Ugle's leadership grows into becoming historic premiership captainFriday, September 30, 2016 - 5:32 PM - by Chris Pike

GERALD Ugle was a little unsure of being Peel Thunder captain at the start of the season but now he will go down in history as the club's first ever premiership skipper and he couldn't be more proud.

Ugle joined Peel for the 2015 WAFL season and had a terrific campaign kicking 38 goals to help the Thunder to a historic first ever finals appearance.

He formed a dynamic small forward duo with another new arrival Leroy Jetta who also kicked 39 majors in the pair's first season together with the Thunder.

But Jetta was made unavailable for the 2016 season after being one of the 34 current and former Essendon players suspended. Then with Brendon Jones also retiring, Ugle emerged as the prime candidate to take over as Peel captain for the year.

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Returning veteran midfielder Rory O'Brien had yet to be cleared to come back to the Thunder when the players voted on their new leadership group with Ugle the standout choice to be the new captain.

The now 23-year-old might not be a naturally boisterous leader but he does all the right things and leads by example with his professionalism, and has grown into the captaincy role impressively throughout 2016.

That's why now Ugle will go down as history as being the captain in Peel's inaugural finals victory against East Perth prior to wins over West Perth and South Fremantle. He then led the Thunder to their maiden premiership in Sunday's 23-point Grand Final victory over Subiaco at Domain Stadium.

Ugle had a strong influence in the Grand Final as well with three goals from 18 possessions but it was the team success he was able to be part of that made him most proud.

He was left speechless after the premiership victory but was happy to prove people wrong especially those doubters who continued to publicly talk negatively about Peel and those in the media who wrote the Thunder off this season even saying they wouldn’t win another game late in the year and miss out on playing finals altogether.

"Words can't describe how I'm feeling right now," Ugle said.

"People said late in the season that we weren’t going to win another game so to come out and win all our finals and beat Subi in the Grand Final who have been the strongest team all year is just massive.

"I can't explain the feeling. The boys stuck together and I can't explain this feeling, it's awesome."

Peel did play Subiaco in Round 22 at Bendigo Bank Stadium and managed to open up a 26-point lead early in the last quarter but still ended up losing by 17 points.

Given that history just six weeks earlier meant that Ugle and his Thunder teammates never felt comfortable that victory was theirs in Sunday's Grand Final especially considering the Lions have also won the previous two premierships.

But once the final siren sounded the reality hit Ugle that the flag was theirs and that he was the premiership captain of the history-making Peel Thunder triumph.

"It was hard to ever relax knowing that we lost to them during the year after being in a similar position so we knew we had to keep going until the end," he said.

"But once the siren sounded we knew we could relax and that we had the game won."

While Ugle kicked three goals as part of Peel's forward-line, Shane Yarran booted five in the second straight Grand Final.

Last year with Subiaco he kicked five before injuring a knee and now 12 months later with Peel having been drafted by Fremantle and playing six AFL matches with the Dockers and kicking 10 goals.

He again booted five majors before a nasty collision with Subiaco defender Declan Jackson that ended his Grand Final early for the second great year.

While Ugle wished he finished the game on the field, he couldn’t have been happier to play in the same forward-line as Yarran.

"He was awesome," he said.

"I was spewing that he got knocked out in the last quarter because he could have kicked six or seven. That was unlucky for him but he was massive for us and he was probably the difference between the two teams really."

Ugle has been tremendously impressed with the bond the Peel and Fremantle-listed players alike developed throughout 2016 and especially during the finals to deliver the wins over the Royals, Falcons, Bulldogs and Lions.

He now hopes everyone involved with the Thunder over the years and who is in the Peel region feels proud of the history that he and his teammates made on Sunday by winning the premiership.

"As the weeks have gone on our bond has gotten stronger every week. At the end of the day we are no different to each other regardless if we are on an AFL list or not," Ugle said.

"It was just good to win and it's good for everyone in Mandurah and the Peel region to have some success. Hopefully they get around us."