Peel's home hoodoo finally broken

DEAN STACEYSound Telegraph

Peel Thunder’s winless run in Mandurah came to an empathic end courtesy of a 52-point triumph over Subiaco in Saturday’s WAFL fixture.

After lowering their colours in all eight games at Bendigo Bank Stadium this season, Peel finally gave their fans something to cheer about via a comfortable win, 20.15 (135) to 12.11 (83).

In a season plagued by inconsistencies, Saturday’s result showed what the Mandurah club is capable of at their best.

With the monkey now off their backs, coach Mark Moody said the club was determined to end the season positively against East Fremantle this Saturday.

‘‘It was a great feeling at the club on Saturday night with supporters and players being able to celebrate at home,’’ Moody said.

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‘‘We’ll be going out (this weekend) as confident as we can be.

‘‘Our plan is to finish off on a high and hopefully that occurs this weekend.’’

Coming off a bye the previous weekend, Thunder looked a different side to the one thumped by 81-points against Claremont in round 21.

They opened with six unanswered goals in the first quarter and extended the margin through Rhett Mason and Ash Thornton early in the second term.

Trailing by 50 points at the main break, Subiaco clicked into gear in the third term, booting six goals to three.

However, any thoughts of an unlikely Lions’ come back were put to bed as Peel kicked six goals of their own in the final term.

The statistics reflected Peel’s dominance with 11 forward entries and 59 more disposals.

‘‘Our midfield workload was really good and I thought our defence was really good as well,’’ Moody said.

‘‘The defenders commitment and their one-percenters was fantastic. Up the other end, our forward line for the first time in a while was able to hold the ball in the area and put pressure on, which meant the ball didn’t come out as often.’’

Brad Holmes finished with four goals for Thunder, while Fremantle Dockers-listed Jesse Crichton was superb with 17 disposals and three majors.

Thunder captain Brendan Jones gathered 26 disposals in best-on-ground performance and former Rockingham Rams forward Eddie Dann also caught the eye with 22 possessions and two goals.

Peel’s final game of the season against East Fremantle gets under way at Bendigo Bank Stadium on Saturday from 2.10pm.

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