WAFL 2023 Season Preview – Peel ThunderFriday, March 31, 2023 - 1:25 PM - by Chris Pike

PEEL Thunder finished the 2022 WAFL season full of momentum to storm into the finals and now coach Geoff Valentine feels they are in an even better place to make a run at a successful 2023.

After winning back-to-back premierships in 2016 and 2017, Peel hadn’t played finals over the next four seasons but that all changed last year with the Thunder picking up plenty of momentum to close the home and away season.

Peel thumped Swan Districts in Mandurah in the final round to guarantee their place in the finals before going on to beat South Fremantle in the elimination final.

While the Thunder's season ended a week later with a first semi-final loss to Claremont, things just didn’t quite work out timing wise for them with the unavailability of some Fremantle-listed players.

Now on the back of that improved 2022 season, coach Valentine is looking forward to what 2023 could hold for the Thunder and he feels at least in terms of personnel and preparation, they are better placed than they were 12 months ago.

While naturally Peel will largely have to wait and see who and how many Fremantle AFL-listed players they have available week to week, in terms of the local contingent, Valentine is delighted with how the off-season has gone for the Thunder.

Peel has added young Victorian pair Matt Payne and Aidan Hare along with welcoming back Brady Grey while bringing in Jacob Blight from Claremont, and most importantly limiting the damage on the departure front.

With the colts coming off a premiership too, there's plenty of young talent at the Thunder and Valentine is excited with how they are shaping up coming into 2023.

"We've had a big turnover but we think we've got the list that certainly is what I feel is a better one than what we had last year," Valentine told SEN WA. 

"People that have been around the club for a few years think it's the best list we've put together going into a season proper too so that's exciting."

While it has still been an off-season that has seen a significant turnover in the overall senior squad with Peel, Valentine is content with the players they have been able to retain and then blend into the group as well even if it has taken a lot of work.

"We have had a big sort of turnover but the pleasing thing is there aren’t too many of the boys who played a lot of senior footy for us," he said.

"I think the number's about 24 that we've turned over in our senior group which is a lot to manage. The assistant coaches and our strength and conditioning, and medical team have done a wonderful job to get those new fellas in. 

"We've got a lot of graduating colts so we have to educate them and get them up to league fitness level with their strength and conditioning. There's a lot of change, but the old faces are still going around, Ben Hancock, Blair Bell, Traye Bennell, Jack Sears, Tyler Nesbitt and guys like that."

There wasn’t a great need for Peel to load up too much in terms of bringing in players from the outside, but young Victorian pair Payne and Hare will add some youth and experience as they look to have a strong WAFL season to put their name in lights for AFL clubs.

Blight fills a void with Peel needing some help in the key defensive stocks, and outside of that Valentine is looking forward to giving some colts premiership players an opportunity to show what they are capable of at league level throughout 2023.

"Some of the other ins, Matty Payne and Aidan Hare have come over from Victoria," Valentine said.

"They're both a couple of young fellas looking to play the best level of footy they can and they've sort of settled into the club really well. Jacob Blight has come across from Claremont as a key defender and we did have a sort of clear gap in that space so he's come in and had a really strong pre-season. 

"We're looking forward to getting him in there. Then you have the graduating colts from the premiership team of last year. Michael Sellwood, Scotty Tuia, Taj Wyburd, there's a number of those boys that have come up as well. Brady Grey will also pull on the boots for us most weeks."