WAFL WEEKLY REVIEW | ROUND 5

Peel Thunder v Swan Districts 

League

Our League side jumped into second spot on the ladder after a 62-point win against Swan Districts at Lane Group Stadium. 

Captain Ben Hancock led the charge 33 disposals, 6 tackles and 1 goal in a best on ground performance. The midfield once again got on top with the big bodies of Riley Smith, Will Brodie, Brady Grey and Blair Bell playing a pivotal role in getting the 4 points.

Our defence continues to limit opposition scores, holding Swan Districts to just 2 goals after the half time break. Pinjarra born Jacob Blight continues to improve as a key defender, whilst Joel Hamling and Nathan Wilson are providing great leadership.

Blair Bell, Jonothan Ietto, Tom Emmett and Brody Wemm all finished with 2 majors on the day. 

Both Ben Hancock & Blair Bell were named in the WAFC  Round 5 - Team of the Week for their efforts against Swans.

Reserves

Our Reserves had their first win of the season knocking off an undefeated Swan Districts side in impressive style.

The win was brought about by an exciting style of play with ball in hand and great intensity around the contest, led by midfielders Tyrone Thorne, Haydn Matthews and Aidan Hare.

Michael Sellwood was dominant down back as he continues an outstanding start to his Senior career, whilst Guy Barnes and Luen Colton were dangerous in attack all day.

COLTS
 

Peel 8.15 63 def Swan Districts 6.9 45

For the first time since Round Two the Thunder found themselves back on home turf to take on Swan Districts, fresh from a comprehensive victory over South Fremantle the previous week and looking to cash in on some early season form and turn them into victories. The match would be a heavily contested affair in some tough conditions, with the wind playing havoc with players in possession of the ball. While skill execution was slightly down, the hunger for the contest was up and a four quarter effort saw Peel do enough to take four points in what was a workman-like effort.

The Good

• Inside 50’s – To have 55 inside 50’s for a Colts game is outstanding. We also had a high portion of those get inside 20 metres from goal, showing we are starting to get some better quality entries in front of goal. Forwards playing in front was key in this occurring and they reaped some of the rewards as a result.
• Something Old, Something New – The usual suspects of Mitch Edwards, Clay Hall, Reece Torrent and Jackson Klepzig showed the way for the home side, but there was some encouraging support from newcomers Jy Bolton (18 possessions, 1 goal) and Joel Brown (10 possessions, 3 scoring shots). Across the board there was contributions from all players which was the most pleasing aspect from the game.

The Bad

• Accuracy – only 58% possession efficiency combined with 8 goals from 23 scoring shots showed we lacked a little polish. Fortunately, effort was up and made up for any inefficiencies we had with ball in hand.

We move into our first bye of the season at 2-3. A good couple of weeks ahead to refresh the body and work on our game. Phase two is a tough four-game stint where we will need to be at our best but with the trust and belief we have shown this week, we will be tough competition for any squad.

Our League side face off against West Coast Eagles WAFL, May 13th. 
Both our Reserves and Colts team have a bye this weekend before travelling north to play West Perth on May 27th.