A spirited third-quarter comeback went unrewarded when Peel Thunder let their game against West Perth slip in the final term on Friday.
The Falcons were dominant in the first half and escaped to a 47-point lead at the half time break.
Peel did their best to reel them in with six goals in the third, but it wasn’t enough as the Thunder went down 11.7 (73) to 15.18 (108).
Three takeaways
1. Early collapse proves disastrous
Peel Thunder coughed up 10 goals in the first half as a West Perth outfit coming off a 103-point shellacking against South Fremantle stormed to an early lead. The Thunder found it difficult to string together passages of play and minor fumbles led to major slip ups in the first half. They found their rhythm in their quarter, trimming the lead to as little as 13 points, but they ran of steam in the fourth and were rolled in the end.
2. The possession count doesn’t lie
Aaron Black (38 disposals), Aidan Lynch (32) and Trent Manzone (33) all had huge days out collecting the footy as West Perth won the disposal tally 446 to 313. Peel fought hard and had good contributions from Rory O’Brien (33) and Darcy Tucker (27) but never challenged West Perth when it came to controlling the footy.
3. Taberner stakes his claim
Matt Taberner has been on the brink of Fremantle selection for weeks now, and will again be fresh in the mind of the Dockers when they choose their squad for round five. The tall forward moved around the ground well to finish with 25 disposals while booting three goals, and was a bright spot in an otherwise (mostly) bleak game for the Thunder.
Justin Rake
Sports journalist for the Mandurah Mail, Australian Community Media, Fairfax Media.
Sports journalist for the Mandurah Mail, Australian Community Media, Fairfax Media.
