Peel Thunder have opened their premiership defence with a draw, with a furious Claremont comeback falling just short but allowing them to take a share of the points at Lane Group Stadium.
Trailing by 26 points at the final interval, the Tigers stormed home late to cut the gap back inside one straight kick in the dying stages.
But in the story of their day, they could not capitalise on a litany of late opportunities, leaving them to rue a 10.19 (79) to 11.7 (79) result.
As the clock ran down, Tigers Jack Lewsey, Jack Musika and Austin Van Der Struyf all created tough chances to win the game but could not capitalise under immense pressure.
Without star Bailey Rogers due to an Achilles injury, reigning Sandover Medal winner Callan England (32 disposals, one goal) and Jye Bolton (24 disposals, one goal) produced huge efforts to get the visitors within inches of a win.
Hayden Young and Sean Darcy were by far the biggest names of the 11 AFL-listed players to feature for Peel, with Young booting three first-half goals from his 19 disposals.
Cooper Simpson (30 disposals) was the other Docker to majorly impress, starring in his new half-back role.
Facing down a 26-point deficit at the top of the final term, the Tigers made all the running early, coming up with early goals through Ben Elliot and Jaiden Hunter to cut their deficit back.
As some light rain began to teem down, Bolton stepped up to nail a 50m set shot cut the gap back inside one straight kick.
Corey Tregenza received a free kick at the top of the goal square from a rare Peel inside-50 entry to restore Peel’s buffer but Zac Mainwaring quickly responded to set up a grandstand finish.
The Tigers dominated the early proceedings, with Alec Waterman snapping their opener before Hunter — recruited by the Tigers over the off-season after an 18-month spell at Essendon which was cruelled by back and knee injuries — kicked his first goal for the club.
Peel had only a sole inside-50 entry in the game’s first 15 minutes but were sparked to life by a clever Scott Tuia goal, with Young following up by snapping truly after strong one-on-one mark.
An arm-wrestle of a second term was in need of some individual quality and found it through Tuia, who found space to slot his second of the day before spotting up Fremantle prospect Aiden Riddle for his first goal at league level moments later.
The visitors broke the Thunder’s run of five straight goals through Talon Delacey and Elliott brought the gap back inside one straight kick with a brilliant boundary line finish, but the Thunder responded with the next four goals — a run capped off by two brilliant finishes from Young — to take a 28-point lead into the main break.
As the wind blowing to their end of the ground picked up in the third term, the Tigers had the ball hemmed in at their own end for most of the quarter but could only come up with two goals from their eight scoring shots.
SCOREBOARD
PEEL THUNDER: 3.0, 9.3, 11.7, 12.7 (79)
CLAREMONT: 2.4, 4.5, 6.11, 10.19 (79)
Goals – PEEL THUNDER: C Tregenza 3 H Young 3 S Tuia 2 A Riddle J Sears B Hancock J Ahearn.
CLAREMONT: B Elliott 2 J Hunter 2 A Waterman T Delacey M Minear C England J Bolton Z Mainwaring.
Best – PEEL THUNDER: H Young S Tuia C Simpson W Brodie J Aish.
CLAREMONT: C England J Bolton B Elliott A Davis J Lewsey.
Injuries – PEEL THUNDER: O Murphy, J Delean replaced in selected side by W Brodie, L Reidy (AFL). CLAREMONT: G Graham (knee).
Umpires: C Snadden J Antulov B Evans D Cox. Crowd: About 1500 at Lane Group Stadium.