By the Numbers | Round 7

For three quarters in Saturday’s Round Seven WAFL battle at David Grays Arena, Peel looked poised to deliver one of the upsets of the season, over the unbeaten South Fremantle.

In one quarter though, those dreams of a memorable upset and saluting their dedicated home fans in the last home game of the season were evaporated.

This is By The Numbers for Round Seven.

1

GOAL – Robert Schindler-Taylor only needed one kick on Saturday to deliver his first career goal. Playing in his third career game for Peel, Schindler-Taylor finished with one goal from one kick in Saturday’s encounter with South Fremantle.

2

TEAMS – While the Peel men’s teams have struggled for results in 2020 as they continue to push the youth of the club to the fore, it has been a different story for the Peel women’s teams. Successful home and away seasons for the Peel WAFLW side and Peel Rogers Cup side culminated on Saturday with both teams qualifying for finals action in 2020. The Peel WAFLW side claimed second spot and a berth in next week’s second semi final, pipping third placed East Fremantle by just one percent. The theme of one is a nice segue to the Peel Rogers Cup side, who claimed top spot on the 2020 Rogers Cup ladder following an impressive 6-1 regular season record.

5.86

POINTS FOR – Remarkably, Peel’s first quarter average for the year has fallen below one goal per game down to just 5.86 points per first quarter. While Peel’s defence got off to a good start holding South Fremantle goalless in Saturday’s first quarter, they couldn’t get it started offensively being held scoreless by comparison. It was the fourth time in seven games that Peel has failed to score a goal in the first quarter.

6

DISPOSAL STREAK – Hard working Peel midfielder Jackson Merrett continued his hot disposal form, collecting 26 disposals on the day against South Fremantle. This made it six straight games collecting at least 20 disposals. This matches a career high for Merrett who also had 20 or more disposals in six straight games between Round 7 and Round 13 of 2019.

7

POINT DIFFERENCE – Peel won the second quarter for the first time in a game this year, outscoring South Fremantle by seven points. Peel scored their second highest second quarter score of the year, 2.3, while restricting South Fremantle to their lowest second quarter score against 1.2.

9

MARKS – Young Peel utility Jack Sears had a career day on Saturday, setting a new career high with nine marks. On top of clunking everything in the air, Sears also matched his career high with 13 disposals on the day, giving yet more indication of the exciting young players that continue to thrive in the current Peel system.

16

KICKS – Keeping an eye on the kicking habits of Peel player Michael Randall, the 20 year old South Mandurah product again had a day preferring to deliver by foot. Of his 18 disposals on the day, Randall finished with 16 kicks. Across the season his preference by foot has increased to 86% with 98 of his 113 disposals being kicks.

22 

HITOUTS – Playing just his second game of WAFL league football, Tom Quaife had a career day on Saturday. Highlighting the big man’s performance, his 22 hitouts as well as being a career high were the highest for a Peel player in 2020, tieing the 22 hitouts that Brad McGowan had against Subiaco a fortnight prior. As well as leading the team in hitouts, Quaife led the Thunder with eight tackles on the day as well.

60

DISPOSAL DIFFERENTIAL – A stunning upset was still in the works at three quarter time, as a determined Peel outfit had taken the game right up to South Fremantle over the preceding three quarters. Unfortunately though, South Fremantle put their foot down in a brutal fourth quarter burst, dominating both at the stoppages and around the ground. Across the quarter the Bulldogs had the ball 60 more times than the Thunder, winning the final quarter disposal count 101-41.

2695

DAYS – In what is one of the remarkable stories of the WAFL, Peel lifer Corey Morris made it to 50 league games on Saturday. Few in WAFL football can match the determination or dedication of Morris this past decade, as he has continued to give his all for the Peel side. Morris’s dedication is seen having played games in eight consecutive seasons for Peel. He has played at least two games every year since 2013, including a career high 14 games in 2017. A fitting achievement to one of the good guys of the Peel side.