AFTER sitting through a bye in the opening round of the WAFL, Peel Thunder gets to kick off its 2015 campaign away against the West Perth Falcons on Saturday.
Peel Thunder will have to snap a recent trend that has seen them lose every opening game of the season since 2007 if they are to beat West Perth.
However, it won’t be easy for Peel who will face a side desperate to win after West Perth got blown away by South Fremantle in the second half to lose by 45 points in round one. The two sides last met in round 21 last season, on that occasion West Perth came away with a nine-point victory.
West Perth had 14 players from that game line-up against South Fremantle last weekend so little can be read into the outcome.
Peel Thunder will likely have a similar number of players take to the field this weekend with at least six players having left the club over the off season and the uncertainty surrounding who the Fremantle Dockers will release to play.
Thunder coach Cam Shepherd said his side was good enough to go with West Perth.
“They are a premiership side from two years ago and they had a disappointing season last year,” he said.
“We are raring and ready to go and we expect to have a good crack at them on the weekend.
“We have worked 30 per cent harder [in the pre-season] so we are fitter and stronger; we should be able to run harder for longer and tackle stronger.”
What can be assured is that West Perth’s Laine Ramussen, Rohan Kerr and Luke Meadows, the players who were named best onfield against Peel last time, will line up this weekend after playing last week; Kerr named in the best after a 25 disposal, two-goal game.
Michael Apeness and Garrick Ibboston led the way for the Thunder last season but Ibboston would be unlikely to be risked by Dockers.
However Fremantle coach Ross Lyon confirmed that Daniel Pearce and Matt Taberner would play for the Thunder with Michael Barlow, Tendai Mzungu, Paul Duffield and even Aaron Sandilands having a chance to play.
If those players do play it would be a huge boost for Peel who has had a disappointing pre-season to date.
Pre-season form is often dismissed for meaning little, though that aside the Thunder went down to Swan Districts by 23 points in their opening pre-season game before being smashed by Claremont by a whopping 114 points.
Shepherd said they stuck well with Swan Districts until three-quarter-time.
“We played well against Swans and they played as strong of a side that they could,” he said.
“We had a very young inexperienced side against Claremont and gave them some experience.”
A number of other Dockers who missed the pre-season games will also be added this weekend.
Peel will be hoping their new recruits, former AFL players, Leroy Jetta and Gerard Ugle, as well as amateur players Brayden Lawler and Mitch Gill, can help lead the side forward.
Shepherd said the new recruits were the players to look out for. “One of the players to watch is Leroy Jetta, but he won’t play this week, I reckon Gerard Ugle is another one,” he said.
“Brayden Lawler who came up from down south and then all the young fellas coming through like Mitchell Wallis, Nathan Fay and a few others.”
Colin Sylvia will be another player to look out for after the long-time AFL player was banished by the Dockers earlier this year for being unfit.
Sylvia should be desperate to regain the respect from his Fremantle teammates and should be one of Peel Thunder’s best.
Peel Thunder will play West Perth on Saturday at 2.15pm at HBF Arena, Joond-alup.
