Around the Grounds | Round 3

Going up against West Perth was always going to be a tough ask and without Isiah Winder and Zach Rankin it proved too much of a bridge to gap as the Colts were beaten 19.10 (124) to 7.4 (46) on Saturday.

West Perth started strongly, kicking the opening 2-goals of the game, and dominated a lot of the early play. The Thunder steadied and worked their way into the game later in the quarter, missing a couple of set-shots before finally getting their first through Bodie Kitchingman via a 50m penalty right on the quarter time siren. A goal within the first minute of the 2^nd through Roy George and a couple through Riley Vidovich saw the Thunder actually hold the lead midway through the term. West Perth kicked the next 3-goals of the term to go in leading by 17-points at half-time. Statistically It was a pretty even opening half, the Thunder brought their pressure game as they led the tackle count by +12 and kept West Perth to only 59% for disposal efficiency. West Perth had began to shine in the midfield though as they led the clearances by 8 and contested possession by 14.

In the third quarter the West Perth mids Johnson, Reilly and Scurria took the game away from the Thunder combining for 23 disposals, combining with Corey Rundle who booted 4-goals in the term. All told the Falcons kicked 7.1 from 13 inside 50’s to put the game well out of reach at the three-quarter-time up by 48-points. 

Unfortunately for the Thunder, things didn’t improve in the last quarter as while they did manage 12 inside-50’s they could only turn that into 1.2. Meanwhile West Perth took full advantage of their opportunities turning 14 inside 50’s into 6.2 to run away winners by 78-points.

Bodie Kichingman continued his strong form over the opening rounds of the season, with a massive 26-disposals at 81% efficiency, including 13-Contested, 5-Score Involvements and 5-Tackles. Jack Walsh also put in a solid performance with more midfield time in the absence of Isiah Winder and Zach Rankin with 25-Disposals, 16-Contested, 8-Tackles and 3-Score Involvements. David Yaccob was handy coming out of the back-half with 16-Disposals and 6 Rebound 50’s.

For West Perth Callum Johnson (32-disposals), Rohan Scurria and Heath Chapman (27-Disposals) were impressive through the midfield, while Corey Rundle and Darcy Dixon put on a show in the forward line with 7.1 and 4.0 respectively.

The Colts will look to bounce back this week against another undefeated side - Claremont in what will be another massive test.

Our WAFLW League side continued their bounce back season with a massive scalp, taking out the Reigning Premiers East Fremantle in Ebony ‘Chippy’ Dowson’s 100^th game on Saturday.

In what was a fairly dour first-half contest with only a goal kicked between both sides, turned into a titanic battle in the second-half as the Thunder pressure game proved too great as they ended up hanging on to 5.5 (35) to 3.4 (22) win, handing East Fremantle their 2^nd consecutive loss. 

Kira Phillips was once again the pick of the goal-kickers, adding 2 more to her season tally, to take her to 7 for the season, 3 ahead of the pack of players sitting on 4 goals, including Co-Captain Krystal Carter who added 1 of her own on Saturday. Kate Bartlett and Kate Ditchburn rounded out the goal kickers with singles. Another tough opponent awaits this week as the girls travel to take on Claremont on Sunday afternoon.

On Sunday morning the Rogers Cup took on West Perth at Joondalup, in what was a pretty competitive game in the first half. The Thunder had plenty of chances in the opening term but couldn’t capitalise on their dominance only managing 1.4, with the sole goal coming through Sharlize Shelley. 

The girls managed to gain the ascendency in the second with back to back goals to close out the half and go in leading at half-time by 11-points. Sharlize Shelley kicked her 2^nd for the game after half time and Shauna Bicker added a couple of her own to put the game beyond doubt as the Thunder capped a busy weekend of football with a 7.9 (51) to 3.4 (22) victory. 

Shauna Bicker, Bella Mann, Bethlyn Pasco, Ella Roberts and Kaitlyn Hayes were all solid contributors throughout. The Rogers Cup girls will also travel this weekend to Claremont to take on the Tigers on Sunday morning.