Claremont continued a hot start to 2026 over the weekend, defeating Perth by 56 points to remain undefeated.

Finishing second last year and falling short of a Grand Final appearance, an intense preseason has given the Tigers the skills and stamina they need to continue a dominant start to the year.

Co-captain Bailey Rogers has been on fire, putting up 27 disposals, eight marks and eight entries and hitting the scoreboard with two majors.

He joined Sports Breakfast this morning.

“We’ve improved our ball movement a lot, our offensive game has come a long way and we’re up there in contested marks and possessions as well, so we’re controlling the ball a lot better and it all happens off the back of our defence,” he said.

Claremont recorded 12 goal scorers over the weekend credit to their ability to move the footy around the whole team.

“We do flick a lot of mids through the forward line as well, which is probably another reason why there’s a few midfielders on that list… everyone accepts their role, there’s midfielders playing forward and there’s midfielders playing back to share the load through the mids.”

“We started well and we knew they were a very good team. So we knew they were going to come and they sure did – it was just an arm wrestle.”

Shutting down Charlie Constable was pivotal in defeating the Demons on Saturday, and Ben Elliot was given the task.

Despite tag after the first term, Constable was still able to record another 13 touches for the rest of the game and finish up with 24.

“Mainy started like a house on fire. He dominated across half forward early and really got us going… but I think if it wasn’t for Mainy, it’d probably be Ben Elliot who played a great role on Charlie Constable, probably the best player in the competition.”

“I think it was 11 touches and six clearances in the first quarter and Ben went to him after quarter time and really played a good role and got on the end of a few himself.”

Samson Jennings-Hopkins looked to have sustained a knee injury during the victory, dampening what was another outstanding team win.

“I spoke to him after the game, he was in good spirits and didn’t seem to think anything was too bad.”

Claremont now enjoy the bye round before hoping to continue their dominant run against East Perth on May 23.

IMAGE: Ollie Watkins