The party is over. Claremont, the trendsetters in WA football for four years, have lost their aura of invincibility. The end of a wonderful era of dominant performances against all comers has come to a shuddering halt.

The Tigers have bowed out of the 2013 premiership race with barely a whimper and now face a massive rebuilding program to remain a powerful force in the WAFL competition.

Claremont, beaten by Swans by a point in the 2010 grand final and premiers in 2011 and 2012, set the pace throughout the season before wilting in the closing stages. Before the final round of qualifying matches the Tigers had won 70 of their previous 84 matches. But then came three miserable losses, to East Fremantle, West Perth in the second semi-final and to East Perth in the preliminary final.

The Royals overwhelmed the Tigers by 63 points in the preliminary final at Claremont Oval on Sunday afternoon --- the third heaviest defeat suffered by Claremont in 82 appearances in finals, just behind the 73-point loss to Perth in the 1986 first semi-final and the 72-point defeat at the hands of East Perth in the 2001 second semi-final.

And this was the first time in four years that Claremont had lost three matches in a row. The Tigers did not lose three in a row in 2010, 2011 and 2012.

The loss to East Perth was a sad and disappointing end to a splendid season when the side won its first nine matches and finished the qualifying rounds well clear of the opposition, recording 17 wins and only three losses, by margins of ten points, 39 points and ten points.

The Tigers went into the preliminary final with justifiable confidence against East Perth, a side they had beaten in two qualifying-round clashes during the season --- by 54 points in round four and 28 points in round 20. They had also won nine of their previous 11 matches against East Perth, with the two losses being by 16 points in round 23, 2010 and by one point in round 12, 2012.

But on Sunday the Royals, who scraped into the finals in fourth position with 12 wins and eight defeats, simply were too big, too strong, too powerful and too classy for the Tigers.

There are many reasons for the defeat. One of the most significant and important factors in East Perth’s crushing victory was the fact that they had five full-time professional AFL players, the West Coast Eagles quintet of Adam Selwood, Scott Lycett, Jamie Cripps, Cale Morton and Blayne Wilson. Each made a significant contribution against the Claremont side which did not include a single AFL-listed player.

Though it is not in Claremont’s character to look for excuses or blame anything in an attempt to cover up a defeat, the Tigers experienced a shocking run of injuries during the season, and this had a telling effect. Injuries prevented captain Andrew Browne from playing in six matches and others who were affected by injury included Luke Blackwell (out for ten matches), Trinity Handley (out for 12), Jeremy McGovern (19), Byron Schammer (15), Ryan Neates (seven) and Andrew Foster (six). Others affected by injury included Blake Anderson, Nic Chidgzey, Ben Daniher, Aaron Holt and Nick Winmar.

Injuries are part of football and certainly are not offered as any sort of excuse. But the side became a bit jaded in the final weeks of the season. The sparkle was fading.

It is not all doom and gloom. The Tigers gave their supporters an enormous amount of pleasure during the year during which they played much glorious football. Coach Marc Webb and his assistants performed superbly to mould a grand side.

What transpired at the end of the season was that Claremont clashed with East Fremantle, West Perth and East Perth, sides which were hungrier for success than the Tigers.

Claremont now face the task of rebuilding and reinvigorating the side. There could well be as many as nine players in Sunday’s side who will be absent in 2014.

Perhaps it is worth noting that Claremont finished last in 1963 before winning the 1964 premiership; they finished seventh in 1992 and won the flag the following year and finished eighth in 2009 before losing the 2010 grand final by a solitary point.

Now is the time for everyone at the club to rally, cast aside pessimistic predictions and to look to the future with enthusiasm and confidence.

Claremont started the preliminary final with the use of a fresh breeze and had the first goal on the board after 3min. 10sec. when Neates passed to Anton Hamp, who handballed to Blackwell for a major with his non-preferred left boot.

East Perth’s Josh Smith replied three minutes later after receiving a free-kick in the left pocket. Shortly after that a great chase by Jesse Laurie ended with the sturdy defender applying a strong tackle on Lycett and preventing the giant forward from shooting at goal. Laurie was rewarded with a free-kick. Then Browne was under notice with a strong tackle on East Perth’s imposing ruckman Paul Johnson.

