Tigers Lose a Strange Roller Coaster

By Ken Casellas

When Talon Delacey and Tyson Headland combined to get the ball to Jaiden Hunter 14 minutes into the second quarter of the round nine WAFL match at Revo Fitness Stadium on Saturday —and Hunter scored his third goal in the space of eleven minutes — The Claremont Tigers were riding high with a 22-point advantage over the West Coast Eagles.

The scoreboard read: Claremont 7.3 to West Coast’s 3.5 before the visitors rallied and scored two goals, and then Delacey replied with a major to give Claremont a 15-point buffer.

Then, in a remarkable turnabout, the Eagles scored the next ten goals, with the rangy Matt Flynn to the forefront with a superb exhibition in the ruck, not only consistently gaining the knock at the centre ball-ups but revealing wonderful agility to send his side into attack with five centre clearances late in the second term and in the third term. His performance changed the course of the contest.

The Tigers were hampered by the absence of star ruckman Ollie Eastland, who spent more than 15 minutes on the sidelines in the second quarter, recovering from a heavy blow to the head.

And Claremont, who went into the game without 104-game tall defender Anthony Davis (nursing a calf strain), were further undermanned in defence when powerful 55-game back man Max Minear suffered a damaged hamstring in the second quarter and was unable to take any further part in the contest.

It was all one-way traffic in the third quarter during which West Coast piled on 9.3 and restricted Claremont to a miserable three behinds to leave the home side lamenting at three-quarter time, 45 points in arrears.

The Tigers were left to rue conceding free-kicks in the third term which resulted in goals to Matt Owies and Joshua Burke. And West Coast scored another goal from a free-kick late in the quarter when Tom Gross made the most of his ‘gift’ he received after Flynn had scored his side’s 14^TH goal after taking a mark.

The ball was not taken back to the centre after Flynn’s goal, and Gross relished the opportunity to notch his fourth major from close range. Presumably, a Claremont infringement or discretion led to the umpire’s decision.

To the credit of the Tigers, their players fought back valiantly in the final quarter to outscore the Eagles 7.1 to 1.2, with Hunter dominant in attack, scoring four goals to finish with 7.1. His final major was a beauty. He marked a pass from Bailey Rogers at right half-forward and his shot from about 57 metres out sailed through the tall timbers.

Claremont outscored the Eagles in three of the quarters and the Tigers, and quite remarkably, took more marks than the Eagles (85 to 57), had more kicks (200 to 176) and had more handpasses (75 to 47).

The result, with Claremont registering their second loss from nine matches, left the side on top of the premiership table, one match ahead of Peel Thunder, who crushed Swan Districts by 62 points on Saturday — a week after having restricted the Eagles to 4.9 and winning by 22 points on a wintry day.

West Coast lined up against Claremont with 19 AFL-listed professional footballers, giving the side a massive advantage against a club whose players are virtually amateurs.

The Eagles are currently in eighth position on the WAFL premiership table, and if they maintain Saturday’s form should make a strong bid to finish in the top five and compete in the finals. Peel look set to be finalists in a competition which is certainly not an even one.

Claremont can take heart from their fightback and ten-point loss, but defeats at the hands of East Perth and the Eagles and a scrambling three-point victory over Subiaco in the club’s past three matches is a strong indication that the Tigers cannot underestimate any of their rivals. They will need to be fully prepared and tuned in for next Saturday’s match at Revo Fitness Stadium against the Perth Demons, following that club’s impressive victory over Subiaco last Saturday.

Details:

West Coast Eagles 16.11 (107) beat Claremont 15.7 (97)

Scorers—WEST COAST: T. Gross 4.3; T. Dewar 2.2; J. Williams 2.1; M. Owies, T. Williams 2.0; J. Burke, T. Brockman, M. Flynn, J. Lindsay 1.0; F. Macrea 0.2; C. Hall, S. Kernutt, H. Schoenberg 0.1. CLAREMONT: J. Hunter 7.1; T. Headland, D. Mountford, Z. Mainwaring, M. Spyvee 1.1; T. Delacey, K. Gowdie, J. Musika, J. Western 1.0; B. Elliott 0.1; 2pts forced.

Best—WEST COAST: M. Flynn, E. Hewett, F. Macrea, O. Francou, H. Schoenberg, F. Rodriguez, T. Gross, T. Brockman, T. Dewar, J. Williams. CLAREMONT: J. Hunter, D. Mountford, Z. Mainwaring, B. Rogers, C. England, T. Delacey, T. Headland, M. Spyvee, J. Howard.