CLAREMONT and West Perth games have been delivering remarkable contests for years and it continued Saturday with the Falcons beating the Tigers by a point thanks to ruckman Chris Keunen touching what would have been the winning goal right on the line in the dying seconds.

 

The recent history between the two clubs was remarkable already entering Saturday's clash at Claremont Oval and it certainly continued.

 

West Perth had won six of the previous seven meetings with Claremont but four of those had only been by a combined 13 points and ever since the Tigers beat the Falcons by 119 points in Round 18, 2012, every game between the two teams had been decided by 10.6 points.

 

So the stage was set for a thriller on Saturday with plenty at stake for both clubs and no more than 14 points separated them the entire afternoon.

 

That was the lead West Perth held after a Tyler Keitel goal at the 16-minute mark of the third quarter but it was always set up for a thrilling finish.

 

A goal to Haydn Busher at the 25-minute mark of the last term made the margin a point and then minutes later it was second-gamer Kaiden Gilbert trying to kick his fifth goal of the day and the winner for the Tigers.

 

His shot was on target too but just touched by 197-game veteran West Perth ruckman Chris Keunen on the goal line and the Falcons would hold on for the 9.8 (62) to 8.13 (61) victory.

 

It was an important win for West Perth too who improved to a 6-4 record as a result to remain clear in third position on the ladder.

 

As a result of the loss, Claremont remains in eighth position at 3-7 and a game and percentage still outside the top five.

 

Andrew Strijk last played for West Perth back in Round 7 when he kicked a career-best eight goals in a big win over East Fremantle. He returned to the Falcons team on Saturday and by early in the third term, had kicked another five goals and finished with 15 possessions and 10 marks.

Triple Breckler Medal winner Shane Nelson racked up another 34 possessions while Aaron Black finished with 31 disposals, Luke Meadows 27 (nine tackles), Trent Manzone 27 (six marks, six inside 50s), Blake Wilhelm 19 and Mitch Peirce 19 (nine tackles).

Chris Keunen had a solid game in the ruck with 12 touches and 28 hit outs as well as the match-saving touch on the goal line.

West Perth's back-line held up strongly including a good defensive role from Zac Guadagnin who kept Claremont's captain Ian Richardson in check in his 200th WAFL appearance. Ben King also had nine disposals and eight tackles in another strong defensive display.

Kaiden Gilbert was playing just his second game for Claremont but the 23-year-old filled the void left by the retired Beau Maister impressively kicking four goals from 14 possessions and seven marks.

Sandover Medallist Kane Mitchell racked up 33 possessions to go with six tackles for Claremont with Tom Curren producing another good showing with 27 touches and nine tackles.

Jye Bolton finished with another 27 touches and eight marks for the Tigers with Ryan Liam contributing 23 possessions and five tackles, Bailey Rogers 21 disposals and eight marks, Nick Winmar 21 touches and seven marks, Lachlan Martinis 21 possessions and Haydn Busher 20 disposals, seven tackles, six marks and a goal.

Jared Hardisty worked hard in the midfield again for 17 possessions and nine tackles with Dylan Smallwood having 17 disposals and six marks in just his second game.

Oliver Eastland had another good game in the ruck with 15 possessions, eight marks and 43 hit outs while Anton Hamp did an impressive shut down defensive role on Tyler Keitel, holding hm to just the one goal, six kicks and three marks.

It took less than a minute for Andrew Strijk to make his mark on return for West Perth having missed the last couple of games since his eight-goal haul against East Fremantle.

He kicked a goal in less than a minute to start the game and then added a second at the four-minute mark to give the Falcons a flying start before Kaiden Gilbert got Claremont on the board.

West Perth responded to that with another veteran, Jay van Berlo, kicking truly following his own five-goal haul the previous week against Peel Thunder. Claremont got a second goal of the opening term through Gilbert but West Perth was still up by six points at quarter-time.

It took 18 minutes for either side to manage a goal in the second quarter and when it came it was courtesy of Claremont captain Ian Richardson who was celebrating game No. 200. That put the Tigers in front by three points but immediately Strijk responded for West Perth.

Gilbert then hit back for the Tigers with his third goal of the first half before Strijk's fourth ensured the Falcons went into the half-time break with a four-point advantage.

By six minutes into the third term, Strijk had five goals and West Perth was up by nine points before a Claremont response courtesy of Gilbert for his fourth. Combined the pair had nine of the game's 11 goals to that point.

Consecutive goals to Steve Potente and Tyler Keitel soon had the Falcons out to a game-high 14-point lead but the Tigers weren’t going anywhere and responded through Alex Manuel and Keifer Yu to be within two points at three quarter-time.

West Perth captain Aaron Black put his team eight points up when he kicked truly before Haydn Busher goaled for Claremont at the 25-minute mark to make it a two-point game.

That set up the heart stopping finish with Gilbert's shot for goal just touched on the line by Chris Keunen and West Perth won by the solitary point.

Claremont's reserves came away with a strong 16.16 (112) to 6.4 (40) victory at Claremont Oval on Saturday against West Perth.

Brett Wilson kicked four goals for Claremont, Morgan Davies three, Nick Bucknall two and James Egan two.

Davies also racked up 30 possessions for the Tigers while Tom Shanahan picked up 24 disposals, Isaac Wallace 20, Jesse Laurie 19, Declan McNamara 18 and Jack Lewsey 17.

Conal Lynch and Dylan Yem kicked two goals apiece for West Perth.

Matt Guadagnin closed in on a league return for the Falcons with 26 possessions while Lynch gathered 23 disposals, Lachlan Johns 21, Dean Munns 20 (seven tackles), Kael Coleman 20, Max Alexander 17 and Tyson Moulton 17.

Claremont will try to bounce back and stay in the finals hunt taking on East Perth at Leederville Oval this Saturday.

 

West Perth is back to Joondalup Arena this Saturday to host a Perth team in some good form and knocking on the door of the top five despite the Falcons winning 14 in-a-row against the Demons.

 

 

CLAREMONT – Goals: Gilbert 4; Yu, Richardson, Busher, Manuel.

Best: Mitchell, Curren, Bolton, Gilbert, Busher, Winmar, Rogers.

WEST PERTH – Goals: Strijk 5; Black, van Berlo, Potente, Keitel.

Best: Strijk, Nelson, Meadows, Manzone, Black, Peirce, Wilhelm.