WAFL RD 18 | Peel secure finals in a contested battle over Claremont.

Peel secure finals in a contested battle over Claremont.
Written By Frederick Knickel & Regan Spear.

 

The highly anticipated matchup between 4^th vs 5^th began in a tight and high-pressure contest which saw Claremont kick the first major of the game.

 

Matt Taberner made his presence felt early, taking a contested mark to boot Peel’s first.

 

Team first footy to open up the ground gave Bailey Banfield his first of four goals on his return to football.

 

Ty Anderson’s ball use and pace off half-back gave Peel the opportunity to link up and find Liam Riedy who slotted his first of the day and put Peel up by a narrow six points at quarter time.

 

The already heated contest went up another level in the second quarter with both teams ramping up the pressure.

 

Riedy’s contested marks and impact around the ground were a standout in the low scoring second term. The ruckman found Taberner inside forward 50 to get Peel off the mark in the second quarter.

 

Shortly after Banfield snapped his second to keep the Thunder up by three points at the main break.

 

Traye Bennell (16 disposals) and Clay Hall (15 disposals and 2 inside 50s) were both impressive in the first half.

 

Peel started strong after halftime, putting immediate pressure on the Claremont defence through repeat inside 50s and cutting off any exits through intercept possessions.

 

Claremont was able to momentarily halt momentum, but Peel’s defensive structures held strong to launch the side into attack for a Ben Middleton goal to open the  scoring in the second half.

 

Incredible vision from Banfield found Middleton on his own 30 metres out to put the Thunder three goals in front midway through the third quarter.

 

Peel’s pressure had Claremont rushing possession which led to another snap from Banfield for his third goal of the game.

 

Dominance in both possession and time in the forward half gave Reidy an opportunity for his second major and the Thunder’s fourth on the trot.

 

Claremont were equal to the task with three of their own to cut the margin to 14 late in the term.

 

Middleton steered through his third of the quarter to continue a shootout in the 3rd quarter.

 

Claremont hit back late with the ninth goal of the high-scoring third term to limit Peel’s lead to 13 going into the last.
 

A scrappy start to the last quarter saw Claremont throw everything but the kitchen sink at Peel’s defence. 

 

With both teams hunting in packs to pressure the ball carrier, scoring dried up to start the final term until an accurate Brody Wemm set shot kickstarted an impressive patch for the home side.

 

Banfield extended Peel’s lead to 26 with his fourth goal from 40 meters out on a testing angle in front of a teal-painted crowd.

 

Wemm kicked his second major in 10 minutes to put the cherry on top of an important 32-point victory for Peel, ensuring a finals appearance in 2023 for the Thunder.

 

Traye Bennell (24 disposals, 5 marks) and Benjamin Hancock (23 disposals, three marks) led the way in disposals among Peel listed players. Clay Hall (20 disposals) continues to impress after receiving an invite to the AFL combine last Friday. Brady Grey’s (19 disposals) move to the backline proved a masterstroke with his experience and efforts across the ground influential throughout the day.

 

Thunder coach Geoff Valentine reflected on the hard-fought win.

 

“We wanted to be better than last time, there was parts of that game late where we needed to execute better but we didn’t get to that thankfully but typically it's around the contest, and our team defence we felt we could get that right.”

 

He highlighted multiple players efforts in the win.

 

“It’s been a really impressive turnaround over the past couple of weeks, he was sort of battling a bit (Reidy), he had some good moments and then some poor moments but these last two weeks he’s really been able to string together some really good performances.”

 

“I thought Will (Brodie) you know what your going to get with him and I think he had 17 or 18 contested possessions in there, I thought his ability to combine with Benny Hancock, Hayden Mathews and young Clay Hall in there was really important.”

 

“Joel (Hamling) has played a lot of footy with us over the last couple of years and he almost feels like one of our own and I thought the way he was able to drop seamlessly into our back half, a couple of clutch marks down there for us, he's just a calm head down there.”

 

“He’s an impressive young man (Clay Hall), he's shown that he can mix it in the bigger game, he’s going to continue to get better and better each week.”

 

Peel will host West Perth at Lane Group Stadium next Saturday hoping to continue their momentum into finals.

Secure your tickets here.

Peel Thunder 3.3 5.4 10.10 13.13 (91)

Claremont 2.3 4.7 8.9 8.11 (59)

 

Goals:

Peel Thunder B. Banfield 4, B. Middleton 3, L.Reidy, 2, M.Taberner 2, B.Wemm 2.

Claremont Z. Mainwaring 3, A. Manuel 2, S. Alvarez 1, T. Delacey 1, O.Eastland 1.

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