PEEL Thunder coach Cam Shepherd hailed his side’s 20-point win over Claremont as a superb team performance.
Despite an early hamstring injury to Leroy Jetta and Fremantle Dockers star Harley Bennell playing restricted minutes, Peel dominated the disposal, handball and hit-out counts to claim their second win of the season.
Peel had 12 players with at least 15 touches, compared to seven from Claremont, as Dockers’ players Danyle Pearce (33 disposals and five inside 50s), Tommy Sheridan (28 disposals and six tackles) and Stefan Giro (25 disposals) led the way.
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READ NOWShepherd said he was delighted in the whole team’s performance, particularly the number of players who stood up in the absence of Jetta and Bennell.
“We were a bit short on cavalry, but everyone pitched in and some were battling hard at ground level, some had a lot of possessions,” he said.
“Ben Howlett (22 disposals and seven tackles) and Luke Strnadica (21 hit-outs and three goals) were good, Shane Kersten (21 disposals) was great in defence, Traye Bennell (27 disposals and four inside 50s) and Benjamin Hancock (16 disposals and four tackles) were very good, it was a really even performance.”
“We’re really pleased with the result, obviously Claremont and ourselves are in a similar boat and it was a good game, both sides threw everything at it.”
While Peel will enjoy a week off due to next week’s state game between Western Australia and South Australia, Shepherd promised the Thunder would not back down in their next clash against an unbeaten and top-of-the-league Subiaco.
“We won’t change too much, we’ve had some great battles with them,” he said.
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