Tigers to slippery for Demons in regional colts game
Claremont colts will attack the final month of regular season with added confidence after brushing aside a disappointing Perth side by 65 points in wet and windy conditions at Centennial Stadium in Albany on Saturday night.
With the Great Southern region part of Claremont’s country zone, the Tigers brought their round 16 WAFL colts fixture to Albany with a strong crowd turning out despite the wintry conditions.
It was a night to remember for the Tigers as they dominated from start to finish, keeping the Demons goalless and having 12 Great Southern players in their successful side.
A five goal second term was the turning point in the match after the Tigers extended a 13-point margin out to 46 points as the already wet conditions became worse.
Jerramungup come Denmark-Walpole product Hayden Parker scrambled through the first goal of the second term before lively forward Ben Elliott added his second of the game.
Jye Clark, who played juniors for Railways, slotted a lovely set shot from long range to push the margin to 33 points and when State 18s member Ronin O’Connor capped a busy quarter in the middle with a composed finish on the run it was danger signs for the Demons.
Clark then sparked his team on the verge on half time, showing his excitement in front of the locals after snapping a second major of the term.
The Demons were better in the second half, as they began to arrest the issues in the middle of the ground but they were still unable to significantly impact the scoreboard.
Two behinds was all the Demons could manage in the third term and although they held the Tigers to only three second half goals, the damage had been done.
Jerramungup-raised Tom Baldwin was brilliant for the Tigers, captaining the team as they coasted to a 10.9 (69) to 0.4 (4) result that lifted them above East Perth and West Perth to second on the ladder ahead of the final five rounds of the normal season.
Baldwin was superb in the midfield for his side and was well supported by fellow midfielders Clark and Jack Cooley, wingman Tom Wolfe who drove his team into attack plenty of times while Joel Krauss was rock solid in defence and small forward Kade Lines also had great impact.
Tigers coach Ross McQueen said it was a pleasing result after making lots of changes from last week’s team.
“A couple of teams lost in Perth and mix that in with nine changes from the team that played last week and we had a lot of big kids in today and with that rain I must admit I was nervous.
“We were pretty good early and kicked goals, particularly in the second and then it’s a long way back.
“So I was rapt with how all the kids went.
“I’ve loved this trip and hopefully we can look at something similar every year or every second year.”
The Demons went in without State 18s stars Deven Robertson and Elijah Taylor and their poor night was compounded by injuries to Bailey Smith (ankle) and Kaiden Pisani (concussion).
Smith was one of his side’s best players before suffering ligament damage in his ankle that will see him miss at least the next fortnight while Pisani copped a nasty concussion and joined his teammate in hospital.
Logan McDonald presented well up forward all night, Nathan O’Driscoll was busy in the midfield and Jaylen Garlett after quarter time played well in defence.
Demons coach Michael Pratt made no excuses for his side’s performance, which ended their slim finals hopes.
“The second quarter in particular, the effort was poor,” Pratt said.
“We turned things around in the second half but just couldn’t score.
“You can see the disappointment on the boys faces but we needed that response and some of them to stand up and do it in the second quarter.
“Some things you can’t fast track and we played a lot of futures boys but they have to play and develop.”
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