Bolting Colts Round 18

Welcome to the next addition of Bolting Colts!

With finals right around the corner, it's time to have a look at how our talent program progressed in Round 18!

TEAM PERFORMANCE:

The Colts will head into finals as the number one seed after clinching top spot with a 71-point dismantling of South Fremantle on Saturday. Keeping South Fremantle goalless for the first three quarters, it would be hard not to highlight Tyrone Thorne (Rockingham) who set the tone right out of the gate, kicking 2 of his 5 goals for the day in the opening term. While the first quarter was filled with end-to-end action, it was all one-way traffic in the second, as we added 4.4 to our quarter time lead with the Bulldogs not troubling the scorers. Jaxon Pitts (Harvey Bulls) returned to the side for the first time since Round 12 and kicked 2, while underager Zac Trigwell (Donnybrook FC) kicked his first goal at Colts level to bookend the first half with a 52-point cushion. 

With the game pretty much over South Freo managed to gain some statistical ascendency in the second half, gathering a number of inside 50’s that ultimately proved ineffective with Peel defenders intercepting the ball 21 times. Turning those intercept possessions into scores was a key area in the game as 7 of Peel’s goals came from turnovers. The overall grunt and ferocity at the contest for the Peel players was really pleasing to see as they convincingly took out both the contested possession (+21) and tackle count (+18) while also gathering more first possessions (+2) despite comprehensively losing the hit out battle (-27).

In the 4^thLuke Polson (Warnbro Swans JFC) on his Colts debut kicked his first with Ben Middleton (Halls Head JFC) adding another soon after before South Fremantle finally kicked their first of the day just after the 10-minute mark. Tyrone Thorne capped off his incredible 215 ranking point day with his 4^thand 5^thgoals within the space of 2 minutes to put the margin out to a game-high 82. Late goals to Ira Jetta and Nash Miller brought the margin back to the final 71. 

The win sees the Thunder claim their first Minor Premiership since 2005 and their second overall.

PLAYER HIGHLIGHTS:

Tyrone Thorne (Rockingham): Followed up last weeks move to the midfield with another impressive performance, Tyrone racked up 25 disposals (16 Contested) while also showing he’s not afraid to crack in and get his own footy winning the hard ball 7 times. He also continued to show his aggressiveness around the contest without ball by laying 7 tackles and of course rounded it all off by kicking 5 goals straight. His 215 ranking points, give an insight into what he might be capable of at the next level.

Jack Sears (South Mandurah JFC): Jack matched his season high of 28 disposals, taking 13 Marks while reaching double figures in contested possessions with 10. Jack has hit a real solid patch of form, gathering over 20 possessions in 3 of his last 4 games.

Isiah Winder (Eaton Boomers): After finding the footy a combined 16 times in his last 2 games, Isiah was back to his best with ball in hand this week gathering 23 disposals (78% Disposal Efficiency, 11 contested) and while he might not have hit the scoreboard himself he did contribute with 4 score assists.  

James Ewing (Eaton Boomers): Another Eaton Boomer James Ewing contributed with his biggest disposal tally at Colts level with 25 (72% Disposal Efficiency) rebounding and setting up attacks from half back. James has played 13 games in his second season at Colts level showing solid development (Disposal Avg jumping from 9.3 - 15.6) and has been a key contributor in a number of games this year.

LEAGUE:

Jarvis Pina (South Mandurah FC): On his second outing at League level Jarvis again was solid down back in a relatively tough day for Peel. He would have liked to have seen the ball a little bit more, gathering only 7 disposals. He used it well when given the opportunity going at 71%, to go along with his 3 marks, 3 tackles and 1 rebound 50. Again depending on the status of a number of Fremantle players we will see if Jarvis gets another opportunity to show off his skills against a relatively weaker opponent in Swan Districts this week.

Ryan Bennell (South Bunbury FC): Unfortunately for Ryan his disposals in terms of total (7) and effectiveness (Disposal Efficiency 29%) were well down this week. As we highlighted last week he continues to find ways to stay involved in games when he’s not impacting the scoreboard, this week laying 8 tackles and providing forward pressure on a day where Peel only managed 30 inside 50’s. While it is great that Ryan finds ways to stay involved in the game without the ball, his goal scoring ability would certainly still be welcomed in a side that has struggled to find goals for much of the season. 

The Colts will go up against a potential finals opponent and last years runner up in Swan Districts this Saturday at Steel Blue Oval who are still fighting it out with West Perth for that final spot in the 4.