ROUND 9 - COLTS MATCH REPORT

After 100 minutes of football, absolutely nothing separated the Peel Thunder and Swan Districts colts sides on Saturday morning, with a draw the final result in a high quality game of colts footy.

The Thunder took to the field 7 changes from their side from the previous week, with Brayden Holtham, Jarvis Pina and Jacob Ingham making their colts debuts.

An earlier start of 8:25am saw the ground a little bit wet underfoot, however this didn’t affect the quality of the opening exchanges, with a clever Zac Moody snap out of a pack seeing the Thunder land the first blow. Swan Districts took the lead after a couple of goals from some ill discipline from the Thunder, but some good work across half back and through the midfield saw Michael Stevens and Tyson Powell kick goals before the break to see the Thunder take the lead at the first break 3-2 20 to 2-2 14.

The Thunder came out strongly in the 2nd quarter despite having Jaidon Kearing done for the day with a shoulder injury and ruckman Billy Chambers struggling with a thumb injury. Brad Oldfield, Kyle Havelberg and Jakeb Shine were getting on top through the midfield, while Stevens and Powell were great focal points up front. The Thunder played some strong footy over the quarter to take a 15 pont lead into the main break of 6-3 39 to 3-6 24.

The sides returned after half time and the pace of the game went up again. Stevens kicked the first 2 goals of the quarter to put the Thunder up by 5 goals, however Swans took advantage of some turnovers from the Thunder and started to impact the scoreboard, kicking the last 3 goals of the quarter to reduce the margin to 2 goals going into the final term.

Peel kicked the first goal of the quarter through Jarrad Fazioli after some great forward pressure from debutant Ingham, however a free kick against and another 2 goals from turnovers saw Swans hit the lead with 4 minutes to go. After a frantic final 4 minutes, Aaron Naughton took a pack mark 40 metres out from goal with 50 seconds to go. Naughtons set shot faded for a behind late, however was enough to secure 2 points for the Thunder and see them retain 2nd spot on the ladder with a final score of 9.9 63 each.

Interestingly the last time Peel Thunder played Swan Districts in the colts the score was 9.10 64 a piece which shows both sides are very evenly matched.

Goal kickers for Peel were Michael Stevens with 4, Tyson Powell 2, Jarrad Fazioli, James Sturrock and Zac Moody, while best players were Havelberg and Oldfield through the midfield, Stevens provided a strong target up forward and finished with 4 goals and 3 contested marks, Zac Moody provided plenty of pressure and impacted well across half forward, skipper Jakeb Shine was busy all day on a wing, Lee Chapman battled away in the unfamiliar position of ruck, while Durak Tucker provided a bit of rebound off half back. First gamers Holtham (17 possessions), Pina (19 possessions) and Ingham (9 tackles) all had real positive impact on the game as well in good signs for the clubs future.

The colts are looking to hopefully get the full 4 points this week against Perth in an away game at Lathlain Park at 9:00 on Saturday morning.

John Deitz - Talent Manager