Eastland dominant but Claremont finals campaign in jeopardy

By John Townsend

Claremont’s prospects of playing finals are in jeopardy after a fourth straight loss left them vulnerable to a challenge from last year’s grand final nemesis West Perth.

Beset by injuries to key players, and unable to find a replacement for AFL midseason draftee Jack Buller, the Tigers succumbed to a surging Peel on Saturday.

Claremont were on top of the WAFL ladder with a percentage of 144 after winning 10 of their first 12 matches.

Several of those victories required miraculous comebacks in a clear indication of the self-belief and character within the team.

But consecutive losses to East Perth, West Perth, East Fremantle and now the Thunder, all of whom could finish in the top five, have seen Claremont tumble to fifth with a percentage of 118.

West Perth are one game further back with a percentage of 120.

The Tigers have won only three quarters in that period and just one in the 13.13 (91) to 8.11 (59) defeat at Lane Group Stadium on Saturday.

Adding salt to Claremont’s wounds was the impact of 2017 EB Cook medallist Bailey Banfield whose four goals were the foundation of Peel’s 32-point win.

Banfield was the best of the five Claremont products in the Peel line-up with fellow Dockers Joel Hamling, Travis Colyer and Hugh Davies making handy contributions, and Jacob Blight providing a strong presence in defence in his first year at the Thunder.

If not for the effort of ruckman Ollie Eastland, who for the second time this season outpointed two giant opponents in Fremantle’s Liam Reidy and Riley Smith, and kicked one of the goals of the season, Claremont may have suffered their biggest loss of the year.

Eastland is surely on track to match Banfield by winning his first fairest-and-best award after a breakout season in which he played State football and trails only Subiaco veteran Zac Clarke for hit-outs. The Tiger has 575 to the Lion’s 674.

Eastland’s endeavour was particularly important given that the Tigers were hurt by the loss of fellow big man Steven Miller who tore a hamstring in just his second game back after damaging a knee in last year’s qualifying final.

Captain Declan Mountford (lung), Ronin O’Connor (shoulder) and Max Minear (foot) are already out of action for extended periods though there is some good news in the return of versatile Timm House, who completed his second reserves match on Saturday.

And recent league debutant Menno Inverarity and skilful utility Morgan Davies were prolific performers in the win at the lower level.

Claremont’s successes this season have been based on the impact of their small forwards and Zac Mainwaring maintained that trend with his third three-goal haul of the season.

He and Talon Delacey lead the club goal-kicking with 24 while Tyron Smallwood and Alex Manuel are five back on 19.

Mainwaring landed his team’s first three goals and proved a lively option in attack as he found space regularly and kicked truly.

He marked a sharp pass from Ben Edwards to get the scoring underway and added a second goal in the first term when he dragged in a strong contested mark after Anthony Davis had kicked long into the forward 50.

Mainwaring added his third when he ran into an open goal following a clever assist from Anthony Treacy while Claremont grabbed the half-time lead when Manuel was infringed in a marking contest late in the second term.

But apart from another burst of three goals in as many minutes late in the third quarter, Claremont struggled to combat the quality of their opponents.

The major highlight came at the centre throw-up following Manuel’s second goal when he beat a crowd to soccer the ball through from the top of the goal-square.

Eastland won the tap to Jye Bolton who got the ball back to the ruckman whose scrambled kick took it clear of the centre.

Eastland then burst forward to provide Ben Elliott with a handball target and ran inside 50 where his long shot cut the deficit to 20 points.

When Talon Delacey grabbed a loose ball a minute later after Bailey Rogers had set up a forward thrust, Claremont threatened to upset the home team.

It was not to be as Peel kicked the only three goals of the last quarter to ensure their 11th victory and a guaranteed place in the finals.

CLAREMONT 2.3 4.7 8.9 8.11 59

PEEL 3.3 5.4 10.10 13.13 91

GOALS – CLAREMONT: Mainwaring 3; Manuel 2; Alvarez, Eastland, Delacey.

PEEL: Banfield 4; Middleton 3; Taberner, Reidy, Wemm 2.

BEST – CLAREMONT: Eastland, Mainwaring, Rogers, Bolton, Davis, Edwards.

PEEL: Banfield, Brodie, Grey, Bennell, Emmett, Taberner.