Tigers not afraid of past history against BulldogsFriday, September 24, 2021 - 5:53 PM - by Chris Pike

CLAREMONT isn’t shying away from the hurdles they need to overcome in Sunday's WAFL preliminary final but Alex Manuel is confident the Tigers' best will be good enough as he looks for a big finish to the best season of his career.

Claremont put together a tremendous fight back to beat West Perth in Sunday's first semi-final to book in a spot in this Sunday's preliminary final against South Fremantle at Fremantle Community Bank Oval.

To say that is familiar territory to open up some recent wounds for Claremont would be a great understatement with the game being the sixth time the Tigers and Bulldogs have met in finals over the last three years.

All of them have been played at Fremantle Community Bank Oval as well and while Claremont did have the biggest win of the previous five finals between the two with the 47-point win in last year's qualifying final, the scars have been building.

South Fremantle has won the other four including last year's Grand Final by three points and then the qualifying final two weeks ago by just one point when Claremont did have a chance to snatch it after the siren.

When you throw in that South Fremantle also won the last game at the venue between the teams during this home and away season, and there's no hiding from the fact that Claremont has some mental hurdles to overcome in Sunday's preliminary final.

Claremont's leading goalkicker Alex Manuel has been there for the three finals between the Tigers and Bulldogs over the past two years, including the 2020 Grand Final.

While Claremont won't be ignoring the pain they have suffered at Fremantle Community Bank Oval in recent years, they are look at positive memories too and Manuel has some to call upon as they look to qualify for next Saturday's Grand Final against Subiaco at Optus Stadium.

"Obviously there are a few mental demons from last year there but that was a fantastic battle to be part of at the same time," Manuel told 91.3 SportFM.

"It does hold special memories for me because that's where I made my debut for Claremont and it was about eight degrees that day, and there was hail and all sorts of things going on but we did end up beating South Fremantle. Maybe that's a good omen we can call back upon too.

"It's not easy but you just try to put it into perspective that you are trying your best to get the result, and you have some new coaches and new players so it doesn’t hold true for everyone. 

"But I think the best teams with the best footballers are able to see what they've done well previously and see what they need to improve on, and take that with them moving forward. 

"I think we'll just stay process driven in regards to our preparation while knowing that our best is good enough if execute the way we want to."

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FIRST SEMI-FINAL MATCH REPORT

QUALIFYING FINAL REACTION – CLAREMONT

WAFL TEAM OF THE YEAR

FINALS ANALYSIS – CLAREMONT

Looking back to last Sunday's first semi-final at home to West Perth and Claremont had quite the hole they needed to crawl out of when the Falcons took control of the contest during the third quarter and had all the momentum.

However, Claremont found something special to close the game in inspired fashion on their home ground and it was monster 50-metre plus goals from Manuel and Jye Bolton that sealed the deal.

Manuel was proud of his Tigers teammates for fighting back to get the win and now earn another crack at South Fremantle in the preliminary final.

"A few of our supporters might have thought we were down and out when they started piling on the goals, and we were down, midway through the third but we just started to win some good ball out of the midfield," Manuel said. 

"Then particularly as a forward, you are just kind of hanging out for those inside 50s and when they come you try and make the most of them. We managed to get a few of them and capitalise in the last quarter which was good."

There were times both in Sunday's game against West Perth and then during the second half of the qualifying final against South Fremantle where Claremont just didn’t get the ball forward enough to give targets like Manuel much of a chance.

But Manuel knows that's the life as a forward and he just makes sure he's ready to make the most of any opportunities that come his way, and hopes the rest of his forward teammates have the same approach.

"I think my philosophy is that as a forward you try and ride the wave of the game. Physically as a forward you are very dependent on the midfield and back-line getting the job done," he said.

"And it can come in clusters where you can kick three goals in three minutes or you can not touch it for the rest of the day. 

"My philosophy is and what I try to preach to the rest of our forward-line is to take advantage of those opportunities when you have them, and trust in your skill set to deliver. We were able to do that as a team in the last quarter on Sunday."

Games between Claremont and South Fremantle have become relatively low-scoring, tense, physical and hard fought contests in recent times. 

Manuel feels it might be the ground itself that leads to a bit of that but Claremont will be just happy to try and win over South Fremantle no matter the way the game ends up being played on Sunday.

"We will plan for a few different scenarios but our games with South tend to also become grind out contests," Manuel said. 

"The conditions down at Fremantle Oval tend to play into that a little bit and they make it hard for you to switch and move the ball so you tend to have a lot of those contested type affairs. 

"We'll play around with a few things, though, and try to look about what we did well in the first half against them a couple of weeks ago and try to mitigate what we did poorly particularly in that third quarter of the qualifying final."

The 2021 season has been the best so far in the 69-game career of Manuel with Claremont since his 2016 debut. 

It was interrupted when he missed all of 2019 with a knee injury, but he has kicked 42 goals now in 2021, is the leader of the forward-line and is hoping the Tigers now have two more wins left in them to breakthrough for a first premiership since 2012.

"Personally it has been a really good year. I had a pretty significant knee injury a couple of years ago and then the condensed season last year meant I didn’t get a lot of continuity and momentum, but this year has been really good," Manuel said.

"It's been refreshing to play consistent, good footy and what I've most enjoyed about this year has been the leadership aspect. 

"I've kind of taken on the lead forward role down there and have been trying to help Jack Buller, Isaac Barton, Jake Patmore and Callan England, and the other guys who come down there. 

"I've tried to help us create a good team mentality down in the forward-line and that's been one of the things I've been really proud of this year and hopefully we've got two more wins ahead of us to put the cherry on top. That'd be fantastic."