Declan Mountford praises strong Great Southern contingent as Claremont prepare for two senior prelim finals

Claremont captain Declan Mountford has plenty of belief that his side can turn around two ordinary performances against their preliminary final rivals East Fremantle and reach a second grand final in three years. The Tigers will start outsiders in Sunday’s league preliminary final, having lost to the Sharks by 48 points in the qualifying final earlier this month and they were also smacked by 45 points in their round 19 clash in late August. However, Mountford, who hails from Manypeaks in the Great Southern, said the group had learnt plenty from the two heavy defeats and are excited by the chance to take down the Sharks on their home ground. “Obviously it is a bit strange, we have played them twice in a month and they’ve belted us both times,” Mountford said. “Firstly they are a very good team. “We haven’t played anywhere near our best brand against them and internally we know that. “(To win) we have got to get back to basics a bit more and we’ve been outhunted around the ball a couple of times. “We’ve been beaten by a more desperate, hungry side and we know that in a big final, the pressure will be up and those 50-50s and crucial moments we have to win. “We know that if we play our brand, we are capable of winning. “This is probably the first week it’s really hit me that all we need to do is win two games “It’s pretty exciting to think two wins and you get your name up on the wall and all go down in club history.” A preliminary final win would get the Tigers into their second grand final in three seasons, as they chase a first flag since 2012. The Sharks have not played in a grand final since the loss to the Tigers in 2012 and their premiership drought stretches back to 1998. The Tigers are hopeful of regaining speedster Ben Edwards who was a late withdrawal from their impressive 59-point first semifinal win over Peel Thunder on Sunday. North Albany product Talon Delacey was the call-up for Edwards and was among five Great Southern players in the successful Tigers team. Mountford made special mention of the Great Southern contingent playing seniors for the Tigers. “I’m really proud to be from down that way at the minute,” he said. “We all feel like we’re contributing and there is probably 10-15 of us running around in the seniors at the minute. “I haven’t looked at the stats but I’d say it’s probably the biggest representation from a country region at any WAFL club. “We have two teams in prelim finals and some of that thanks goes to the Great Southern boys.” Mountford (North Albany), Tyron Smallwood (Royals and Albany), Anthony Davis (Borden), Timm House (Gnowangerup) and Delacey (North Albany) played in the league semifinal win. Morgan Davies, who played with Albany and Royals, made an impressive return from a serious foot injury to play his first game of the season in the Tigers reserves side who went down in the second semifinal. Great Southern products Jacob Blight (Railways), Alex Pearce (North Albany), Bailey Bennett (Railways), Kieran Gowdie (Albany) and Coen Jackman (Railways) also played reserves last week. The Tigers do battle with the Sharks at 2.10pm on Sunday at New Choice Homes Park. Their reserves will face Subiaco at 11.35am for a spot in the grand final.