COUNTRY TRIP WORTH THE EFFORT

WEST Perth came away with the points against Claremont at Kulin on Saturday in a terrific game of football but there was much more to the day than the game. The hospitality of the locals was tremendous, premiership players Simon Duckworth and Marc Crisp, who both play for Kulin, ran water for the league team, and Rod Duckworth, the father of West Perth players Simon, Regan and Brayden helped out as a trainer.

Throw into this mix the attendance of WAFL legends Bill Dempsey, John O’Connell and Graham Moss as well as a number of supporters who travelled by bus and car and you have the hallmarks of a wonderful day; which it was. It was a very good game of football that literally had locals on the edge of their seats until the dying seconds.

The first quarter set the tone with each team kicking four goals each. The first went to Claremont tall forward, Darcy Cameron, who kicked the first of his four at the one-minute mark. The Falcons steadied to kick the next three with the first two going to Andrew Strijk who was moved forward. His strong marking and kicking was a danger to the Claremont defence all day. Jay van Berlo hit the scoreboard and midway through the term West Perth led by 13 points.

But in one of the many momentum swings that occurred during the game Claremont steadied to kick the next two and lead by one going into time on. Max Duffy kicked a difficult one from the boundary 40 out but the last score of the quarter went to Claremont vice-captain, Ryan Neates, who kicked his second from 20 metres out after receiving a free. This gave the Tigers a 4.2 (26) to 4.1 (25) quarter-time advantage.

The Falcons dominated the second quarter except for the last four minutes. Drew Rohde, who played a terrific game off half-back, kicked the first after receiving two 50m penalties. Strijk followed up with his third before Claremont hit the scoreboard to reduce the margin to six. This was the only blip on the Falcon radar until the 27-minute mark as they controlled the play and added two more to lead by 20 at that time.

Strijk snapped his fourth after taking the ball off hands at a throw in and big man, Mark Hamilton, soccered one from close in. It is hard to explain the four minutes from the 28-minute mark but suffice to say the Tigers took control to kick four goals in four minutes and as a result take an unlikely four point lead into the main break. They led 9.2 (56) to 8.4 (52).

Beau Maister kicked his third for Claremont early in the third term before Joel Leeson scored the first of his four second half goals after receiving a 50 and then Kody Manning scored his first from the square. The one-point lead was short lived, however, as Claremont were quick to reply but when Leeson scored his second at the 19-minute mark West Perth had once again regained the lead in the seesawing contest. Claremont finished the term best, by scoring the last two majors of the term. One of these was a third to Cameron. At the final change the visitors help a handy nine-point lead; 13.3 (81) to 11.6 (72).

At the five-minute mark, Cameron kicked his fourth to give the Tigers a 14-point lead and as a result the task was well and truly in front of the Falcons. To their credit they did dig deep and after five minutes of good pressure were rewarded with a third to Leeson, after he received 50. The deficit was now nine, but the Falcons continued to attack scoring two behinds before Manning kicked his second when he dribbled one through from the pocket. At the 18-minute mark scores were tied up after a rushed behind. The last 10 minutes promised to be highly entertaining and this proved to be the case. Three minutes later some good work by key defender, Nick Rodda, enabled Leeson to mark 40 out. He kicked accurately to score his fourth and more importantly give West Perth a six-point lead. It rounded off a very good second half that saw him awarded the trophy for being best on ground.

The pace of the game was frenetic and it reached a climax when former Falcon, Mitch Andrews, was given a free-kick and awarded a 50m penalty. As a result, he scored from the goal line and tied up the game once again. The ball spent a lot of time in the Claremont forward-line as West Perth defended as if their season depended on it. At the 28-minute mark the Falcons went forward and Leeson scrambled a behind to give them the lead. Claremont once again went forward but it was repelled and West Perth went into attack. They kept the ball in and Michael Lourey kicked a major from the goal line as the siren sounded. It was great to be on the right side of the score at the end of a very good game of football. The final scores were West Perth 15.11 (101) to Claremont 15.4 (94).

The Falcons needed to kick their highest score of the year to hold off the Tigers but the win now gives them a 3-4 record ahead of a return to HBF Arena against Peel on Saturday. There is no doubt that the return of Shane Nelson and Kody Manning, as well as the development of players such as Drew Rohde, Luke Meadows and Dean Munns will help the Falcons build into the year. Players to receive awards included second-gamer Dean Munns, Shane Nelson, Drew Rohde and best was Luke Meadows. It was a long bus trip of four hours there and four hours back with the bus arriving at HBF Arena at 11.30pm. The players then had a recovery session at 9.30am Sunday morning before attending the reserves game. This gives an insight of the dedication required by the players, at all levels, who represent the West Perth Football Club.

BY DARRELL KENT
PHOTOS BY BELINDA TAYLOR