A desperate win for Claremont this weekend put them back in the lead for the race for second spot with a 32-point victory over East Perth on Saturday.

Their early season success is paying dividends, providing a percentage safety net following a streak of poor form.

The Tigers had lost four out of their previous five matches before this weekend – the Royals also the first team this year to hand Claremont a loss in round 7.

Claremont looked to be in control of the match holding a 22-point lead going into the second half, but the Royals kicked an accurate 4.0 in the third quarter to bring the margin back to two goals at the end of the third term.

Four more goals from the visitors in the fourth was enough to hang on to the lead and get them over the line.

Currently holding a 10-game win streak, Peel are looking to have the top spot locked up – the race for a home qualifying final headlining the back end of the home and away season.

Tigers half back, Sam Alvarez, joined Sports Breakfast this morning.

“It was huge for us. They certainly had our number over the last couple of meetings, but it was really important for us. We were in a bit of a rut there, so we had to get out and start the back end of the season well,” he said.

“We sort of let ourselves down and conceived easy goals across those five games with just really basic structural breakdowns which led to goals.

“We need to go five-and-o these last five.”

Coach Ashley Prescott has been forced to move some magnets due to a recent stint of injuries – Alvarez putting up a performance to look back on with 30 touches and two goals as he spent time on the wing.

Callan England sat out over the weekend after he suffered a minor knee injury in Claremont’s previous loss to South Fremantle.

Co-captain Bailey Rogers spent three weeks off recently with a calf injury but came back into the side and put up 26 disposals and a goal against the Royals.

“It’s never ideal when your best players are missing, but it does really test your depth.”

“We’ve had a number of players sort of come in over the last handful of weeks… they’ve had really good form in the ressies all year and they come in and it looks like they haven’t missed a beat, so we trust them fully.

“I think if you asked him [Callan England] today, he’d probably be trying to get up for this week, but hopefully by the end of the season [he’ll return]. He’s doing all the right things and he hates watching footy and hates missing games so he’ll be back as soon as he can.”

Anthony Davis is another key player who’s absence between rounds 8 and 13 may have proven costly – he had an impact on Saturday with 23 touches and a major.

The side’s depth has been tested with Zac Mainwaring spending more time in the middle and players like Joseph Hopkyns stepping up from the reserves side.

He had 12 disposals, four marks, five tackles and an inside 50 on an impressive league debut performance.

20-year-old Jasper Peace has been turning heads down back with a career high 19 touches over the weekend and eight marks – he’s scheduled to play his 50th match this weekend.

“You don’t have to watch him to realise that he’s probably too good for this level.”

“I think he’s only in his third year and he came fifth in the BNF or something like that last year… He shuts down the best full forward every week and even on the weekend I think he was talking about how it was a career high disposal count for him.”

The Tigers face a struggling West Perth side next weekend before taking on a rather gifted run home – they face none of the sides currently sitting in the top four for the rest of the year.

IMAGE: WA Football