Peel Thunder Football Club

The 2009 AFL Draft saw Peel Thunder Players Anthony Morabito and Aaron Black arrive on the scene in style, with both players selected within the top 25 picks.

Morabito, the HBL prodigy, has long been considered hot property by all AFL recruiters and he proved them excellent judges as Fremantle used their first selection (number 4 overall) to secure the excitement machine as the first Western Australian to be taken in the 2009 AFL Draft.

The top ten selections are highly prized and this was certainly emphasised by the AFL this year with the top ten being counted down from ten to one for the very first time in a made for television format.

Morabito has proceeded down the path of an elite footballer with dual State 18 honours in 2008 and 2009, including being a member of the undefeated WA Championship team this year and was a former AIS AFL Academy Scholarship holder in 2007, one of only 30 place available each year nationally.

Anthony processes height (191cm), silky kicking skills, extreme agility and is super quick with a mature body that most believe will be capable of playing at the top level in his very first year of AFL. He has already proven to be something special in his ten WAFL League games with the Mighty Thunder since debuting late in 2008.

 As he heads to the Dockers, he will meet up with former team mate Hayden Ballantyne and it is even rumoured that he will be sharing a house with the 2008 Sandover Medallist for the first few weeks of the Pre-season. With these two Thunder boys on board, the Purple Haze might just be a fair bit clearer for 2010 in their quest for a return to Finals action.

The runaway train of the 2009 AFL Draft was certainly Aaron Black, he has tread a very different path to the AFL than Morabito. Being virtually unknown at the beginning of the 2009 Season, Black produced some devastating performance in the forward half for the Peel Thunder Colts.

His Round 13 demolition job of East Perth netted him 29 disposals, 14 marks, 4 tackles, 6 goals, 4 behinds and all this from Full Forward in an effort that made all AFL Clubs sit up and take note.

Originally from Eaton Boomers and having a strong basketball background, this typical country boy is one out of the box as his height, strong marking ability, accurate kicking style and sensational agility makes it near on impossible for any defender to keep him quite. This type of result had more and more recruiters attending Peel Thunder games and also earned Aaron selection in our League team for the last three WAFL rounds of 2009.

By the time Draft Camp arrived, Aaron was like the preverbal avalanche gathering enormous momentum about a possible AFL career that saw all 16 AFL Clubs book interviews with “Blackie”, a fact that is only achieved by very, very few players indeed.

Draft day ensured the 192cm forward would have to pack his bags and move to North Melbourne under new coach Brad Scott in the new look Arden Street $15 million facility.
Obviously highly regarded by the Kangaroos, as they have just issued Aaron with the Number 35 Jumper made famous by Coleman Medallist and Premiership Player, John Longmire. When Aaron arrives at North, he will be able to get to know and be influenced by former Peel Thunder Player Daniel Wells.

It certainly proves exciting times for both boys. We hope all Peel Thunder supporters will get behind them and wish them well in their fledgling careers and we all should take great pride in the fact that our Club has played a huge part in their journeys to the AFL.