WAFL Wrap: Peel storm into finals after securing third place finish.

The Thunder clinched a third-place finish with a 10-point victory over Swan Districts last Saturday at Steel Blue Oval

Swan Districts bought the pressure early limiting Peel’s ball movement going forward.

It took until the 13^th minute before the Swans registered the first goal of the game despite controlling much of the play.

Ben Middleton slotted Peel's only goal for the quarter as the travelling side lacked fluidity going forward.

Swans Districts dominated scoring shots 8-3 and went into the first break with a 15-point lead.

Will Brodie and Grady Grey linked up through the midfield to see Josh Corbett take a huge contested grab to get Peel off the mark early in the second.

Classy foot skills from O’Driscoll allowed Colyer to hit up Brody Wemm for his first of the day and reduced the margin to 2 points.

Some undisciplined play from the Swans saw Max Knoble earn a free kick and go back and kick a monster goal from outside 50.

Corbett for the third time in the quarter took a strong contested grab and went back to kick another major.

A goal on the siren from Middleton saw the Thunder turn a 15-point deficit into an 11-point lead at the main break.

Brodie led the disposal getters for Peel at half time with 14 while Haydn Matthews had 10 accompanied with five inside 50s.

A handball over the top allowed Corbett to run into an open goal square to kick his fourth and Peel’s first of the second half.

Elite forward 50 pressure from Travis Coyler helped Brody Wemm kick his second and stretch the margin to 22 points.

Unselfish play from the skipper in his milestone game saw Ben Hancock set up Middleton for his third goal of the game.

Multiple contested efforts from Brodie went unrewarded as Swan Districts led scoring shots for the quarter.

The Thunder managed to hold on to a 14-point lead heading into the final quarter.

Brodie broke a tackle and started a rapid chain of handballs that ended with Hancock delivering an inside 50 to Corbett who calmly slotted his fifth for the afternoon.

Recce Torrent got in on the action as he kicked his first goal on debut for Peel midway through the final quarter.

Back-to-back goals from the Swans saw the pressure rise as the home side mounted a late comeback.

A resilient Peel defence managed to hold off the attack to secure a narrow win away from home.

With the win Peel managed to slip into third place and will now face Subiaco away from home in the first week of finals.

After the game, Max Knobel reflected on the win.

“Was a great win, Obviously we didn’t start the way we wanted to, but we got back to the basics and played our role.

“Was a great win away from home.

Knoble talked about the impressive turnaround after the first quarter.

“We got back to what we know, playing our role and shape and bringing our own brand and that was a real key in getting it back to our way.

Knoble spoke about captain Benjamin Hancock’s experience in his milestone game.

“He’s got all the experience and brings a cool head and really drives the experience through the midfield.

Knoble credited Josh Corbett’s contested ability up forward.

“He’s massive, he’s a great fella and a great player so yeah, he had a massive presence up forward and we love what he does.

Knoble spoke on how well the team has gelled throughout the season.

“The connection between Peel and Freo is really good, there is some youth and some really good experience, so it has been great to learn off both.”

Brady Grey reflected on the challenging win away from home.

“The first quarter we didn’t play our best footy, so it was good for us to respond after quarter time and get the job done.

Grey spoke about the Thunder sneaking into third place.

“We came here with a plan to control what we could control, which was to win the game.

“We tuned in for the last 10 minutes of East Perth vs West Perth and yeah to get up to third and get Subi away from home is exciting for us.

“There is five quality teams left in the comp and we’re just glad to be in the race.

Grey spoke on the quarter-time chat delivered by Valentine.

“It was just sort of about getting back to basics, we didn’t play the game we wanted to play, so just about getting our contest right and our defence.

“We’ve got a few key forwards up there who can really clunk em, so it was just getting the ball into them and ensuring they got the job done, which they did.

Grey spoke about the combined forward performance from Middleton and Corbett.

“We lost Tabs early in the game so we sort of one down, but for Corbs and Benny to stand up like they did and we get both of them next week for finals.”

“Benny has really started to build his form over the last month or so and then Corbs has played three or four games of AFL so he just fits right in.

Grey praised captain Benjamin Hancock in his 150^th game.

“He’s an incredible character and his story has been well told this week, missing out on the 2016 flag and coming back.

“I’ve been fortunate enough to play with him for my first five years here and then went away and when I’ve come back, he’s just turned into an incredible leader.

“It’s something that Joff really admires about him is that he’s dug deep and is the first player to 150 games.

“He’s probably in career-best form at the moment so it's great to see him playing well and I’m glad we got the result for him.”

Written by Frederick Knickel and Regan Spear.

Peel Thunder 1.2 7.5 10.7 12.11 (83)

Swan Districts 3.5 5.6 7.11 10.13 (73)

Peel Thunder Goals: 5- J.Corbett 3 – B.Middleton 2- B.Wemm 1- M.Knoble 1- R.Torrent

Swan Districts Goals: 2- J.Cipro 2- L.Riely 1- S.Fisher 1- J.Glass-McCasker 1- C.Jones 1- J.McLachlan 1- M.Chipper 1- R.Kemp

 

COLTS

The final game of the season would feature two young teams looking to finish their year on a high. A road trip to Bassendean would be a challenge for the Thunder who would end their campaign on the road.

The game itself was filled with a lot of high-octane offence from both teams, combining for 45 scoring shots over the course of the match. Peel would prove the more accurate of the two even though it would be the home team who had more scoring shots and inside 50’s. Efficiency would prove to be the key difference that allowed the Thunder to secure a comfortable 27-point victory and ending the season with back-to-back wins for the first time.

The Good

• Key Defenders – The future looks bright at the key defensive posts with Jude Axford and Darcy Petersen nullifying most of the 43 inside 50’s from Swans through intercept marks and desperate spoils. These two would prove to be headaches for key forwards trying to get off the chain and hit the scoreboard.
• Left Right Combinations – The left foot of Bo Allan provided 14 possessions, 7 marks and 2.1 with a few selfless assists while the right boot of Ethan Logan provided 15 possessions, 10 marks and four scoring shots. Our forward line looked very potent when these two were down there. Crazy to think that you could argue that being a forward isn’t either players best position.
• Class Coming to the Top – He is the smooth mover of the group never wasting a possession and the game slows down around him like he is in the matrix. Of course we are talking about Kaed Collard who finished his Colts career with a game to remember. 19 possessions and 2 goals show that he is more than ready to make an impact at the next level.

The Bad

• Pressure – We allowed too many extended chains of play that put our defence under extreme pressure. Fortunately, the opposition let us off the hook but we could have been exposed and the result could have been very different.

Peel 12.9 81 def Swan Districts 6.18 54

We finish our season 5-11 and in 6^th place, just outside the five. Considering the good football we have played over the past month we would have been an interesting commodity given a final or two. Ultimately you deserve where you finish and hopefully, the lessons learnt this year will put us in good stead for 2024. For the graduating 19-year-olds, thank you for your service. The work you put in this year will hopefully live on as this next group takes the baton and tries to emulate your characteristics, not only as players but as people.

A challenging but fun year where the grind never ends. One journey comes to a close while another is on the verge of beginning. Bring on 2024!

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