ROUND 22 PREVIEW V CLAREMONT

WEST Perth might not be a chance of making the finals coming off winning last year's premiership, but a win on Saturday and the Falcons will not only end Claremont's finals hopes, but also replace the Tigers in fifth position on the ladder.

Without question, West Perth will be wanting to finish the 2014 season off on a high note and having won a tight battle with Peel last Saturday in Mandurah, another win over Claremont on Saturday with Perth to come in the final round could see the Falcons do that.

West Perth will also want to play well to see off retiring stars Dan Hunt and Anthony Tsalikis in the final two matches of their decorated careers with youngsters Kris Shannon, Luke Meadows, Max Alexander, Mitch van Berlo, Ben King and Brayden Antonio all looking to continue to impress.

Claremont remains the slimmest of slim chances of still qualifying for the WAFL finals of 2014 meaning the Tigers have everything to play for when hosting the out of contention reigning premiers West Perth at the Showground on Saturday.

The Tigers made a horror start to the 2014 season losing six of their first eight matches by an average of 65 points, but they have done a tremendous job since winning their last four matches on the trot, and seven of their last 10 overall.

That sees Claremont now sit on a 9-9 record on the season but to be able to sneak into the top four the Tigers will need a remarkable last fortnight. Not only will Claremont need to beat both West Perth and East Perth, but also hope that East Fremantle loses to both Swan Districts and Subiaco.

However, those results on their own won't be enough with Claremont also needing to make up a near 250-point gap between itself and East Fremantle.

It's highly unlikely that will eventuate, but either way Claremont must be commended for the job it has done to finish the season in such outstanding form and the Tigers will be looking to win a fifth straight match against West Perth this Saturday.

Claremont and West Perth have already met twice in the 2014 season with a win apiece.

The Tigers scored a 12-point win at Joondalup's HBF Arena back in Round 2 with the Tigers kicking the only two goals of the final quarter before torrential rain poured down.

The Falcons then hit back with a nine-point victory over the Tigers at the Showground in Round 11.

Steve Potente goes out of the West Perth side that beat Peel Thunder in Mandurah last Saturday after his second game back in the league team following a knee injury.

Corey Chalmers, Ben McNamara, Joe Morrow and Drew Rohde are the four players fighting to come into the West Perth line-up to take on Claremont.

Last week in West Perth's big reserves win over Peel, Chalmers collected 13 possessions, McNamara had 14, Morrow 15 and Rohde 16.

Claremont has some key players set to return to take on West Perth most notably young forward Brenden Abbott and Andrew Foster.

Abbott missed last week's clash with Subiaco but is set to return for his 14th league appearance of the season and the potential draftee will be looking to add to his 17 goals so far in 2014.

Dual premiership player Foster has had another good season for Claremont and the 140-game star looks set to return after missing the win over Subiaco last week as well.

Veteran Matt Orzel is also a chance to earn a call up after responding to being dropped last week with 20 possessions and 10 tackles in the reserves.

Dean Blackwell is a chance to make his league debut as well after consistently solid form in the reserves in 2014 with Timm House also a possible debutant for the Tigers.

Sam Fong and Jack Richardson are the two players named out of the Claremont team that beat Subiaco so far with Fong having just 15 possessions last week, and Richardson five.

Meanwhile, in the reserves West Perth can secure second position on the ladder heading into the finals with a win over the fourth-placed Claremont on Saturday.

And in the colts, West Perth can move into the top-four with a win over the second-placed Claremont if East Perth loses to Peel.

However, if both West Perth and East Perth wins, the Falcons will then need to beat Perth in the final round and hope the Royals lose to the Tigers to then make the finals.

RESERVES TEAM
D Acres, J Batterham, C Branch, K Egan, J Embley, M Fowler, M Geraghty, P Harvey, S Healy, M Johnson, J Kirwen, A Lynch, T Manzone, S Marusic, M McPhee, J Mills, S Money, B O'Regan, D Sorgiovanni, J Thrum, B Walton, B Wilhelm, T Young, S Zanetti

COLTS TEAM
N Alexandre, A Allen, M Antonio, M Ashfield, M Douglas, K Fullgrabe, J Gray, C Hinchcliffe, J Horgan, A Innes, C Lynch, T Manners, W Michell, T Moulton, B Mountford, D Munns, S Nelson, J Nolan, M Peirce, G Popzeleff, D Robertson, J Rotham, S Rotham, J Sheehan-Nel, A Smith, J Turner, M Walley