Peel Thunder are headed to a preliminary final as their premiership campaign rolls on, after a tight semi-final loss to East Fremantle by five points on Saturday afternoon.
11 Fremantle-listed players were in action at Fremantle Oval that featured a spirited fightback to just fall short in the 9.6.60 to 7.13.55 result.
Despite leading scoring shots, an inaccurate Thunder outfit failed to capitalise on scoring opportunities and trailed at all breaks in the low-scoring affair.
Will Brodie (27 disposals, seven tackles) and Corey Wagner (24 disposals, five inside 50s) were dominant in all four quarters.
Liam Reidy and Riley Smith (30 hitouts each) controlled the air all day, giving the Peel midfield first look.
East Fremantle booted the first major of the afternoon in perfect footy conditions, but was quickly followed by a Liam Reidy major who slotted Peel’s first.
Two long bombs from East Fremantle gave the Sharks the lead back in the opening term, while last weeks hero Jack Sears pulled the trigger to cut the lead down to three points at quarter time.
Key defenders Joel Hamling and Jacob Blight weathered the storm in defence for the Thunder as East Fremantle led inside 50s 17-7.
Peel started the second term strong but couldn’t make the most of their opportunities going forward.
A costly 50 metre penalty handed East Fremantle the first of the second term.
Fremantle defender Corey Wagner showed class and dash off half back in a highly contested second quarter.
East Fremantle’s lead stretched out to 13 at the main breakm keeping the Thunder goalless in the second term.
The Sharks started the second half fast kicking the opening two goals in the first five minutes, with both teams creating overlap handball to open up the ground but unable to make the most of their chances.
A great hit up kick from Tom Emmett found Josh Corbett on the lead, who kicked his first and give Peel their first major since the first quarter.
East Fremantle fought back after a slight momentum change from Peel, with the Sharks extrending their lead to 21 points heading into the final term.
Another fast start to a quarter for East Fremantle gave the hosts repeat inside 50s and the first goal of the last term.
Hamling got thrown forward and made immediate impact kicking a goal to keep Peel alive in the last, while Brady Grey launched through Peel’s second of the term to further switch momentum.
Back to back shots from Riley Smith and Brodie hit the post late in the fourth which saw Peel fall short at the final siren.
Reidy discussed the preparation that the Peel side had undertaken to help in close-match scenarios.
“(At training) we go through different scenarios, I thought we handled the late game and scenarios really well last week, but just didn’t capitalise on our opportunities this week," Reidy said.
“We’ll go back to training and work on those again and hopefully in the next couple weeks we’ll get them right.
“It all starts in the contest; the contest is our game. Winning territory out of that and winning it forward."
Reidy spoke highly of defenders Hamling and Jacob Blight post-match.
“They're huge, they save our team every single week," Reidy said.
"Whether it be contested marks or shutting out a key forward, those two boys are the key to our team.”
Peel Senior Coach Geoff Valentine gave his thoughts on the game post-match.
“We didn’t use the ball well enough for large parts, I think we kicked at 50 per cent for the day," Valentine said.
"The connection through attacking mid and inside forward 50 just wasn’t there.”
“We probably weren't desperate enough early on, we saw when we had the chance to win we were going at every contest and that probably wasn’t the same over the course of the day.”
Valentine outlined the week ahead and hoped for a lift in performance in next week's preliminary final clash with Subiaco on Sunday 17 September.
“We get the eight-day break so we’ve got to make sure we use that to full advantage," Valentine said.
"Tuesday the boys will get a lighter recovery session and a main session on the Thursday, the emphasis being on the basics and the fundamentals.
“Hopefully, we bring our best next week at home.”
GOALS:
East Fremantle: 2 H.Dixon, 2 J. Schoenfeld, C.Eardley, C.Leggett, J.McDonald, A.Montauban, F.Turner.
Peel Thunder: J.Corbett, B.Gray, J.Hamling, B.Middleton, L.Reidy, J.Sears, B.Wemm
East Fremantle: 3.3 5.4 8.5 9.6
Peel Thunder: 3.1 3.3 4.8 7.13
|
# |
PLAYER |
K |
H |
D |
M |
T |
HO |
I50 |
FF |
FA |
G |
B |
|
17 |
10 |
17 |
27 |
1 |
7 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
|
|
32 |
13 |
10 |
23 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
5 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
|
|
20 |
12 |
6 |
18 |
9 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
7 |
9 |
8 |
17 |
2 |
5 |
0 |
3 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
8 |
9 |
4 |
13 |
1 |
3 |
30 |
4 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
|
|
1 |
8 |
2 |
10 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
15 |
5 |
5 |
10 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
|
|
6 |
4 |
3 |
7 |
3 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
24 |
6 |
1 |
7 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
39 |
2 |
5 |
7 |
0 |
4 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
36 |
2 |
3 |
5 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
