Jon Griffin’s comeback from a knee reconstruction is gathering momentum, with the Fremantle ruckman among Peel Thunder’s best in a close loss to West Perth at Arena Joondalup on Sunday.
Griffin returned to action in round three, exactly one year to the day since he had injured his anterior cruciate ligament against Collingwood at Patersons Stadium.
He was given limited playing time against Swan Districts, but on Sunday it was a different story for the 28-year-old.
Griffin played a full game, switching from the ruck to the forward line in Peel's heartbreaking one-point loss to the Falcons.
Despite the defeat, Griffin shined, dominating the ruck contests with his leap, and winning his fair share of the taps.
Griffin’s powerful performance on the field was never more evident than in the second term, where he helped Peel explode away from the reigning WAFL premiers with a seven goals to one quarter.
The majority of the Thunder’s run came from strong midfield play, instigated by Griffin’s great ruckwork.
When asked about his fitness after the game, Griffin said he was confident he was returning to full strength.
"Yeah it's good,” he said.
“I've had a handful of games now and I'm starting to get some good match fitness and starting to get a bit of form as well."
Full match report - Alex Paull Peel Thunder FC
Peel's chance to snatch its first win of the season has been dashed following a heart-breaking one-point loss to reigning premiers West Perth at Arena Joondalup on Sunday.
Despite travelling up the freeway as the sole winless side in the competition, Peel dominated much of the first half, led by young midfielders Tom Sheridan and Sam Menegola.After a tight tussle in the first quarter, the Thunder blew the game away in the second with seven goals, with highly touted youngster Matthew Taberner putting his hand up for an AFL recall with three for the term.
The Thunder were on top, with Anthony Morabito and Garrick Ibbotson rebounding well off half-back and Taberner grasping the opportunities in front of goal, and at the long break the visitors had a commanding 42-point lead.But West Perth, coming off a short turnaround due to their midweek Foxtel Cup fixture in Melbourne, rallied hard with the first four goals of the third term, before Peel steadied to keep the margin at five goals by three quarter time.
The Falcons continued to surge in the last term with three consecutive goals to reduce the margin further while holding the Thunder scoreless.Cruize Garlett managed to boot his side’s 14th goal for the day to steady the ship deep into time on, but goals from Kody Manning and Nick Rodda brought the margin to under a goal.
Despite the harrowing loss, Peel again showed strong signs of improvement, and its ability to dominate a side packed with premiership stars was impressive.
Peel coach Cam Shepherd said while the first half dominance showcased the side’s best footy for the year, the inability to run out the game was a concern.
“In the last quarter we were disappointing and we need to learn from our mistakes late in the game,” Shepherd said.
But he said while the side was hurting as a result of the gut-wrenching loss, the players would learn from the experience and harness it.
“Many experienced coaches have said ‘you learn more from losses’, but I’d prefer to learn a lot from being resilient and holding on, but in every game we need to learn,” he said.“Firstly, we played a side that was last year’s premier, and they had 18 or 19 players from that premiership side, and we managed to not only match it with them for the majority of the game, but give ourselves the best chance of winning.”
The form young Dockers due Matt Taberner and Tom Sheridan were particularly encouraging for the Thunder, with Taberner booting a career-best five goals and Sheridan accumulating 32 disposals to push their claims for an AFL berth.
