WAFL Colts: Homegrown players shine in front of big crowd as flag fancies Claremont demolish East Perth

Claremont continued their terrific season in the WAFL colts competition, thumping East Perth in front of a big crowd in their regional fixture in Albany on Saturday night. The Tigers made an annual trip to Albany to play a colts match, in their country zone of the Great Southern, and they were ruthless in a 109-point belting of the Royals. With a side that featured seven Great Southern footballers, the Tigers kicked seven goals in a rampant second term and held their opponents scoreless in the final term on their way to a percentage-boosting 23.10 (148) to 6.3 (39) victory. Lucas Ravenhill and Cody Angove were on fire in the front half with four goals each, while Clay Michael made a superb return to the side with three majors. Jett Sibosado was electric in the midfield with 31 disposals and six inside-50s and ruckman Aiden Riddle had a night out, amassing 20 touches, four marks and 44 hit-outs. Captain Austin van der Struyf was also important with 19 disposals, five tackles, eight inside-50s and two goals as the Tigers stormed to an 11th win of the season. They sit two games clear on top of the ladder and overturned their previous result against the Royals, who are the only side to beat them so far in 2024. It was a superb night for the homegrown talent, however, with Ravenhill, Harvey Taylor and Rory Luscombe all kicking majors in the Tigers’ fast start. The Tigers had four goals on the board in less than 10 minutes to stun the Royals and majors to Luscombe and Tom Cossom gave their side a 29-point quarter-time lead. That margin quickly grew to 41 points after Mastalerz and van der Struyf kicked truly before Angus Motherwell got a much-needed major back for the Royals. The Tigers kicked the next five goals, however, and Ravenhill had three to his name by the long break as the Tigers careered away by 65 points. Despite a much better third term from the Royals, in which they kicked three goals and kept the Tigers to only four, the floodgates opened in the fourth quarter as the Tigers asserted their dominance around the ball. Michael (Railways), Ravenhill (North Albany), Luscombe (Royals) and Blake Panizza (Royals) were joined in Tigers team by current Great Southern Football League talent Taylor (Albany), Marlon Mastalerz (Denmark-Walpole) and Aiden Clark (Albany). In his fourth game back from a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament and first at WAFL level this season, Michael was outstanding with 13 possessions, seven marks and 3.1, while Taylor was also eye-catching with 16 touches playing on the wing. Luscombe finished with 3.2 from 12 disposals and five marks, Ravenhill had 10 hit-outs to go with 12 disposals and six marks while Mastalerz grew as the game went on and played more midfield time in the second half. East Perth were best served by Motherwell who kicked three goals to go with 16 disposals while Andre Gulluni collected 21 touches and Jacob De Santis gathered 19 disposals and had five inside-50s.