Shepherd a proud coach but wants one more big effort from ThunderThursday, September 22, 2016 - 9:00 AM - by Chris Pike

PEEL Thunder coach Cam Shepherd is proud of the work that has gone into Peel Thunder making history by qualifying for a first WAFL Grand Final this Sunday against Subiaco, and he can't wait to see if his in-form team can produce one more outstanding effort.

When Shepherd took over as coach of Peel ahead of the 2013 season, the club had never played in a WAFL final and had never come close to doing so.

Having had to bide his time and deal with disappointments missing out on other senior coaching roles, the 1987 Claremont premiership player is now in his fourth year in charge of Peel and will forever be known as the first coach to lead the Thunder to a Grand Final.

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Peel has qualified for Sunday's Grand Final against Subiaco at Domain Stadium by beating East Perth by 49 points, West Perth by 60 and South Fremantle by 39 so far in the finals to be full of confidence heading into the decider against the premiers of the past two years.

Shepherd can certainly feel the excitement around the club and the city of Mandurah now that the team is in a Grand Final in its 21st season in the league, but he wants the players to remain focused on the job at hand and to deliver one more strong performance.

"I'm pleased that we played well to get into the Grand Final and my immediate reaction was that I was looking forward to having a crack on Sunday and seeing how we go," Shepherd said.

"We haven’t been there before as a club so of course it's exciting for everyone involved. Inside the club we try to put a lid on the excitement and we will try to go out and put our best foot forward but we hope outside the walls of the club that the whole city is excited and proud of what we are doing."

While much has been made of Peel's Fremantle-listed players during the finals, Shepherd is proud of the development of the Thunder players and knows there is no way they would have made finals, or now a Grand Final without them.

That includes Gerald Ugle, Rory O'Brien, Josh Bootsma, Blair Bell and Brayden Lawler who have been playing during the finals, but also the likes of Andrew Haydon, Brad Walsh, Ben Hancock, Calvin Thorne, Alexander Bray, Josh Mathers and Traye Bennell who could be called upon any time.

"There's enormous amount of development gone into guys like Andrew Haydon, Calvin Thorne, Alex Bray, Ben Hancock and even Traye Bennell," he said.

"They have been the heart and soul and they would love to be playing, but credit to the guys who are in the side at the moment for playing good footy where they have earned the right to be selected."

Shepherd and the Peel playing group took a leap of faith coming into 2016 by appointing Ugle as its captain to replace the retired Brendon Jones.

Ugle had an outstanding first season with the Thunder in 2015 after crossing from Perth but the 23-year-old was still a little nervous about the appointment.

But Shepherd has been impressed with the development of his leadership right throughout the year and with the way he has led by example with his professional at training and on game day alike.

"I know he was in unfamiliar territory and he probably didn’t feel as sure as he would like when he was first appointed captain," Shepherd said.

"But with great help from Rory O'Brien, Josh Bootsma and then Matt de Boer and Tendai Mzungu, he has grown as a person and is starting to lead the club really well."

Another success story with the Thunder this year has been the emergence of Bell.

Coming from South Mandurah during the summer, the 23-year-old has become a standout performer proving a big-time goal kicker and someone who is strong in one-on-one contested and who can be equally effective playing above his height or at ground level.

He's already delivered a match-winning performance at Domain Stadium this year against Subiaco as well back in Round 12 and Shepherd is delighted with what he has provided in his second taste of WAFL football after one league game back in 2013.

"He is a real talent and he's a big, strong lad who has really enjoyed this season," he said.

"He is yet another great story of a local product coming through and making an impact."

Replacing Jones after 2015 was never going to be easy for Peel following the retirement of the 219-game captain, but there couldn’t have possibly been a more like for like replacement than the returning O'Brien.

The 30-year-old originally played 92 games with Peel and won to fairest and best awards before joining East Fremantle in 2011 and adding 108 matches the next five years while winning a Sandover Medal, three Lynn Medals, playing in a Grand Final and being appointed captain.

But he wanted to limit the travel he was doing and was delighted a return to Peel could be sorted out in 2016. Shepherd has been equally pleased to be able to have his production and leadership at the Thunder.

"He's a ripper fella Rory and he plays his heart out, which as a coach is all you want," he said.

"It's been great to get him back to the club this year and I have no doubt it's special for him to be in a Grand Final at the club he started his career with and that's from his home town."

While Shepherd acknowledges there is a great deal of excitement around the club over qualifying for a first WAFL Grand Final, he knows the challenge ahead in terms of a Subiaco team that has won the last two premierships and has again been the standout team of 2016.

But he is proud of the efforts of his group with and without Fremantle-listed players during the year and hopes they have one more big effort left after the emphatic finals wins over the Royals, Falcons and Bulldogs.

"We have to come really well prepared to be any chance. We'll have a good look at them again and how they set up to put some plans in place against them, and then we'll fight the fight on Sunday," Shepherd said.

"Some of our really strong performances this year was when we were shallow in number of Freo players throughout the year and the band of locals got the job done together to get us in the position that we got to.

"We've had some really good performances in the last three weeks now during the finals and we are in pretty good stead going forward."

Shepherd is proud to be at the helm of Peel heading into the Grand Final but more so for the plans that have been put in place over the past four years to now get the Thunder into this position.

"I think when you work to a plan and work for four years to get there, and then last year we fell over and went out in straight sets, you really appreciate the support you get from everyone at Peel and everyone at Fremantle," he said.

"We're working together to try to be successful and I reckon that's where it has got to. That's the management of it to make sure everyone is valued and that we then recognise that and push ahead. This is a great team effort."

While Shepherd wants the focus to be on his players, his story is one of resilience and perseverance as well to get the chance to now be coaching a club to a Grand Final.

Shepherd played 153 WAFL games between Claremont and Perth and since developed in various roles as a coach with a variety of clubs most recently alongside Scott Watters at Subiaco, Tony Micale at East Perth and Greg Harding at Swan Districts.

While he put his hand up for senior coaching jobs before and been overlooked, he never let it get him down and continued to work hard in whatever role he was doing.

Shepherd was quick to apply for the Peel Thunder job once Trevor Williams departed midway through 2012 and has now done a tremendous job the past four seasons.

He was glad that Peel showed faith in him with the appointment and he's glad that culminated in a first finals appearance last year, and now a Grand Final at least this year.

"At the moment I'm not thinking about myself, I just feel proud about my players. Anything about myself is not really relevant to what I'm doing right now so I'm just focusing on the job in front of me," Shepherd said.

"I've enjoyed the ride here at Peel and I look forward to enjoying the players hopefully having some success. But it did take a while for me to get a gig as a senior coach and we ask our players for resilience so there's no reason I shouldn’t be resilient either."