The Royals raced to a commanding lead after scoring five goals in succession before Mitch Andrews gained the knock at a centre bounce to Hugo Breakey, who passed to Jack Bradshaw, whose kick forward saw Mark Seaby take a strong mark and boot Claremont’s second goal at the 21-minute mark of the quarter.

Andrews flew to take a splendid contested mark (from a Foster kick) before kicking Claremont’s third late in the term. This saw the Tigers go into the quarter-time break 17 points in arrears.

It took almost seven minutes before the opening goal of the second quarter, a shot from Foster in the left pocket after had marked a Chad Jones kick, following some good work from Blackwell, Laurie and Bradshaw.

Michael Swan replied with a goal to the Royals and then Claremont hit back with goals to Jones (following a passage of play involving Sam Fong, Hamp and Jake Murphy) and Bradshaw (after Hamp had delivered to Neates). The difference then was only six points.

But East Perth added three goals to Claremont’s one for the remainder of the quarter. Claremont’s goal came after a move started at half-back by Blackwell, who delivered to Breakey.

Breakey handpassed to Hamp and then Foster and David Crawford worked the ball forward where Blackwell sent a left-foot pass to Andrews, who received a free-kick for interference in a marking duel.

East Perth led by 23 points at half-time, but two Tigers goals in the opening two minutes of the third term gave the home fans plenty of hope. Breakey handpassed to Blackwell, who returned the favour to allow Breakey to pass to Jones.

Jones went back and slotted home Claremont’s eighth goal with the quarter only 44 seconds old. This gave Jones his 400^th goal in 127 league appearances for the Tigers. Claremont supporters will miss Jones in the coming seasons. This was his final game of competitive football and he and his wife Natalie will leave Perth soon to settle in Melbourne.

Ian Richardson, who will be travelling overseas next year, got the next goal just over a minute later. He received a handpass from Paul Medhurst in the left pocket and ran in to score a clever goal.

Mat Seal replied with a goal to East Perth before Claremont hit back when Murphy intercepted an East Perth kick-in and got the ball quickly on to his boot. This resulted in an excellent mark to Bradshaw for his second major. Neates gained the clearance from the centre bounce and Hamp booted a goal to get the Tigers to within six points of the Royals.

Bradshaw was continuing to work hard and he earned a free-kick for a great tackle on East Perth forward Dean Cadwallader. Then Breakey, Neates, Richardson and Andrews combined to work the ball forward where John Williams kicked a behind to reduce East Perth’s lead to just five points at the 15-minute mark. 

But Claremont’s hopes were dashed as East Perth piled on five goals in the next 15 minutes to race away to be 35 points in front at three-quarter time. The Royals slipped into overdrive and they outscored the Tigers 12.7 to 3.3 in the final 48 minutes of the contest.

It was seven goals to three in favour of East Perth in the final quarter when Claremont’s goals came from Richardson (after marking a Neates pass), Murphy (after Blackwell started a move from defence and combined with Bradshaw, Holt, Browne and Medhurst to get the ball to the left-footer) and Foster (after marking a Richardson pass, following some strong play from Browne and Jones).

East Perth thoroughly deserved their victory and a chance for glory when they meet a confident West Perth outfit in next Sunday’s grand final at Subiaco Oval.

By Ken Casellas

Details:

East Perth 24.12 (156) beat Claremont 14.9 (93).

Scorers---EAST PERTH: J. Smith 4.1; M. Seal 4.0; J. Cripps 3.3; M. Swan 2.1; P. Johnson, A. Selwood 2.0; S. Lycett 1.3; A. Bennell, D. Cadwallader 1.1; F. Clutterbuck, J. Detrickx, B. Lee, C. Wulff 1.0; S. Payne, A. Sweet 0.1. CLAREMONT: A. Foster, I. Richardson 2.1; M. Andrews, J. Bradshaw, C. Jones 2.0; M. Seaby 1.1; L. Blackwell, A. Hamp, J. Murphy 1.0; P. Medhurst 0.2; R. Neates, T. Taylor, J. Williams 0.1; 1pt forced.  

Best---EAST PERTH: P. Johnson, B. Lee, A. Selwood, J. Smith, M. Seal, C. Wulff, J. Cripps, S. Lycett, B. Wilson, A. Sweet, K. Anderson, S. Payne. CLAREMONT: L. Blackwell, J. Bradshaw, R. Neates, A. Browne, J. Laurie, A. Foster, M. Seaby.