REVIEW RD 17 | Colts on a 7 Game winning Streak!

Senior Development 

This weeks game for the SD (Senior Development) squad was at the Claremont showgrounds which is always a different challenge in itself as the ground is closer to circle than oval shaped. Having already played Claremont twice this year both time for victories, we were quietly confident of another good showing and with a much heralded backline, we were all looking for a good showing. For the first 20 mins of the game it appeared that it would once again be a tight tussle as both sides were looking to assert their superiority. Unfortunately we couldn’t put scoreboard pressure on as we missed some very gettable shots early. Claremont went down and kicked 3 late goals for the quarter and led by that margin at 1/4 time. As with the development of young players we keep our focus on teaching and developing a lot of these players for the future and hoping they can represent Peel in the League side one day. The emphasis here was valuing our possessions and concentrating on hitting up one of our players each time we were in possession of the ball. Although Claremont had a really good quarter in the 2nd to lead by 40 points we still felt we were in the game with a chance. Alas it was not to be and Claremont ran out convincing winners but at least there was more resistance in the 2nd half and hopefully we will rebound strongly this week. Some positives for the day was the continued growth of some of our youth which continue to shine 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 and although some of those possessions resulted in turnovers, we can work on skill errors and decision making on the track. A highlight for mine was that promising players Lawler, Morris and Shanahan had 32 tackles between them.

Colts 

With the Claremont Colts scheduled to travel to the Kimberley’s over the weekend, the round 17 fixture was shifted to a mid-week Wednesday Night fixture, just four days after the Thunder defeated East Fremantle. Whilst the boys had taken some confidence from knocking off the ladder-leaders in round 10 Claremont were going to be tough competition on the rebound from a loss the previous week to South Fremantle.

In cool conditions at Bendigo Bank Stadium Claremont started the game well kicking the opening goal of the game before the Thunder were able to respond kicking the next five out of six to take an 18-point lead into the half-time break. Whilst the scoreboard indicated a small dominance, it was far more competitive and Claremont had clear intent to be physical laying nearly 20 tackles in the opening term. The challenge was there and the response was clinical from the Thunder as they put a gap between the teams by half-time kicking five goal to nil and led by 47 points at the main change.

The second half was somewhat of a scrap as Claremont folded numbers behind the ball and the dew made ball handling difficult. Inaccuracy cost the Thunder from capitalising on the scoreboard, leading by 55-points at three-quarter time. Claremont came out strong in the fourth kicking the opening two goals of the quarter. However, testament to the attitude of the Thunder team they ran out the game and won the final quarter, eventually knocking off the tigers by 70 points.

Whilst the Thunder were able to knock off the Tigers, it meant Swan Districts moved to the top of the table and will again face a tough challenge against the black ducks this week. It shapes as a great challenge on Sunday morning before the league game and hopefully they can turnaround the narrow loss earlier in the season.