By John Townsend

The best five minutes of Tyron Smallwood’s career have helped deliver the victory that steered Claremont back into second place and could underwrite their bid for a home final next month.

Smallwood landed three of his career-best five goals during a late blitz in the 81-point win over Perth that provided a valuable percentage booster for the surging Tigers.

One more win will guarantee Claremont a place in the finals with the minor premiership still available if the Tigers can make up half a game on top team West Perth in the remaining three rounds.

Smallwood produced an excellent display of small-forward craft during his last quarter burst that was a key contribution to the 18.14 (122) to 6.5 (41) win that helped Claremont retain the Pyke Cup at Mineral Resources Park on Saturday.

He ran down Jye Clark to convert a free kick from 45 metres, landed a long bomb after playing on from a mark inside the centre square and was then legged close to goals after crumbing superbly from a marking contest.

The three strikes, allied with two first-half goals, gave the Albany product the first five-goal haul of a career that has stretched to 43 league appearances after starting in 2018.

And he helped his team-mates respond to coach Ashley Prescott’s demand for a strong finish to the game.

With the game virtually decided at the last break, Prescott urged his team to take full toll in the last term and was delighted that the response restricted Perth to just one behind while Claremont kicked seven goals themselves.

The success also extended Prescott’s record to 13 wins from the 13 matches he has coached against the Demons.

While Smallwood had a day out and key forward Jack Buller kicked three majors to move into the league’s top eight goal-scorers this season, the victory was built on the performances of Claremont’s dominant and versatile on-ball brigade.

Prolific stars Jye Bolton (33 disposals and 1.3) and Bailey Rogers (28 and 2.1) waxed between the midfield and forward line but it was the emergence of Ronin O’Connor from the shadows of the two Sandover medallists that provided the most pleasing aspect of the game.

O’Connor spent two years at Adelaide, not playing a match during his first COVID-restricted season and just three senior games for the Crows last year, and has been on a steady but unspectacular development path since returning to Claremont.

That path turned into a highway on Saturday.

Tasked with the job of closing down important Perth opponent Corey Byrne, O’Connor confirmed he is poised to join the league’s most influential midfielders by producing the best performance of his brief WAFL career.

He kept Byrne to 16 touches while gathering a career-high 31 disposals that were highlighted by the cleanliness of his ball-handling and precision of his decision-making.

O’Connor’s shining display in the pivot was complemented by prolific contributions from wingmen Declan Mountford (23 disposals including nine inside 50 entries) and Ryan Lim (30 and seven).

The Claremont midfield now boasts two Sandover medallists, several other members with AFL list experience and a group of State players like Lim and Ben Edwards.

And it does not include the dashing Ben Elliott, who returned in the reserves on Saturday after a period out to recover from spinal stress fractures.

Claremont also lost livewire forwards Patrick Kitchener and Laurence Evans to Covid but were well-served by their replacements in Talon Delacey and Zac Mainwaring who each kicked a goal and will provide Prescott with a pleasing selection dilemma before the important match against Peel this week.

CLAREMONT 2.4 9.8 11.11 18.14 122

PERTH 1.2 2.4 6.4 6.5 41

GOALS – CLAREMONT: 5 T Smallwood; 3 J Buller; 2 B Rogers, A Manuel; 1 D Mountford, J Bolton, T House, O Eastland, T Delacey, Z Mainwaring.

PERTH: 2 S Stubbs; 1 A Fisher, S Perkusich, D Baldwin-Wright, C Martin.   

BEST – CLAREMONT: R O’Connor, T Smallwood, R Lim, D Mountford, B Rogers, J Bolton, L Martinis.

PERTH: S Stubbs, M Taylor, A Fisher, A Davis.