Bell & Bootsma back for 2021

Two more key players will go out in the Teal jumper once again with Premiership Players Blair Bell and Josh Bootsma both recommitting to the club for the 2021 season.

Bell a two-time premiership player with the Thunder made his debut in 2013 but didn’t cement his place in the side until the 2016 Premiership run. After making a name for himself as a forward leading the club goal kicking in both 2016 and 2019, a lack of squad depth saw Bell play up through the midfield at stages in 2020 which was reflected in an uptick in his overall disposals.

Originally from local South Mandurah JFC, Bell like many of the other senior Thunder players believes that after a year of development the sides consistency and ability to stay in games will improve in 2021.

“It was a challenging year for a number of reasons, but I think we did pretty well to put 3 quarters together in most games, but in the end, we couldn’t sustain it for long enough.” Bell said. 

Despite an 0-8 season and 3^rd successive season without playing finals, Bell is confident that with another pre-season under the belt of the young guys and some added experience still to be added to the playing squad, 2021 could be a season for the side to rise up the table.

“We took a lot of positives out of the year and have some really talented youth coming through, so if we continue to stick together and us senior boys continue to encourage and share our knowledge with them, we will be bigger and better next year”

Key defender Josh Bootsma is looking to build upon a solid 2020 season at full back that saw him place 2^nd overall in the Tuckey Medal voting. 

Brought in at the last minute to help strengthen a squad bereft of key position defenders, Bootsma was a consistent and reliable performer in a backline that often featured up to 4 players in their first season of senior football.

His experience and ability to lockdown and nullify his direct opponent in one on one contests was priceless for a defence that was often under a lot of pressure from repeat forward entries.

With a full pre-season under his belt look for Josh to continue to lock it down deep in defence while imparting his knowledge and providing leadership to his young teammates.