Forward-defender-forward Hamp earns Tigers life membershipSaturday, August 15, 2020 - 10:16 AM - by Chris Pike

THE desire for that elusive premiership is what ultimately is driving on versatile Claremont star Anton Hamp as he earns life membership with the Tigers this Saturday, but it's being that mentor for the younger players like he had he takes just as seriously.

Hamp first started playing his football at Claremont when he first played in the 16s Development Team and going back 13 years ago, that is when then club legends like Jaxon Crabb and Anthony Jones showing the way at league level.

Then a few years later when Hamp was trying to find his feet as a forward while rookie-listed by the West Coast Eagles, it was a superstar Claremont forward-line led by Chad Jones, Beau Maister (Wilkes), Tom Lee, Ian Richardson, Paul Medhurst and David Crawford he was trying to break into.

He ultimately missed the premiership triumphs of 2011 and 2012, but by 2013 became a permanent part of the Claremont line-up and has remained there ever since although it's been quite the rollercoaster ride as to what end of the ground he plays at.

Hamp's first 56 games were virtually as a forward for 65 goals before early in 2015 he was thrown down back and cemented himself as one of the best key defenders in the competitions, named to the WAFL Team of the Year in both 2018 and 2019 highlighting that.

But now with no Tom Lee at the Tigers in 2020, it has been Hamp that coach Darren Harris has entrusted to be their main forward target again and it's worked well with him kicking nine goals in four games of which Claremont has won three.

Looking back to early in his career and Hamp is thankful to the veterans who helped him develop, and now as he approaches his 150th game this Saturday, he takes his responsibility seriously to do the same with all the young players at Claremont.

"One of the best things about being at this point in my career is being able to influence some of those younger in a similar way to I would have got helped by the senior guys back when I was a kid," Hamp said. 

"It's a pretty young group we've got and obviously WAFL lists are set up in a way where half your squad is almost under 21 so there's always an opportunity to help younger people out and do a bit of mentorship. That's been a great part about becoming a senior player.

"Guys like Chaddy Jones, Beau Wilkes and Tom Lee were great for me early in my career and they were the key forwards at the time that were holding down the spot that I wanted to eventually cement in a pretty good side. 

"It was good to get into that team but just watching those blokes and wanting to be like them was a big driver in me wanting to improve and being part of that successful."

The fact that Hamp was such a promising forward in his younger days that saw him AFL-listed and then became such a rock solid defender, and now is back as the spearhead of Claremont's attack makes his journey to the 150-game mark all the more remarkable.

But he is feeling refreshed by playing forward once again and feels even better now playing in attack because of how much he learned from the forwards he played on in recent years.

"It's just nice for the variety I guess. I was up forward for the first three or four years and then went back for four or five years, and now it's something a bit different at this point in my career to keep things fresh and exciting," Hamp said. 

"It's just a fun time to be able to turn up to footy on a Saturday and be excited about kicking goals and help other blokes kick goals, and hopefully help the team win games by doing that.

"It's definitely a different sort of pressure and I probably find it harder being the forward because you get the attention from the opposition and the defender's job is primarily to stop you from playing well. 

"So you always have someone hanging off you or spoiling you or hanging off you or tackling you so it is a bit harder. It's probably a harder role to play in general and I think playing back almost comes naturally to most tall players whereas forwards have to think a little more.

"I definitely have taken a few lessons from other forwards that I've played on just about things that I didn’t like when I was playing on forwards so I'm trying to do those things now because it worked against me. So if I can do the same thing it might work for me as a forward as well."

Hamp now will become the 33rd Claremont player to reach 150 games and earn life membership against East Perth at Leederville Oval on Saturday. 

It's something that means a lot to him considering he's now spent almost half his life at Tigerland.

"It's pretty cool to think about it and probably only a few dozen players have got to 150 at Claremont in the history of the footy club," he said.

"So it's cool to think about it in that way but just to get a first game was awesome and to be able to keep building on that has been a really big privilege to play for the Claremont Football Club. To now be able to play this many games, it's just awesome.

"I have been playing footy there since the under-16s so it's 13 years ago now when I first rocked up to the club. It has been a massive part of my life and growing up and finding mates there and just learning things off coaches and senior players, and getting lots of help from lots of people are all things that I'm really grateful for."

While Claremont was in the midst of its remarkable run between 2010-13 by reaching three Grand Finals, winning four straight minor premierships and winning the 2011 and 2012 premiership, Hamp did get to experience success at reserves level.

That gave him a taste of the ultimate as did being there to watch the Tigers win WAFL premierships, but nothing will be quite like winning a flag for himself and that is what continues to drive him on more than anything.

And having been building nicely since Darren Harris arrived as coach to go from making finals in 2017, winning a final in 2018 and reaching the preliminary final in 2019, Hamp sees no reason why 2020 can't be the Tigers' year.

"There definitely has been highs and lows throughout my career at Claremont and 10 years is a long time to not win a league premiership so that's definitely my biggest motivator to keep playing. Maybe that length of time would make it more special if I can get one too, hopefully I get to find out," Hamp said.

"I think most teams are probably thinking it's one of those years where strange things are going to happen, and with only eight games for the season every single game matters. Any team could beat you on your day so you have to remain switched on for all those eight games.

"I think the success that the club was having early in my career was quite a long time ago now really so I don’t think about it too much. 

"Most of the motivation now comes from the two or three years most recently where we have been slowly building from a team that was sixth or seventh on the ladder and has been slowly climbing our way. 

"That's the main motivator to try and get some success with this current group for Harro, the coaching group and all us players because it has been a while now since we have been on top."

Hamp is now looking forward to his milestone game on Saturday and a win for the Tigers against the Royals will go a long way to ensuring another finals appearance in this shortened WAFL season.

"I definitely will take a few moments to appreciate where I've got to and sometimes it can be good to find ways to get a bit of extra excitement into the group for whatever reason," he said.

"If the guys can use that as a motivator to have a good game and have another win then that would be the best result. We had a good win on my 100th so hopefully we do the same for this one."

While everyone globally has been impacted by COVID-19 in some form or fashion, and the WAFL competition is no different with its start being delayed four months and shorted in more than half.

But away from football, Hamp is thankful that the impact on his work life was minimal.

"It's been OK for me. I was lucky enough to be able to work from home as an engineer just by being able to work on my laptop and occasionally going out to sites if there was work happening," Hamp said.

"I had to go up north for a few weeks to a mine site for some work during that period so that filled up some time and now we have gradually worked back to getting back in the office and getting back to relatively normality so it's been OK for me."