Round 1 Preview Claremont V Perth

Claremont gets its season underway this Saturday when they take on Perth at Brownes Stadium.

It will be Michael Broadbridge’s first game in charge of the Tigers since taking over the reins from premiership coach Marc Webb, who has joined the Fremantle Dockers coaching staff.

Tigers vice-captain, 2011 Sandover medallist and three time EB Cook (fairest-and-best) medallist Luke Blackwell will play his 100^th WAFL game.

A much different Tigers side will take to the field than the one that was bundled out of the finals by East Perth last season.

The Tigers will be without premiership players Chad Jones, Paul Medhurst, Ian Richardson, Andrew Browne, David Crawford, Byron Schammer, James Thomson, Jesse Laurie and Mitch Andrews.

Jeremy McGovern and Patrick McGinnity will link up with East Perth due to the alignment with West Coast, while Alex Silvagni will line up with Peel Thunder under their partnership with Fremantle.

The Tigers have retained Andrew Foster, who has reversed his decision to retire, while Tom Ledger returns to the club after eight games in three seasons with St Kilda.

In a further boost to the midfield, Matt Orzel is back after two seasons with Peel Thunder, and he will play his 100^th game for the club against the Demons.

The Tigers defence has been given a boost with defender Brandon Franz returning to the club.

Des Headland has joined the Tigers coaching staff and will be in charge of the midfield group this year.

The team has a new captain in Jake Murphy, with experienced players in Blackwell and Trinity Handley as co vice-captains. Completing the leadership group are Aaron Holt, Anton Hamp, Ryan Neates and John Williams.

Claremont defeated Perth on both occasions last season and have dominated this contest in recent times, having won the past six encounters between the sides. The Tigers have not lost to the Demons since round 11, 2011.

The Demons, however, will be a dangerous opponent, having added AFL players Cale and Mitch Morton, who join brother and former Tigers player Jarryd at the club. The Demons have also regained Gerard Ugle after three years with Greater Western Sydney.

The Demons will be without Fraser McInnes, Ashley Smith, Simon Tunbridge and Brant Colledge who will all join East Perth under the alignment, while Kyle Reimers, Alistair Smith, Jackson Sketcher and Kane Ransted have all left the club.

In a big blow for the Demons, fairest-and-best winner Brett Hodge is out of action with a broken wrist.

The Tigers will need to be wary of dangerous forwards Paul Bevan and Brennan Stack, who kicked 14 goals in the two encounters against Claremont last season.

The Tigers have had a mixed pre-season. They lost by eight goals to South Fremantle before bouncing back with a 50-point win over Swan Districts.

In an impressive sign for Broadbridge and his coaching staff, the Tigers had 12 individual goalscorers against the Swans, as they look to share the load in 2014.

by Dan Scamozzi