Peel punish Sharks’ off day

Rob Wiley feels the Sharks 26-point defeat to the Thunder only highlights the competitive nature of this year’s Maccas WAFL competition, as Peel outmatched East Fremantle in all areas on Saturday afternoon at ATOM Stadium.

“It’s such an even league, and if you bring the wrong attitude on the day you’ll end up with this result,” said Wiley.

“As much as we thought we prepared well we obviously didn’t today, while Peel had that intensity you need at this level. They were just more desperate and hard at the footy and ran harder. That’s what footy’s about, it was very simple in the end.”

After a relatively good run with injuries, the Sharks went into their Round 11 clash undermanned – playing for the second straight week without Cam Eardley, but also with George Hampson, Sam Read and captain Jamie McNamara out of the side.

On the other hand, Matthew Jupp returned for his first match since round 5 and played a vital role down back while leading the side in his first game as captain.

Kicking with the breeze, the day started as planned for East Fremantle behind Timmy Bristow's mark and goal -- and Sean Henson followed up to see the Sharks up early.

But Peel has looked threatening from the first bounce, and became unstoppable as they kicked the last four goals of the quarter and opened the second with another two.

Fremantle Dockers squad players Darcy Tucker, Michael Apeness and Tendai Mzungu dominated as the Thunder took control, but their biggest contribution came through big-man Zac Clarke who outmatched East Fremantle at the stoppages, taking 18 hit-outs to two into quarter time.

The free-kick count also mounted against East Fremantle as they failed to adapt to the whistle until later in the game, finishing at a relatively even 23-15 in Peel’s favour.

“We just got smashed early,” said Wiley about the stoppages in the first half.

“We’ve been a good stoppage side throughout this year but today we got taught a lesson. That was really disappointing for us and it certainly set Peel up.”

Trailing by 30 points at half time, the Sharks took the ascendency but could only make minor dents on the scoreboard -- reducing the defecit to 28 points at three quarter time and 26 points at the final whistle.

Despite kicking against the breeze in the final term, the Sharks applied immense pressure but failed to make these efforts count on the scoreboard.

“It was really hard to peg it back as much as we tried,” said Wiley.

“Even after Brock O’Brien got us on the board early in the last quarter, our next four shots on goal were points. When you’re not playing wonderfully well you need to make the most of your opportunities and we didn’t quite do that.”

While the League side were lacklustre the Development League side was outstanding in their 89 point thrashing off Peel, to go with the Colts’ 4-point win earlier in the day.

The high flying South Fremantle Bulldogs loom for next weekend's Labor Day Derby, but Wiley acknowledged that he doesn’t want to be too reactionary despite seeing many reserves players put their hands up for selection.

Brandon Ellis was immense up front with 11 marks and five goals, while Jake Schleicher racked up 38 touches.

“It was great to see the guys get up early and I was hoping to see three wins for the club for the day but it wasn’t to be,” said Wiley.

“There’s a number of players, and we’ll look at that at match committee. It’s not a knee jerk reaction when you lose, but it's about getting the right balance and we’ll certainly address any player that’s playing well in the Development League about bringing them to the next level.”

“Souths are flying and playing on their home ground we need to just turn around our effort. And that’s the bottom line, as long as our effort’s there that’s all any coach can ask, and we certainly need to address that.”

In the Colts four point win, Dylan Campbell (2 goals) and Kyle Baskerville (22 touches) led the way as the Colts pegged back a two goal defecit at three quarter time to win by four points in the dying minutes.

The Development Leage side was on top all day, led by a 6 goal to 4 opening term. A seven goal third term highlighted the team's efforts as they continued to build on their lead until the final whistle with a 21.21.147 to 9.4.58 win.