at the moment and we are hopeful we've set ourselves up well."

It's a new-look leadership group for Claremont in 2019 with 210-game forward Ian Richardson retaining a share of the captaincy, but sharing it this time around with 101-game Sandover Medallist Kane Mitchell.

Harris is happy with the pair being co-captains but really had little to do with the decision himself, he was happy to leave it to the playing who they wanted to be led by.

"I just back the players in with who they decide they want to lead them. This time around their vote went with those two blokes," he said.

"We had 10 to 12 players that sat in a room that got the majority of votes, and they had a roundtable discussion about it and Ian Richardson was really keen for Kane Mitchell to help him out and they were the top two in the voting. What it does do, is it gives you a little bit of a succession plan too. 

"Ian Richardson's potentially in his last year of footy and Kane Mitchell probably has three or four to go so who knows, it might become a bit of a succession where the next one that helps Kane could potentially become the next captain. But we just back in the players to decide who they want to lead them."

Claremont is now gearing up for Round 1 of the 2019 season that will see them take on East Fremantle at Claremont Oval on Saturday April 6.

While the majority of the Tigers should be available for Harris to select, emerging forward Alex Manuel won't be right to go and he'll have to wait and see on the likes of Jack Beeck, Haydn Busher and Jared Hardisty.

"We'll still have a couple fighting to get back ready to go for Round 1. Alex Manuel had a knee op so he will be four to six weeks away," he said.

"Jack Beeck has had a shoulder reconstruction but he's getting closer and closer, he should be getting close to selection. Haydn Busher's had a hamstring problem but we hope he can be available.

"Jared Hardisty, we're still not sure if it's a tendon injury in his hamstring or not. If it is, that could be six to eight weeks which would be a bit of a blow for us. But other than that, most of our list are up and going."

Whether Claremont is at full strength or not, Harris is happy with the depth at Claremont to cover for any injuries and early in the season he'll be looking for some new faces to put their hands up to back up what they've done over summer in the season proper.

"What always happens is you look at it and wish you had your best 22 out there, but as players continue to improve and have had good pre-seasons, it's almost like the next challenge is coming anyway and they get their opportunity," Harris said. 

"You hope that a few of those lads really step up and offer us something to think about when we do have everyone available to make selection difficult."