Mt Barker’s Darcy Wallinger makes terrific WAFL debut, Talon Delacey shines for Claremont in opening round

Mt Barker star Darcy Wallinger made a sizzling debut for his new club, shining in Peel Thunder colours in round one of the WAFL season. Wallinger who emerged as one of the dominant players in the Great Southern Football League last year, joined the Thunder in the off-season. In 2025, Wallinger won the GSFL coaches’ player of the year award by 15 votes and was a joint runner-up in the Albany Advertiser footballer of the year gong. After completing pre-season with the club and featuring in two league practice games, Wallinger played reserves in the opening round of WAFL competition. The 23-year-old was among the Thunder’s best players in a 69-point thumping of East Fremantle at Lane Group Stadium on Good Friday. Wallinger finished with 20 disposals, four marks, four tackles and three inside-50s in a very promising debut performance. He was joined in the side by Darcy Clarke, who also played with the Bulls last year. Clarke was an integral part of the Bulls midfield, travelling to play with the club. Having played with Peel previously, Clarke is back in familiar colours and collected 12 touches and five marks. The pair will be a big loss for the Bulls, who were preliminary finalists last season. North Albany product Alex Pearce has rejoined Claremont and was immediately in the thick of the action, impressing for their league side on Saturday. Pearce started his WAFL career with Claremont before spending two seasons with East Perth and then going back to the Perth Football League in 2025, playing A-grade with University. The 24-year-old ball magnet is back in the State league and racked up 28 possessions, 10 marks and three tackles as the Tigers ran rampant with a 74-point win over West Perth. Fellow North Albany junior Talon Delacey was arguably the most influential player on the ground, with four goals, 24 disposals and 10 marks. He and ex-Essendon key forward Jaiden Hunter finished with four majors each in the opening round mauling. Declan Mountford, who stepped down as captain in the off-season, had eight touches and three inside-50s while Borden’s Anthony Davis and Albany’s Keiran Gowdie were also in the Tigers’ league side for round one. There is a strong contingent of Great Southern players on Claremont’s colts list and midfielder Cooper Edwards has been named co-captain of the side. Mt Barker’s Jared Ballard and North Albany’s Regan Christensen both made their WAFL colts debuts on Saturday, as the Tigers were narrow seven-point winners over the Falcons. Albany junior Charlie Anning led the way for the Great Southern players, booting two majors to go with his nine touches and three marks. Railways’ Robert Farmer kicked 1.2 and laid six tackles while Edwards finished with eight possessions. Christensen took four marks and had seven disposals and Ballard had three touches. Tambellup-bred Tylah Williams, who is on West Coast’s AFL list, kicked a goal from 14 disposals in the Eagles WAFL side. The Eagles were 65-point losers against Perth and ex-North Albany midfielder Corey Hitchcock also played for the Eagles, collecting 11 possessions. Railways junior Jacob Blight has returned to the WAFL after being delisted by Richmond. Blight was a strong contributor for Subiaco in their seven-point league win over East Perth. He took six marks and had 14 disposals in the back half. Lucas Ravenhill, who hails from North Albany, was among Claremont’s best players in the reserves. Ravenhill finished with 14 touches, four marks, five tackles, four inside-50s and one goal in a heavy defeat. Meanwhile in the WAFLW, Great Southern trio Taylah Orzel (Royals), Emma Henderson (Denmark-Walpole) and Megan Green (Royals) all played in Claremont’s tense two-point win over West Perth in round two on Friday. Katanning’s Zoe Keley, who played in the GSFLW competition with Mt Barker, was superb for her new WAFLW side East Fremantle. Keley has made the switch to the Sharks and was dominant in round two with 21 disposals, 10 tackles and 32 hit outs as they easily beat Peel Thunder on Friday. Denmark-Walpole’s Esme MacDonald and North Albany’s Mabel Markey were named in the best players for Claremont in the Rogers Cup. The Tigers beat the Falcons by 37 points with Indi Coates-Ahomiro (Denmark-Walpole) kicked two of her side’s nine goals while Pippa Wilson (North Albany) also booted a major.