Colts steam up the Ladder | COLTS PLAY CLAREMONT AT 7pm on WEDNESDAY NIGHT AT HOME

With the conclusion of the Landmark Carnival at Bendigo Bank Stadium on Saturday morning, the colts fixture between the competitions “in-form” teams was shifted to be played under lights. Peel Thunder hosted the second placed East Fremantle. Following a six-goal loss earlier in the year, the sharks were going to be tough competition with the return of up to five state 18s representatives.  However, the recent form of the Thunder and confidence in the group they  we were definitely up for the challenge.

From the opening bounce, the early signs were obvious it was going to a tough contest and the Thunder were first into the contest and moving quickly to the forwards they were able to hit the scoreboard after some early turnovers. At quarter time the Thunder led by 20 points. It was addressed that some over possession and greater disciplined around structures was important to maintain the control. By half-time the team had extended the lead to 42 and the boys were confident that their ability to win the ball was paying dividends, however the job was still to be completed and they knew East Fremantle would hit back if given the opportunity and they have a number of match winners in the team. However, the third term was great display of attacking football, kicking 5 goals 2 the lead blew out to 65 points.

With a tight turnaround against Claremont on Wednesday night, the rotations were managed and some heat taken out of the game, however the boys continued to push to win the final quarter and running out winners by 74-points. The thunder have now balanced the ledger for the season at 7-7 after a tough start to the season. The focus now turns to the top-team in the colts – Claremont, with a game at 7pm on Wednesday night at Bendigo Bank Stadium.

RESERVES REVIEW 

fter a wet week on the track, Peel's Senior Development Squad were looking forward to another great challenge. East Freo had a very good side in for this game and it was to be a battle between their tall experienced forward line and our forever improving backline. Peel got off to a good start and kicked the first 3 goals of the game with East Fremantle then kicking 2 late ones in the Qtr which was disappointing. The first 10 mins of the 2nd Qtr we produced some promising passages of play for Peel but we were unable to capitalize and let East Fremantle off the hook who then added scoreboard pressure and finished the term 11 points up. To give a fair indication of the game though would be to point out the fact that we had 6 relatively easy set shots on goal of which we only converted a total of 4 points from. The 3rd Qtr was a real arm wrestle and at 3/4 time the East Fremantle lead had been whittled down to 7 points with both sides looking to gain some ascendancy for the final Qtr. Unfortunately for Peel we only kicked 4 points for the term and East Fremantle ran out winners by 21 points. Some positives for the day was the continued growth of our backline which continues to shine as a unit in fairly trying conditions. Also a number of players were able to get hold of the ball a fair bit more than in recent weeks. It was also nice to see Kaine May and have a positive effect in our forward line. Eddie Dan’s return after a long injury layoff was also great to see for the club.