Match Preview: Read confident ahead of 50th

Samuel Read will play his 50th game for East Fremantle when the Sharks head south to Bendigo Bank Stadium for an Easter Saturday clash with Peel Thunder.

The Sharks are buoyant coming off a 49 point victory over Swan Districts, and they will face a Peel outfit hungry for their first win of the season.

Match Times and Details

Peel fielded 18 AFL listed players in their honourable 8 point loss to reigning premiers Subiaco, and coach Rob Wiley expects a similar effort from Peel despite the club naming six changes to their side.

“It’s a very tough matchup, their form last week was very good,” said Wiley

“There’s a lot of players that want to push up for Dockers selection so they’ll be a hard opponent – particularly down there."

“They’ll have some changes as the Dockers play this week, but they’ll still play the same way they played last Saturday even if there’s a few different personnel. We just have to be prepared for that and meet them head on."

“We’ve taken confidence from last week’s game and we’re going down there looking forward to a great challenge.”

There are few changes to the Sharks team; Jayden Schofield returns to the extended squad from serving a match suspension carried over from last year,  while Matthew Bannister and Dylan Winton have also been named following strong performances in the Development League last week.  If there was any downside to last week’s victory, it’s through a few bruised bodies in the Sharks camp. The club hasn’t named any outs but will be monitoring the progress of a handful of players until bouncedown.

“They’re pretty sore because they were very hard last week, but you know that’s footy,” said Wiley.

“The intensity picked up last week and we’ve got to make sure we take fit players in, and we’re confident that our [reserve] players know our style. If we have to make changes they’ll know what to do.”

The Sharks do have insiders coming up against Peel, with backline coach Luke McPharlin and backman Dylan Winton providing some useful insight into their opposition.

“Luke knows a lot of the players and obviously how the Dockers play -- and Peel will be trying to mirror that,” said Wiley.

“So his input plus Dylan Winton who played at Peel last year are both pretty valuable in giving us feedback and to be better prepared.”

Coming into his 50th game, defender Samuel Read was delighted to be able to have input from someone of McPharlin’s ilk.

“Having Luke on board is fantastic, not only is he straight out of the AFL system, he’s an obviously elite player, so you’re almost in a bit of awe when he speaks,” said Read.

“Any knowledge that someone of that calibre can pass on to a younger or developing player like myself is fantastic. He normally chimes in with these small points here and there, and they’re absolutely spot on every single time, and it’s great for the group to have that sort of facility at our disposal.”

Read admitted that it is still hard to know what to expect from Peel, but feels that his side is capable of maintaining their strong start to the season.

“Looking at the [Peel] lineup, you see a lot of first year players from the Dockers who you don’t really know. They could come from over east and absolutely kill it, it’s a hard one to gauge,” said Read.

“But I think we’re pretty confident, certainly more confident that we were going into last week – getting that first win on the board has brought that self-belief about the group which is fantastic and there’s been a really positive attitude at training.”

While Read won’t be reflecting too strongly on reaching 50 games, the Willetton product remarked that pulling on the blue and white is a privilege that he’ll never take for granted.

“It’s not a huge milestone, but I’m pretty proud to have the opportunity to play 50 games for the club I grew up barracking for,” said Read.

“It’s certainly 50 more I thought I’d play when I first got down to the club in 2012 – so I’ve very blessed to be able to play that many games for this great club.”  

In preceding games, the Colts will be looking to improve their disposal efficiency as they take on round 1 winners Peel.  Despite the loss, coach McLernon has kept faith in his troops, with only two additions to the side that went down to Swans last week.  In come Dylan Campbell and Ryan Hobbs, both making their colts debuts.  Campbell, the clever inside midfielder, will add bite around the contest, whilst Hobbs, one of five Midwest boys in the team, is a hard running left foot defender.   
Like the Colts the Development League have only made minor changes to their line-up despite their narrow loss last week.  For the most part the Sharks boys were very good and had it not been for a 20-minute lapse in the third, the result against the Swans may well have been a very different story.  In to the side this week comes the experienced Ricciardello, who will add excellent leadership to an otherwise very young side. 
 

Match Times and Details

Colts 9am

Development League 11:30am

League 2:15pm

16s Development 5pm

Location: Bendigo Bank Stadium

Admission: Adult -$15, Concession-$12, Student Edge- 2 for 1, Under 16s- Free