If Blair Bell hadn’t got the ball, realised he had space and kicked a goal with seconds to go in the WAFL first semi final Peel would have been BUNDLED OUT and the reason clear to all. The Fremantle-listed players in the Peel team had clocked out anyway, would rather be on holidays, don’t really care. And they’re no good anyway.
But then Peel went on to win their next two finals including a 33-point victory over East Perth in the grand final and the reason was clear to all – it’s all those Fremantle-listed players in the Peel team. And they’re bloody good players.
The grand final was a good one and when the Royals sneaked within two goals in the last quarter victory was definitely in sight. With East Perth in full attack mode Peel kicked four goals in the last five minutes to make the win seem more comfortable than it was.
The issue for the Royals was simply in the details – fumbles, dropped marks, wrong options, missed opportunities – there was no doubting the effort. Scott Jones was mighty in the ruck battle with Liam Reidy; the gun midfielders Mitch Crowden, Angus Schumacher, Hamish Brayshaw and Michael Randall were all ok. Kye Willcocks might have played the game of his life and Stan Wright also did his bit as an attacking defender.
Harrison Macreadie showed again he’s probably his team’s best tall defender and best tall forward, Bradley Fullgrabe was fantastic in defence and Sam Van Dieman kicked three goals. All good but not enough. The Royals also looked a bit slow – it would have been nice to have Darcy Craven and even Sebit Kuek in attack – thank you AFL mid-season draft.
Neil Erasmus and Nathan O’Driscoll were really strong in the midfield for the Thunder; Michael Sellwood, Ethan Hughes and Karl Worner were good in defence; Scott Tuia capped off his good season and Will Brodie did his bit. None of the forwards were dominant but they did enough. Matt Taberner put his signature on the first quarter with a glorious set shot from the boundary and a miss from 15 metres – any Freo fan would have predicted the outcomes of those those kicks.
Bell kicked the last goal of the game. If anyone ever bothers to list the top 20 WAFL players of the century he will be in it.
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