Round 15 WAFL Wrap

LEAGUE 

Peel Thunder 9.12 (66) lost to Claremont 11.9 (75)

Disappointing.

We clearly were the dominant side yesterday. All the relevant KPi’s would indicate that the result should have been a win to Peel.

Eighty-eight more disposals, 48 more kicks, 40 more handballs, six more inside 50’s, more contested and uncontested ball, more marks and the list goes on.

So we are doing much right, just need to put the icing on the cake.

Areas that we need to get better at are conversion, and limiting opposition goals from out turnovers.

We had many good players on the weekend.

Young was excellent across half back along with Watson and Duman in defence.Thorne, Randall, Hancock and Blakely really strong through the middle and Western and Cullen worked strongly up front.

We have been very consistent with our form and the effort of the players is strong each week.

We look forward to taking that consistency into this weeks game v WP.

COLTS

Friday night football was on the menu as Peel took on Claremont at David Grays Arena. Both teams had lost players to the State program during the week so the form of both sides could be tossed to the side in this match up. The Thunder had drawn confidence from a close win last week while Claremont were big winners against South Fremantle.

Peel started the match shakily with skill errors resulting in easy Claremont goals, giving the visitors a 20-point head start at quarter time. The second term saw the home team steady and with a little more accuracy would have been closer than the four-goal half time deficit.

The second half saw Claremont pepper the goals more than Peel, but each side only managed three goals apiece, 3.3 to 3.8 and the Tigers coming away with a comfortable 29-point victory. While the match itself didn’t flatter the Thunder in any way, the key stat that cost the side was having nearly 60-points coming off turnover, showing that poorly skilled football is bad football. Ultimately a chance to get four points went begging.

Here are some of the more consistent performers over four quarters for the Thunder:

1. Michael Sellwood – come back into the side after a long stint playing PSA football. His aggression at the contest is always welcome and he found the ball with regularity finishing with 23-disposals, five-tackles and a goal.
2. Cooper Osbourne – with the Tigers amounting 47-inside 50’s the young defender was under pressure for much of the game but stood up winning many of his one-on-one contests and using the ball well out of defence. Finished with 21-touches and a number of spoils in a solid outing.
3. Owen Davidson – fresh out of the reserves the one thing that stands out is his competitive nature, reflected in his 22-hit out performance. His work rate around the ground was outstanding, regularly getting back to fill holes in defence and pressing forward when the opportunity arose. The young man has a lot to like and when he begins to clunk more marks he can be a genuine player. Not bad for a debut.

An opportunity missed, but the boys get a chance to hit the road and make the longest journey in the WAFL and play West Perth in Joondalup, a match up that pits the 7^th placed Falcons and 8^th placed Thunder. Hopefully a win can be banked this coming Saturday.