Round 20 Match Preview

This week brings an end to a disappointing season for our Senior Grades as we take on Perth who are looking to claim their finals place for the first time since 1997. We will be looking to go out on a high as 2x Premiership Captain Gerald Ugle plays his 100th game for the club.

Last Week:

A disappointing way to end our slim hopes at securing a finals birth by falling to the bottom placed team. At one point in the final quarter our season was still alive, we had the lead and East Fremantle were ahead against Perth. Unfortunately neither result ended up going our way, as Swans kicked the only 2 goals of the quarter and clung on for their 4^thvictory of the year while Perth kicked 3 goals in time-on to put them on the brink of finals.

The problem once again was converting inside 50’s into scores as we only managed 6.8 from our 37 entries. Our very young front line led by Lachie Cullen, Ryan Bennell and on his League debut Tyrone Thorne could only manage 2 goals between them. Bailey Banfield (38 Disposals, 13 Tackles 1 Goal), Ben Howlett (27 Disposals, 16 Tackles, 2 Goals) and Travis Colyer (27 Disposals) were all incredible, unfortunately It was once again left to too few.

Last Time Against Perth:

Our last time out against Perth was away at a very wet Mineral Resources Park in Round 11, which at the time looked like it might be a turning point in the season as we won by 42 points. Led by Bailey Banfield (32 disposals) and Jackson Merrett (25 disposals) we turned a 7-point quarter time deficit into a 17-point half-time lead before putting the foot down in the second half. We had a real even spread of contributors that day, with 9 individual goalkickers including 2 each from Blair Bell and Hayden Ballantyne, while Cam McCarthy presented well all game and could have had a bag finishing with 1.3.

Opponents Form:

In what could be a historic season for Perth, they have been well led by their two veterans Clint Jones (28.5 Disposals per game) and Corey Yeo (24.9 Disposals per game). Both are coming off massive games against East Freo last week, Jones racking up a massive 38 disposals with 7 inside 50’s, while Yeo was also impressive with 28 and a goal. It will once again come down to a battle of the midfield talent and the efficiency of the forward lines, which has been a big issue for the Thunder in previous weeks.

Young Blood:

Over the last few months, we have seen a number of players from our League leading Colts make the step up to League level, last week we had Tyrone Thorne make the jump. We also had 4 players come up and play for our Senior Development side, Ben Middleton, Zac Rankin, Tyrone Winder and Jeremy Caratti all came up and helped see the side to only their second win for the year.

Other Grades:

As noted above, our Senior Development side this past weekend managed just their second win of the year, with all the talented youngsters coming up it seemed to really made a difference as they flattened Swans by 34-points. Ben Middleton and Tyson Powell were both impressive, kicking 4 goals apiece. Matty Bogensperger was his usual dominant self with 35 disposal and a goal. Meanwhile in the Colts, it was an impressive win against a potential finals opponent with so many key players by 39-points. Brad Oldfield was massive, kicking 4 goals to go with 23 disposals, while Jackson Knight, Kilian Rawson and Isiah Winder were all influential and stepped up to fill the void left to get the win.

All our Womens grades will again be back in action at David Grays Arena on Sunday. Last week’s Madi’s Day was a great success for the club and we thank everyone that donated and came to lend their support. This week Rogers Cup and Senior Development are back at their usual 10:30am, and 12:00pm slots. While the WAFLW side travel to play League leaders Subiaco in their final hit out for the season at Leederville Oval from 3pm.

Game Times:

Saturday vs Perth | League and Senior Development @David Grays Arena | Colts @Mineral Resources Park

Colts - 1:00pm

Senior Development - 11:30am

League – 2:15pm 

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Womens:

Rogers Cup and Senior Development Sunday vs Perth @David Grays Arena | League vs Subiaco @Leederville Oval

Rogers Cup – 10:30am

Senior Development – 12:00pm

WAFLW – 3:00pm