WAFL 2023 Season Preview – ClaremontSaturday, April 1, 2023 - 2:30 PM - by Chris Pike

CLAREMONT continues its quest for that elusive first premiership since 2012 and the Tigers will again be using the pain of going ever so close in 2022 once more to spur them on to try and achieve that ultimate in 2023.

For each of the past five seasons now, Claremont has put itself in premiership contention playing finals in each of those five years, and winning at least one final in all of them but not quite being able to break through for the club's first flag since going back-to-back in 2011 and 2012.

The Tigers lost a first semi-final to West Perth in 2018, lost the preliminary final in 2019 to South Fremantle and then the Grand Final of 2020 to the Bulldogs by three points. On the back of that, Claremont lost a preliminary final again to South Fremantle in 2021 while going goalless up to three quarter-time.

Then last year, Claremont again put themselves right in the hunt and ended up reaching the Grand Final before losing another heartbreaker by two goals to West Perth at Leederville Oval.

That's been quite the heartbreaking five-year stretch for Claremont in finals, but at the same time the Tigers continue to put themselves in the mix for that breakthrough premiership and 2023 appears to be no different.

While the Tigers have lost a couple of experienced leaders in Jared Hardisty and Ryan Lim, for the most part the majority of the core group is back again to have another tilt at that elusive premiership.

Among those is Jye Bolton who is the most decorated current WAFL football with two Sandover Medals, four Simpson Medals and three-time Claremont fairest and best winner.

Bolton is now a WAFL veteran of 132 games with Claremont with life membership on the horizon in 2023, but all he's worried about is doing what he can to help the Tigers breakthrough for that premiership.

"I still feel the same about the Grand Final we lost to South Freo so this one is still lingering for sure, but you have to try and move on from it and use it as a bit of motivation," Bolton told 91.3 SportFM.

"Every individual is a little bit different, but we definitely try to park that and use it as a bit of motivation going forward, and try to make sure something like that doesn’t happen again and we can end up on the other side of the ledger this year."

Given Claremont has been doing so much right over the past five years, and especially the past four with the two Grand Final appearances and narrow preliminary final losses, there's not a lot needed to change and it's all about tinkering at Tigerland.

"I think what we have been doing with our process and game plan has been working to a degree so we just have to fine tune that a little bit, and find a bit of growth in some other areas," Bolton said. 

"I think we've done that with the work on our ball movement this year and our defensive set up, and also bringing in a couple of recruits from over east and out of the AFL system some returning Claremont guys. 

"Hopefully we can be a bit stronger and to the level of winning the premiership this year and going that little bit better."

As for those new arrivals, Claremont's stocks will be boosted by the recruitment of Teia Miles and Jack Maibaum for the 2023 WAFL season. 

With Claremont products Joel Western and Anthony Treacy coming back to the club as well, Bolton is excited by the quad that the Tigers will be entering the new season with at their disposal.

"We've got back from the AFL Joel Western, he adds a fair bit of speed to us and some class with his ball use. We've also got Anthony Treacy after he spent a year up north in Broome after coming off West Coast's list," he said. 

"He's been playing up in Darwin over the summer and he's in the best condition I've seen him in actually. He's very driven to try and help us win a flag this year, and he's committed and looks great.

"We've also got two guys over from Victoria, Teia Miles who spent five or six years on Hawthorn's list and played for Williamstown, and has unbelievable skills and adds a bit of danger off the half-back line for us.

"And there's Jack Maibaum who is a key defender and was on Sydney's list for a few years as well and made the VFL Team of the Year last year as a key defender too. 

"Having some added senior players amongst the list will help us especially after losing Jared Hardisty and Ryan Lim who have been two really good leaders of our footy club especially the period I've been here. 

"So it's good to bring in some guys with senior experience to help our younger brigade that's coming up as well."

As for his own role, while Bolton was the league's preeminent midfielder for much of his career once arriving at Claremont, he spent significant time coming off half-back last year where he could set up play, and he did so with aplomb.

Bolton expects to spent a lot of time in that role again this year to allow others to cement themselves in the midfield, but the bonus that provides is making the Tigers unpredictable from week to week in terms of who will play midfield at the same time.

"It's changed a bit mainly I think because of our list as well. We've got some really good mids coming up that are around that 20-23 age and we were basically a team full of mids over the last few years," Bolton said. 

"We were just looking for other ways to spread the team and I had a go at half-back last year and didn’t mind it, but I'm happy to play wherever I'm needed at this stage. 

"Currently it looks like I'll probably spend the majority of the year at half-back and sort of go into the middle as needed from there. 

"We've probably got eight to 10 guys who can roll through that middle and have a really good contribution at any stage so that's allowed Ash to select his team around that.

"As mids, we're all trying to figure out other positions that we can contribute in and learn so that we can keep changing that up and not be predictable to our opposition."