Mountford the pick of our Tigers crop

Former North Albany midfielder Declan Mountford was one of Claremont’s stars in their narrow seven-point loss in Saturday’s WAFL qualifying final at Fremantle Community Bank Oval.

Mountford was outstanding as the Tigers came from 25 points behind at three-quarter-time and kicked four goals in the final term to make for a tense finish.

The hardworking former North Melbourne midfielder collected 22 disposals, three inside 50s, laid eight tackles and kicked a goal to be one of his side’s best players.

Defender Dylan Smallwood, who hails from Albany, took four marks and had nine possessions in the loss.

Younger sibling Tyron Smallwood had seven touches and laid five tackles while Railways’ Matt Palfrey had only four disposals but kicked 1.1 playing as a forward.

The loss sends the Tigers league team to this Sunday’s first semifinal at Claremont Oval where they will face West Coast.

In the colts, Borden’s Anthony Davis was the only Great Southern product to play for Claremont in the qualifying final.

Davis was superb, finishing with 23 disposals, six marks and two inside 50s as the Tigers won a thriller by five points to progress to the second semifinal.

They trailed at half-time but kicked five goals to two after the long break and now face Peel Thunder for a chance to move directly into the colts decider.

Claremont’s reserves team had week one of the finals off after finishing on top, the team has a host of Great Southern talent playing.

Meanwhile last Wednesday night, Lake Grace star Nat Fyfe recieved the honour of being named the All-Australian captain.

Fyfe was picked in the All-Australian team for the third time after a stellar 2019.

North Albany product Jeremy McGovern also made the team, selected for the fourth consecutive year.

In the AFL Rising Star voting, Railways junior Jordan Clark polled four votes and Pingaring-raised Liam Baker earned two votes in the award won convincingly by Carlton’s Sam Walsh.