Seven Great Southern footballers power Claremont to victory over East Fremantle in WAFL colts game in Albany

Great Southern talent has shone on the big stage, with seven players from the region part of a winning Claremont colts team that downed East Fremantle at Centennial Stadium in front of a large crowd on Saturday night. The Tigers held off a strong challenge from the Sharks to finish 15-point winners at the final siren, with an injury to midfield star and North Albany product Talon Delacey the only dampener on another successful WAFL fixture in the Great Southern. Delacey, Henrick Alforque (Railways and Albany), Brent Parsons (Mt Barker and Royals) and Tyreice Brown (Royals) are listed colts players with the Tigers and were joined in the team by local trio Coen Jackman (Railways), Xavier Brenton-Reed (Railways) and Carson Bristow (Royals). That trio and Brown made their WAFL colts debuts as the Tigers prevailed 10.7 (67) to 8.4 (52), notching their seventh straight win in the process. The Sharks kicked the first goal of the game through Samuel Otto before the Great Southern talent stood tall. Jackman booted the Tigers’ first goal and then Bristow kicked one off the ground as well to hand the Tigers the lead. Otto and Kobe McMillan helped the Sharks respond but Brown came alive to kick two quickly as he helped the Tigers take a 13-point advantage into quarter-time. Bristow kicked the only goal of the second stanza to push the margin to 19 points by half-time. The Sharks kicked three goals to one in the third quarter but a third major from Brown steadied the ship as the Tigers led by nine points going into the last term. The two sides went goal for goal in the fourth quarter, and a goal on the final siren to Brenton-Reed sealed the victory. Brown was electric up forward and finished with four majors, 19 disposals, six marks and six tackles in an impressive first game while Bristow and Dylan Mulligan also played well with two goals each. Bristow kicked two goals from six disposals and two marks. Jackman presented well at full-forward to finish with 1.2 from his five touches while laying four tackles and Brenton-Reed produced a strong display in the ruck with 16 hit-outs and 11 possessions. Delacey was the leading ball winner in the match with 25 touches to go with 10 tackles and four inside-50s but was helped from the ground in the final term with an ankle injury. Parsons played across half-back and finished with seven tackles and 13 disposals while small forward Alforque laid seven tackles and had six touches. Sean Williams was impressive in the win across half-back while Matao Owen and Max Mumme were strong contributors. “The outcome isn’t really important, the significance of being down here in such a strong foothold for the footy club is huge,” Tigers coach Matt Angus said. “We have had some great connections over the years and to be honest this is the best oval to play on compared to Perth ovals. “The outcome is irrelevant, it was great for some of these boys to play in front of their families and for our metro boys and Kimberly boys to come down tonight and get a feel of this community. “The three boys that came in they had a tough ask because they have had no training with us and I thought they were great, we couldn’t have asked anymore from them.” McMillan and Otto (21 disposals) kicked two goals each for the Sharks and their team was best served by Kale Paton, Samuel Collins, Luca Gangemi and Jack Johnston. Josh Cripps, the younger brother of Carlton star Patrick Cripps, showed impressive signs with his 16 disposals and six marks. “It’s just great for us and for Claremont to invite us down; we jumped at the opportunity and you can just see what local footy means to so many people and especially in a regional town like this,” Sharks coach Adrian Ricciardello said. “It was a great experience and we loved it. “It was a tight contest we know what Claremont are going to bring, they are a strong tackling side and we thought we took it up to them “They had a bit of class around the ball and they finished off really well. “We take a lot of pride in the effort we showed and hopefully we put on a good enough show for the Albany folks.”