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Round 23 – Claremont v West Perth Match ReportMonday, August 28, 2017 - 5:36 PM - by Chris Pike
THE clash between Claremont and West Perth was always set to provide a dramatic finish to the 2017 WAFL season and with the Falcons kicking the last two goals to win and storm into the finals that certainly was the case at Claremont Oval.
Claremont and West Perth have played in a string of remarkably tight and tense games in recent years with precious little separating the two teams and no love lost from them out on the field either.
So with the potential of a finals position being at stake on Saturday at Claremont Oval the stage was set for a tantalising and tense contest from start to finish.
Claremont opened an early 23-point lead kicking four of the game's first five goals and the Tigers remained in control until West Perth took its first lead of the game courtesy of two Andrew Strijk goals in the first three minutes of the final term.
West Perth's lead soon grew to 13 points with a goal to Tyler Keitel but Claremont responded with the next three majors in the space of nine minutes to be nine points in front again.
But West Perth key forward Michael Lourey had his best game of the season kicking two of his four goals for the day to close the game for the Falcons with the 12.6 (78) to 10.14 (74) victory when a much talked about play-on call was made on a Blake Wilhelm tackle on Claremont small forward CJ Oakley about 15m from goal.
With East Perth losing to Subiaco at the same time at Leederville Oval, it meant that the win sees West Perth replace the Royals in fifth position and to enter the finals for 2017.
As a result, East Perth and Claremont missed out but percentage would have meant the Tigers missed playing finals anyway even if the free-kick was paid to Oakley and he kicked the goal. But it would have meant East Perth and not West Perth played finals.
West Perth now finishes in fifth position with a 10-10 record on the season ahead of Sunday's elimination final against Swan Districts at Steel Blue Oval.
Claremont will be kicking itself for not taking advantage of its control of the game having finished with 78 more disposals than the Falcons, 67 more marks, 23 extra inside-50 entries and the 24 scoring shots to 18.
For a rare time this season it was West Perth who was the more efficient team and the more accurate in front of goal. It is just the seventh time this season that the Falcons have kicked more goals than behinds in a game.
Michael Lourey came up huge for the Falcons kicking four goals from nine kicks and five marks.
Andrew Strijk also booted three crucial goals for West Perth to go with 21 touches with Tyler Keitel adding two.
Shane Nelson collected another 28 possessions for West Perth with Aaron Black celebrating his 150th game to become a life member at the Falcons with 27 disposals, six marks and five tackles.
Blake Wilhelm also had it 18 times for the Falcons, Corey Chalmers 17, Trent Manzone 15 and Kody Manning 15.
Claremont again had some big ball winners with captain Jake Murphy leading the way with 32 possessions, nine marks, five inside 50s and four tackles.
Bailey Banfield collected 28 disposals as well for the Tigers while Ryan Lim amassed 28 touches, Jared Hardisty 28 and Harrison McCracken 22 to go with 11 marks.
Haydn Busher continued his outstanding key defensive form doing well on Tyler Keitel while having 23 possessions and nine marks himself.
Ian Richardson, Matt Guelfi, Matthew Palfrey and Beau Maister all kicked two goals each for Claremont.
Mitch Andrews had another strong game in the ruck with 15 possessions, five marks and 38 hit outs.
Despite West Perth getting a goal at the seven-minute mark from Dean Munns, it was Claremont who started strongly in the must-win contest with majors to Ian Richardson, Ryan Lim and Matt Guelfi in the first 13 minutes.
By the time Beau Maister kicked truly at the 26-minute mark, the lead was out to 23 points but the Falcons crucially kicked two goals before quarter-time thanks to Michael Lourey and Andrew Strijk to trail by just 11 points.
Lourey then got his second of the day 15 minutes into the second quarter to bring West Perth within six points but Claremont led by 13 at the main break following a major to CJ Oakley.
The Tigers again threatened to pull away when leading by 20 points following goals to Richardson and Matthew Palfrey in the third term. But West Perth stayed in touch to be just seven points behind at the last change after goals to Corey Chalmers and Trent Manzone.
That set the stage for the fascinating last quarter with a finals spot potentially on the line with the way Subiaco was taking care of East Perth at Leederville Oval.
West Perth made the move first with two goals to Strijk in the first three minutes and then another to Keitel shortly after. That had the Falcons in front for the first time in the game and the advantage was out to 13 points after Keitel's goal.
But Palfrey, Guelfi and Maister all combined in the space of nine minutes for goals to Claremont to put the Tigers eight points up again heading into time-on. But the Falcons responded with two goals to Lourey to again lead and then hold on to win by four points in the frantic finish.
CLAREMONT 4.5 5.9 7.11 10.14 (74)
WEST PERTH 3.0 4.2 7.4 12.6 (78)
CLAREMONT – Goals: Richardson, Guelfi, Palfrey, Maister 2; Oakley, Lim.
Best: J Murphy, Busher, Richardson, Lim, Hardisty, Banfield, Guelfi, Andrews.
WEST PERTH – Goals: Lourey 4; Strijk 3; Keitel 2; Chalmers, Manzone, Munns.
Best: Black, Shane Nelson, Strijk, Rodda, Lourey, Wilhelm, Munns.
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