Seven Great Southern youngsters to represent Claremont in colts fixture against East Fremantle in Albany

A strong contingent of Great Southern footballers will play for Claremont in a special WAFL colts blockbuster against East Fremantle at Centennial Stadium on Saturday night. On the back of the success of 2019’s colts game between the Tigers and Perth, Claremont pushed to bring another fixture to their regional zone. The Tigers and Sharks round 16 encounter will be played at Albany’s premier sports facility, the third WAFL match in the region in the last four years. Seven Great Southern-raised players are expected to feature for the Tigers in a major boost for local spectators. Colts listed players Talon Delacey (North Albany), Henrick Alforque (Railways and Albany) and Brent Parsons (Mt Barker and Royals) will lead the Great Southern contingent while Tyreice Brown (Royals) will make his WAFL debut. The Tigers will also blood local trio Coen Jackman (Railways), Xavier Brenton-Reed (Railways) and Carson Bristow (Royals) who have impressed for the Great Southern Storm recently and will make their colts debuts. However both teams will be weakened by State and PSA football commitments, with a number of top-end talents and AFL draft prospects not making the trip. Kalin Lane played in the same match in 2019 before moving to Perth to play for the Tigers and he was drafted by Brisbane this year. Claremont talent manager Jordan Smith said a game like this was important to identify local talent. “Kalin was the obvious success story out of this game a couple of years ago, but I’d add Alex Pearce and Kieran Gowdie to that as well who are both continuing to chip away in our reserves side at the moment,” he said. “Kalin’s is a great story of how quickly things can happen if you put your head down and work hard but it doesn’t always happen that fast and we’re certainly invested in supporting all Great Southern-zoned footballers at our club. “We are so blessed as a footy club to have the Great Southern as one of our country zones and the quality of footballers and people to have joined Claremont from the region over a number of years has ensured that the Great Southern is etched into the fabric of our club. “The opportunity to bring a fully-fledged game to the region is particularly exciting and hopefully it provides all Claremont fans in the Great Southern, in particular the families of our local boys, an exciting opportunity to see the club play in their backyard.” Smith said he was excited to see Jackman, Brenton-Reed and Bristow pull on the Tigers’ NAIDOC jumpers designed by senior player Francis Watson. “One of the key aspects of the game for us is to be able to expose three locally-based players to WAFL football with an eye towards them potentially being able to relocate to the city next year and have a crack at earning an opportunity up in Perth,” Smith said. “We certainly don’t expect the boys to come out and dominate, it’s obviously a challenge not knowing many of your teammates and everything else that goes with this sort of opportunity. “It’s a good reward for the boys’ performances for the Great Southern Storm in the recent Kulin carnival and I’m sure all three are looking forward to running out on Saturday night.” The Tigers have won their past six games and sit third on the ladder while the Sharks are fighting for a top five spot, and are fourth on the ladder. The game will start at 5pm following the Great Southern Football League game between Albany and Denmark-Walpole. In other GSFL fixtures, Mt Barker host Royals on Saturday at Sounness Park and North Albany are at home against Railways on Sunday. Tigers colts coach Matt Angus ran a coaching workshop at Centennial Stadium on Thursday night.