Peel Thunder endured a staggering defeat in round 11 of the WAFL against second on the ladder South Fremantle at Fremantle Oval.
The usually strong starters didn’t score any goals in the first quarter, trailing the Bulldogs 4.5 (29) to 0.3 (3) at the first break.
Nine Freo players lined up for the side, including Luke Strnadica, Scott Jones, Danyle Pearce, Harley Bennell and Sean Darcy.
Fremantle midfielder Mitchell Crowden attributed the loss to a lack of match experience.
“We had a very inexperienced backline that haven’t played together that much this year,” he said.
“We didn’t play our roles right, if it was to our usual standard the score would have been a lot closer.”
The second quarter was low scoring for both sides, with plenty of congestion in the middle of the field.
Crowden said coach Cam Shepherd encouraged the players at half-time to claw back into the game.
“South Fremantle are strong in their midfield and have some strong bodies, they really worked well together which we struggled to do,” he said.
“We weren’t going to kick a mountain of goals in a row, but if we just clawed back one at a time we would go forward.”
Peel bounced back in the second half kicking two goals in succession midway through the third quarter bringing the score to 11.9 (75) to 4.7 (31).
With fiery encouragement at the three quarter time break, Shepherd urged the team go hard against their opponents.
The fourth quarter saw Darcy and Strnadica kick goals early on, with Pearce and Jones also contributing to the six additional goals for Peel to round off the match.
“Big Scott Jones in it last quarter nailed five marks and a goal,” said Crowden.
But it wasn’t enough, with the Bulldogs walking away from their home ground victorious 16.11(107) to 10.12 (72).
While Crowden says he needs to put more work in before stepping back up to the AFL, he doesn’t think Harley Bennell is far from re-joining Fremantle.
“He shows his class when he’s out there, as soon as he gets a full game in and gets some consistency going I think he’ll be straight in,” he said.
Crowden is hopeful the back-to-back premiers, currently seventh on the ladder, will be playing in the finals.
“We’ve got a few injuries still to come back, which will strengthen our side,” he said.
Peel Thunder will have plenty of opportunity to reflect on the loss during next week’s bye, before they face Swan Districts in round 13 back home at Rushton Park on Saturday, 30 June.
