Peel Thunder went down to a strong Subiaco outfit by 44 points in wet and muddy conditions at Leederville Oval on Saturday afternoon.

Eight Fremantle players lined up for Peel, including Freo draftee Nathan O’Driscoll who had arguably his best game for Peel with 22 disposals, four marks and two tackles to his name.

Stefan Giro (13 disposals), Joel Western (12 disposals) and Brandon Walker (10 disposals) were serviceable, while Alex Pearce and Luke Valente had eight possessions each.

Freo ruck Lloyd Meek spoke highly of O’Driscoll’s performance post-game.

“He was great, he is one of our young stars and one of our young up and comers,” Meek said.

“Nathan is really learning the ropes and the system and he has been able to find some confidence over the last couple of weeks.

“He gives it his all every week which is all we can ask…it was good that he was able to put together a great performance today.”

The experienced Reece Conca brought ‘plenty of energy’ to the young Peel backline, topping Peel’s disposal count with 27 possessions (including 23 kicks).

“Reece is the ultimate trademark player…he is just all for the team,” Meek said.

“He has had a rough couple of weeks, but to see him respond today I thought he gave it absolutely everything.

“It’s pretty special to have a leader out there, he brings a lot of energy to our backline, and he brings other people along for the journey with him.

“He is not just there to fight his own battles; he is a team player and we love that.”

Meek was dominant in the ruck battle finishing with 31 hit outs while also collecting 14 disposals of his own.

He said the challenge for Peel is to work on the connection between their midfield group.

“It was a tough day in the midfield, we had a fair bit of mud to fight through!” Meek said.

“Subiaco are a very experienced midfield and there were probably times where we didn’t utilise the hit outs enough.

“It’s something we are constantly working on, the connection and chemistry to be a dominant midfield group.”