Tyron Smallwood and Talon Delacey strong contributors in Claremont’s opening round draw with Peel in WAFL

Four Great Southern products have featured in Claremont’s pulsating draw with Peel Thunder to kick off their 2025 WAFL campaign on Saturday.

Anthony Davies (Borden), Declan Mountford (North Albany), Tyron Smallwood (Albany, Royals and Boxwood Hill) and Talon Delacey (North Albany) were all part of the Tigers’ round one side.

The Thunder opened their premiership defence with a draw, with a furious Tigers’ comeback falling just short but giving them a share of the points at Lane Group Stadium.

Trailing by 26 points at the final interval, the Tigers stormed home late to cut the gap back inside one straight kick in the dying stages.

But in the story of their day, they could not capitalise on a litany of late opportunities, leaving them to rue a 10.19 (79) to 12.7 (79) result.

As the clock ran down, Tigers’ Jack Lewsey, Jack Musika and Austin Van Der Struyf all created tough chances to win the game but could not capitalise under immense pressure.

Both Smallwood and Delacey were named in the Tigers’ best players in the league contest.

Smallwood’s pressure was immense, laying eight tackles to go with 11 disposals and five marks.

Delacey kicked 1.3 from nine possessions and three tackles.

Without star Bailey Rogers due to an Achilles injury, reigning Sandover Medal winner Callan England (32 disposals, one goal) and Jye Bolton (24 disposals, one goal) produced huge efforts to get the visitors within inches of a win.

Hayden Young and Sean Darcy were by far the biggest names of the 11 AFL-listed players to feature for Peel, with Young booting three first-half goals from his 19 disposals.

Davis collected 16 touches, six marks, seven tackles and four inside-50s, while Tigers skipper Mountford finished with 12 disposals and six tackles.

Albany young gun George Bockman made his colts debut for Claremont on Saturday.

Bockman kicked 1.1 to go with six touches and three inside-50s as the Tigers beat the Thunder by 45 points.

Albany junior Charlie Anning won plenty of the ball, with 14 possessions and five marks.

Kaleb Germain, also hailing from Albany, kicked two goals from his 10 disposals while Albany defender Aiden Clark finished with eight touches and four marks.

In the reserves, Tom Baldwin made an impressive return to Claremont colours as they were too strong for the Thunder.

Baldwin, who played for Jerramungup and Royals, had been with Narembeen for the past couple of years before rejoining the WAFL this season.

He had 18 disposals and five marks in his first WAFL game since 2022.

Railways’ Clay Michael and North Albany’s Lucas Ravenhill also played in the reserves win.