Tigers Falter at Final Hurdle

By Ken Casellas

Claremont survived a ferocious physical battering in the opening quarter and led South Fremantle throughout the first three terms before stumbling late in the match at Revo Fitness Stadium on Saturday when the Bulldogs seized control and won a tough encounter by eleven points.

This was Claremont’s fifth loss from the side’s past seven matches after beginning the season in superb style with an unbeaten record of six in a row.

The Tigers now sit in second spot on the premiership table and will welcome a bye next Saturday before completing their final five qualifying contests against East Perth, West Perth, Swan Districts, Subiaco and West Coast Eagles.

On Saturday, Claremont paid the penalty for far too many errors, and the Bulldogs were happy to capitalise on these mistakes.

Peel Thunder, bolstered every week with more than a dozen AFL-listed Fremantle Dockers players, have chalked up nine successive victories and are on top of premiership table with 40 points. They are followed on 32 points by Claremont (with a percentage of 126.0), Perth (115.33) and South Fremantle (111.18).

Saturday’s contest started at a frenetic pace, and it was marred by a series of brawls, involving several players from both sides, with no player on either side taking a backward step.

It is interesting that after 21 minutes of play Claremont had received twelve free-kicks to South’s solitary free-kick. This was possibly because the umpires considered that in several of those penalties the vigour and aggression of South Fremantle’s men transgressed the rules.

There was a big discrepancy at the end of the match, with the Bulldogs giving away 32 free-kicks to Claremont’s tally of 15. This is a record number of free-kicks awarded to a side in the 64 league matches played so far in 2026. South’s individuals who were penalised included Isiah Winder (six frees against), Jordan Bollineau five), Matt Parker (four), Ed Graham (four) and Hamish Free (three).

At the end of the opening quarter the free-kick tally was 14-2 in favour of the Tigers, who had gone inside their attacking 50m zone 16 times to South Fremantle’s total of nine. It was a wasteful quarter which ended with Claremont leading 3.5 to 2.0.

Claremont raced to an early lead with goals to Jaiden Hunter and Rory Luscombe in the first six minutes before the visitors hit back with snapped goals to Glenn Byron and Aaron Drage, with latter scoring in spectacular fashion as he was tumbling to the ground following a tackle from Alex Pearce.

The scoreboard electric clock showed 28 minutes as Anthony Davis passed to Talon Delacey, whose pass was marked by Zac Mainwaring in the left pocket. The siren then sounded and Mainwaring composed himself and went back to steer the ball through the first of his three majors for the match.

Goals were hard to come by in the second term, with Claremont adding one (to Kieran Gowdie after marking a pass from Ben Evans) and the Bulldogs two (from Tarkyn Etherington and Cooper Clarke-Dehring).

The effervescent Mainwaring continued to shine with two goals in the space of seven minutes early in the third quarter, but Claremont held only a slender lead at three-quarter time, 6.10 to 6.7, after Josh Howard’s great saving mark deep in defence foiled a spirited bid by the Bulldogs to get to the front in the closing moments of the quarter.

A superb mark by key defender Jasper Peace was a highlight of the early stages of the last quarter. He was flattened after taking the mark and was awarded a 50m penalty. But his shot veered to the left to register a behind.

South Fremantle took the lead (by two points) for the first time at the 8min. mark of the last term when a snap from Riley Colborne in the right pocket sailed through for a goal. The Tigers regained the lead (by two points) seven minutes later with the hard-working Ben Elliott snapped truly.

A splendid smother off Jacob Whan’s boot by Jack Musika and a fierce tackle by Ollie Sheldrick on South’s star midfielder Winder earned the plaudits from the Tigers faithful, who were far from happy moments later when there was a dubious decision to award a free-kick to South’s ruckman Free in the right forward pocket. Free delivered the ball to the agile Winder, whose screw kick from a difficult angle registered a goal to give the visitors a lead which was stretched to eleven points after an unhindered Donaldson scored a major from long range.

Earlier in the day Claremont’s reserves side fought back from a miserable opening quarter to beat South Fremantle, 12.14 (86) to 8.8 (56), with considerable credit due to coach Kepler Bradley, whose decision to reconstruct the side at quarter-time proved to be a masterstroke.

South Fremantle led 4.2 to Claremont’s 0.5 at quarter-time, and the move of winger Tom Cossom to full-forward and tall key forward Sam van Rooyen to a wing paid immediate dividends.

Cossom snapped a goal after 90 seconds, and four minutes later he led out confidently to right half-forward where he marked a pass and went back to score his second goal 50m out. This turned the tide and Claremont led 6.6 to 5.7 at half-time before going on to win by 30 points.

League match details:

South Fremantle 9.10 (64) beat Claremont 7.11 (53)

Scorers—SOUTH FREMANTLE: R. Colborne, B. Donaldson, I. Winder 1.1; G. Byron, C. Clarke-Dehring, A. Drage, T. Etheringham, E. Graham, M. Parker 1.0; A. Ferreira, R. O’Hehir, L. Rayson 0.1. CLAREMONT: Z. Mainwaring 3.3; J. Hunter 1.2; K. Gowdie 1.1; B. Elliott, R. Luscombe 1.0; T. Headland 0.2; C. England, J. Musika, J. Peace 0.1.

Best—SOUTH FREMANTLE: M. Parker, G. Byron, J. Florenca, I. Winder, L. Rayson, C. Pearson, R. Colborne, A. Drage, K. Russell. CLAREMONT: B. Rogers, Z. Mainwaring, B. Elliott, O. Eastland, A. Watwerman, O. Sheldrick, J. Peace, D. Mountford, A. Davis, S. Alvarez.