Bolting Colts and 2nd Semi Preview

This Sunday the top 2 Colts sides for 2019 will battle it out for a place in the Grand Final as we taken on Claremont at Revo Fitness Stadium.

TEAM PERFORMANCE:

A quick recap of Round 20’s Super Colts Match against Perth. A tight game for the first half, our boys got the jump with early goals through Jaxon Pitts and Tyler Nesbitt. However from that point on it was a struggle, Perth clawing back from the early deficit to briefly take the lead before Pitt’s second goal of the game kept us ahead at the main break.

The third quarter showed the gulf in class, Connor Heuer and Tyler Nesbitt kicking 2 goals a piece for the quarter as we added 5.2 to Perth’s single behind, opening up an insurmountable 37-point lead. Another disappointing final term seems to be a growing trend at the moment, as Perth rallied to kick 4 unanswered goals to trim the margin back to 16-points, before Heuer’s 3^rdgoal and put an end to any comeback and secured a 22-point victory.

Forcing turnovers was key as the Thunder scored heavily to the tune of 7.10 (52). While the raw stats will say we lost the Contested Ball (126-132) and Clearances (28-36), we still managed to ourscore Perth from stoppages 3.4 (22) to 3.2 (20) showing that when we did win in those situations we were far more efficient. 

PLAYER HIGHLIGHTS:

Andrew Butler (Secret Harbour Dockers): Andrew saved his best til last for the home and away season, amassing his highest disposal tally at Colts level with 24 (71% DE). He had more hardball gets than any other player on the ground with 10, while also leading the way with a team high 13 contested possessions. Pressure and laying tackles is one of Andrew’s key strengths and that was again on show with 9, as well as his ability to generate attacks from the back-half as demonstrated by his 6 rebound 50’s.

James Ewing (Eaton Boomers): 3 consecutive games of 20 disposals or more for James. Was super efficient with the 20 he had last weekend going at 80%, providing a link up between defence and attack best shown through his 3 inside 50’s and 6 rebound 50’s. 

Rob Hutson (Halls Head JFC): Honourable mention to Rob, who has slotted back into the team the last few weeks and had a couple decent performances. 15 disposals (93% DE), 7 contested, 4 marks and 3 rebound 50’s. 

SENIOR DEVELOPMENT:

Tyrone Winder (Halls Head JFC): An impressive performance in Tyrone’s second game in Senior Development. Picking up his biggest possession tally of the year with 19, while also kicking his first goal for the season. 

Zach Rankin (Eaton Boomers):  Zach backed up his solid first showing at Reserves with another good performance of 16 possessions and a goal.

Kyle White (Waroona JFC): With a shortage of ruckman at League level, Kyle was thrust in to action, he led the game for hit-outs with 21, equalled his season high for disposals with 9, while showing some grunt around the contest with 6 tackles.

LEAGUE:

Jarvis Pina (South Mandurah FC): Had been touted to return to Colts, however a late call up for Hugh Dixon to the Fremantle side saw Jarvis once again play for the League side in what was another comfortable performance. 10 disposals, 4 tackles and 3 inside 50’s including the one marked by Sam Sturt for his match-winning goal. 

MATCH PREVIEW VS CLAREMONT:

The Colts travel to Claremont this week to take on the Tigers with a Grand Final birth at stake. Claremont managed to hold off an inaccurate West Perth in tough conditions at Joondalup Arena to hang on to a 5 point win.

The two teams have matched up twice so far this season, both have been tightly contested, each team victorious on their home soil. While this might be ominous for The Thunder who are playing Claremont at their home ground as the higher seed, they shouldn’t hold any fears for our boys who only need to look to Claremont themselves who last week found themselves in a similar situation as they played West Perth at Joondalup and came away with the win. 

The most recent matchup between the two sides was back in Round 17, with the Thunder accounting for the Tigers by 16-points. Tyrone Thorne was great that day in his first outing in midfield having with a game high 25 disposals, Bradley Oldfield chipped in with 24 and 2 goals, while Jackson Knight kicked 3.

Look for a number of the Colts stars to return to the side with the Senior Program not playing any part in finals. The aforementioned Tyrone Thorne, Jarvis Pina, Zach Rankin, Tyler White, Tyrone Winder and Ben Middleton could all return and strengthen an already formidable lineup.

It promises to be a great fixture of two great talent programs with a number of potential League and even AFL players on display. Bouncedown is 8:45am at Revo Fitness Stadium.

In our other fixture the Rogers Cup girls take on Subiaco at Leederville Oval on Saturday morning. The girls will be looking to bounce back from a loss they suffered against South Freo in tough conditions at Steel Blue Oval last weekend. A win against Subiaco would see the Rogers Cup team reach the Grand Final.