Given the competitive showings throughout the season thus far, the Thunder’s best football is good enough to match it with any side in the competition, and it showed in Peel’s first win in almost a year.
It also sharply reversed the fortunes of the last time the two sides played, which resulted in a 93-point win to the Bulldogs in Round 22 last year.
The opening half was a tight tussle, with the Bulldogs taking a two-point advantage into quarter time, before Peel took ascendancy in the second with three goals to two.
With the sting of last weekend’s one-point loss lingering, the Thunder had the opportunity to blow the game away in the third quarter, but despite keeping the Bulldogs goalless, the home side booted a wayward 2.6 to take a 22-point lead into the last change.
But with the game very much in its grasp, the Thunder conceded the first two goals of the last quarter, as the Bulldogs bridged the gap to six points early.
The Bulldogs had opportunities to even grab back the lead, but were wasteful in front of goal, with spearhead and former Bernie Naylor medallist Ben Saunders the main culprit, finishing with 3.4.
With the Bulldogs pushing hard early in the final term, the Thunder’s leaders stood up, and with the aid of some steadying goals from leaders Colin Sylvia, Sam Menegola and Mat Brown, the final siren sounded with Peel victorious 11.13 (79) to 7.13 (55).
Thunder coach Cam Shepherd praised the side’s leadership group for wrestling back momentum in the final term.
“We mentioned in the coach’s box when South Fremantle got those early goals that we felt it was the chance for the players to stand up and be resilient, and to their credit they did that,” Shepherd said.
With South Fremantle coming hard, Shepherd said it was obviously a time of concern, but the win was secured through strong leadership.
Shepherd said there was plenty of soul-searching after last weekend’s loss, and he was pleased with the response from the playing group.
“We had a strong review through the week and we spoke to all the players about how to react in situations when the opposition are coming at us hard, and the response was outstanding, so now we continue to build,” Shepherd said.
Jacob Ballard has been impressive for the Thunder this season, and the Fremantle rookie continued his strong recent form with 25 disposals, while Dockers teammate Hayden Crozier finished with 27.
Brady Grey was given the tough job of handling former West Coast Eagle Ashton Hams, and the Dockers teenager won that battle, restricting him to 20 touches while picking up 14 touches and two goals himself.
Despite wayward kicking for goal in the second and third quarters, Shepherd said the side’s control across half back and through the midfield were vital to the side’s victory.
“We highlighted that at quarter time as an area for improvement, and while the reward in those quarters was 5.10, we look at positives first and see that we were able to dominate those quarters,” Shepherd said.
The quirks of the WAFL draw means that Peel will not play until June 7 against East Fremantle, but Shepherd dismissed suggestions that it may work against the side.
“We can’t change the draw, it’s irrelevant, what we do control is the effort we put in, and we don’t worry about the momentum from today because we have been building momentum all year,” he said.
