By John Townsend

Claremont and Anthony Davis had been waiting 10 weeks to get their claws into Subiaco.

Pressure tested and found wanting in round 3 – with the Tigers going down in a manner familiar to Claremont supporter over the past decade and Davis giving up five goals to Ryan Borchet – there was a steely resolve in the camp to rectify that recent history in their return to Revo Fitness Stadium on Saturday.

“Ash (Prescott) spoke about it during the week about how they hurt us last game,” Davis said after his team produced another nail-biting win in this season of nail-biting wins.

“As soon as we finished the game last week we turned straight to Subi and what we had to do to beat them.”

The result was victory by seven points, 10.14 (74) to 10.7 (67), and the first consecutive home wins over their archrival since 2011 – also the last season the Tigers won a grand final cat fight against the Lions.

Davis scored his maiden league goal and first at any level since the 2019 colts grand final when he landed a long bomb from outside the 50m arc during Claremont’s vibrant first term but was most pleased with keeping the dangerous Borchet to just one goal.

“He got me last time so I set my sights on doing a really good job this week,” he said.

“He’s really good in the air so I tried to shut that down as much as I could.”

Davis’ success was paired with full-back Jack Maibaum’s ability to keep dual Bernie Naylor medallist Ben Sokol scoreless for the first time in four seasons.

Claremont’s path to victory was different to recent weeks but their methodology was built on the same foundation – strong work in the ruck and ferocious defensive efforts to win the ball before running hard to create opportunities for the versatile forward line.

Claremont have provided considerable value for money for their spectators in recent weeks.

They produced miraculous wins after overcoming deficits of 39 points (East Perth), 38 (Swan Districts) and 23 (Peel) but tried a different approach this time to keep their supporters on the edge of their seats.

A blazing start helped the Tigers lead by 36 points early in the second term before the disciplined and motivated Subiaco came home strongly in the second half to peg back five goals.

Stefan Giro and Ben Golding goals at the start of the last quarter cut the margin to less than two kicks but the Claremont defence held firm and were prepared to heed Prescott’s final message to “take the game on” whenever they could.

The final 15 minutes were marked by remarkable defensive efforts though there was no surprise that Talon Delacey, the hero against Peel with a last minute speccy and goal, again rose to the occasion with a stunning one-handed contested mark and neat kick to provide valuable breathing space.

 A set-shot miss from close range prevented Delacey extending to eight matches his streak of multiple goals but he is setting a high bar for his team-mates.

His efforts were complemented by twin strikes by fellow small forwards Zac Mainwaring and Anthony Treacy while Tyron Smallwood landed a single but produced one of the plays of the season to help extend the lead to its highest point.

After a desperate smother on the wing prevented Wil Hickmott taking Subiaco into attack, Smallwood recovered the loose ball and hand-passed to captain Dec Mountford whose pass found Treacy leading hard into space.

Treacy’s accurate kick then supplied a 36-point lead and validated Prescott’s mantra of “attack built on defence”.

The stoppers – Maibaum and Davis (20 disposals) – were outstanding, the spreaders – Jack Lewsey (15 disposals), Callan England (19) and Joel Western (16) – had season-best performances, and the seasoned mids – Mountford (15 kicks and seven tackles) and Jye Bolton (25 disposals) – maintained their considerable impact.

Ollie Eastland (34 hit-outs) beat Sandover Medal fancy Zac Clarke (33) in the ruck, though the Subiaco veteran lifted his rating and his team in the second half, while the forwards proved too numerous and varied to stop.

Bailey Rogers (10 possessions and one goal) was eased back as a permanent forward in his comeback from an ankle injury while fellow State midfielder Ben Edwards was busy in the reserves.

And talls Timm House and Kieran Gowdie should return in coming weeks.

Claremont 5.2 7.6 9.11 10.14 74

Subiaco 1.4 3.5 6.5 10.7 67

Goals – Claremont: Treacy, Mainwaring 2; Rogers, Smallwood, Delacey, Davis, Manuel, Western.

Subiaco: Schofield, Walters, Golding 2; Borchet, Braut, Giro, J Faraone.

Best – Claremont: Eastland, Maibaum, Davis, Mountford, England, Lewsey, Bolton, Miles, Western.

Subiaco: McGowan, Schofield, Giro, Golding, Clarke, Hickmott.