A Heartbreaking Loss

By Ken Casellas

Claremont Tigers paid the penalty for a tardy start when they suffered a demoralising and heartbreaking loss to arch rivals Subiaco in a feisty round-19 contest at Revo Fitness Stadium on Saturday.

And adding to the misery of the one-point defeat is the loss of one of Claremont’s best and most courageous players in Zac Mainwaring, who was knocked unconscious 20 minutes into the final quarter when he was flattened as he was sandwiched between a couple of Subiaco men in a marking duel about 60 metres out from the home side’s goal.

Mainwaring left the field on a stretcher, suffering from concussion which will prevent him from playing for 21 days under the WAFL’s concussion protocols.

After a five-minute delay, the match resumed with Subiaco being awarded a free-kick which relieved the Lions of considerable pressure which resulted from Claremont moving to within a point of Subiaco when Tyson Headland marked a pass from Ollie Sheldrick and scored a goal.

The Tigers then gained the subsequent centre clearance which resulted in the most unfortunate injury to Mainwaring, who had kicked a goal four minutes before he was concussed.

A behind to Subiaco’s Taj Schofield 38 seconds after the opening ball-up of the match, followed by goals to his teammates Jack Peruccelle 54 seconds later, Jack Mayo at the seven-minute mark and to Noah Hibbins-Hargreaves, rattled the Tigers, who were further in disarray after a free-kick and a goal to Ryan Borchet saw the Maroons in total command, leading 4.1 to nil after 15 minutes.

Claremont finally broke the ice after 19 minutes when Talon Delacey made the most of a free-kick to score his side’s first major. Subiaco replied quickly with a goal to Sonny Siano before Tigers debutant George Gale gained possession in a congested pack at right half-forward and his rushed kick forward was marked by Kieran Gowdie, whose goal reduced Subiaco’s lead to 20 points.

Claremont outscored Subiaco over the final three quarters, and the final margin of one point in favour of the Lions was the sixth time this year that a WAFL league match ended in a one-point result, with Subiaco winning three of those six fixtures — against Peel, Perth and Claremont.

The Tigers have played 913 league matches at Claremont Oval, with only ten of them resulting in one-point losses. Of those 913 matches, 131 have been against the Lions, and Saturday’s game leaves the score sheet at 65 wins for each club, with one drawn result.

Remarkably, Claremont finished Saturday’s match with a superior statistical advantage over Subiaco, having more kicks (225 to 188), marks (94-75), handpasses (161-139), tackles (67-51), clearances (44-29) and hit-outs (47-25).

Pleasing features of Claremont’s performance included excellent league debuts from Gale and Heath Mellody, who looked well and truly at home in a variety of positions.

It took 17 minutes into the third quarter for the first goal of that stanza to be scored — coming after a dubious free-kick to Stefan Giro deep in the right pocket from where the Subiaco midfielder delicately curled the ball through for full points to extend Subiaco’s lead to 28 points.

From that point to the final siren Claremont outscored the Lions 7.5 to 3.2, with a highlight in the third term coming from the irrepressible Alec Waterman executing a flying leap but unable to complete a spectacular mark before he recovered superbly to snap his side’s fifth goal.

The result was in the balance during the final term when the Tigers lifted their intensity, with highlights including Callan England’s dashing centre clearance to deliver the ball to Delacey for a goal; Alex Pearce’s courageous mark in defence; a superb non-stop passage of play down the left flank resulting in a great goal from defender Anthony Davis; Delacey’s splendid mark at half-back to halt a Subiaco attack; Waterman’s long-range goal to give Claremont a five-point lead; and a long pass from Davis which was marked 50 metres out by Delacey, just outside the 50m arc.

As Delacey went back to take his shot at goal the siren sounded. He then concentrated and his long shot faded to the left to register a behind to leave the Lions the victors by the barest possible margin.

Details:

Subiaco 11.9 (75) beat Claremont 11.8 (74)

Scorers—SUBIACO: J. Mayo 2.1; R. Borchet, S. Siano 2.0; S. Miller 1.2; G. Clarke, S. Giro, N. Hibbins-Hargreaves, J. Petruccelle 1.0; C. Burke, M. Corbett, K. Douglas, J. Robbins, T. Schofield; 1pt forced. CLAREMONT: T. Delacey, T. Headland 2.1; A. Waterman 2.0; C. England, Z. Mainwaring, S. van Rooyen 1.1; A. Davis, K. Gowdie 1.0; O. Eastland 0.1; 2pts forced.

Best—SUBIACO: C. Burke, S. Giro, J. Blight, J. Mayo, G. Clarke, J. Mcgowan, G. Savigni, S. Siano, F. Rickson, L. Hickmott. CLAREMONT: B. Elliott, C. England, A. Davis, A. Waterman, T. Delacey, B. Rogers, A. Pearce, O. Eastland, S. Alvarez, J. Musika, J. Peace, O. Sheldrick.