Round 7 – Peel Thunder v East Perth Match ReportMonday, May 1, 2017 - 12:01 PM - by Chris Pike

THERE was plenty of intrigue over Peel Thunder hosting East Perth on Saturday leading into the Western Derby later that night and given the battles between the two in recent years.

The two AFL-aligned clubs did battle at Bendigo Bank Stadium on Saturday afternoon ahead of West Coast playing Fremantle at Domain Stadium providing the precursor to the Western Derby.

East Perth was also the team that eliminated Peel from the finals in 2015 at the Mandurah venue while the Thunder returned the favour beating the Royals in last year's elimination final on their way to the premiership.

The teams had already met in Round 1 this season too under lights at Leederville Oval and in a low-scoring affair, it was Peel who won that contest by 17 points.

The Thunder returned home on Saturday, though, on a three-game losing slide after starting the season with two straight wins while the Royals won their opening game of 2017 last Saturday against Perth after five successive losses.

So there was plenty to look out for once they hit the field on Saturday. It was a tight opening with two goals apiece in the opening term with Peel taking a one-point lead into quarter-time.

East Perth took advantage of an inaccurate Peel in the second term with the Royals kicking three goals to one. The Thunder kicked five behinds for the quarter and East Perth held a seven-point half-time advantage.

There was little to write home about in the third quarter with just the one goal scored between both teams. That went to Peel and the home team ended up trailing by just the one point at three quarter-time.

It was all East Perth, though, in the second half as the Royals piled on six goals to one to cruise to the 11.10 (76) to 5.13 (43) win.

It's a second straight win for East Perth who improve to a 2-5 record while Peel has lost its last four games now to sit at 2-4.

Peel kicked just five goals for the game and much of that was down to the efforts of West Coast defenders Will Schofield and Eric Mackenzie for East Perth. Schofield finished with 23 possessions and five marks while Mackenzie had 14 disposals and five marks.

Then in attack, the enigmatic Tom Lamb had a good day for the Royals kicking four goals from 15 possessions and six marks while Matthew Allen was impressive with three majors from 12 disposals and eight marks.

Shayne Hill continued his encouraging form with another 20 disposals to go with two goals while Fraser McInnes again worked hard for 21 touches, 15 hit outs and a goal.

Will Maginness racked up 27 possessions for East Perth, Stan Wright 22, Patrick McGinnity 21, Daniel Venables 19, Julian Ameduri 17, Josh Rotham 17 and Lewis Jetta 17.

Peel kicked just five goals for the contest and four of those came courtesy of small forward Lewis Jetta. He finished with the four goals from 20 possessions and also laid four tackles.

The Thunder's other goal was kicked by Matt Taberner who also had 20 possessions and eight marks for the day.

Sam Collins was terrific in defence for the Thunder with 26 disposals and 13 marks while through the middle Cameron Sutcliffe was prolific with 36 disposals, nine tackles, five marks and five inside-50 entries.

Jonathan Griffin worked hard in the ruck for Peel with 16 touches, five marks and 34 hit outs while Traye Bennell finished with 26 disposals, Rory O'Brien 23, Corey Morris 22 and Luke Ryan 20.

Peel Thunder will now take on Claremont at Fremantle Community Bank Oval next Saturday while East Perth has its first bye of the season before taking on the winless East Fremantle at East Fremantle Oval in Round 9.

EAST PERTH            2.2    5.3    5.6    11.10    (76)
PEEL THUNDER            2.3    3.8    4.11    5.13    (43)

EAST PERTH – Goals: Lamb 4; Allen 3; Hille 2; Wright, McInnes.
Best: Schofield, Maginness, Lamb, Mackenzie, Hille, Wright, McInnes.
PEEL THUNDER – Goals: Jetta 4; Taberner.
Best: Sutcliffe, Collins, Jetta, Bennell, Morris, Griffin.