Recruits, depth and discipline in order at PeelTuesday, March 5, 2013 - 4:00 PM - by Chris Pike

NEW Peel Thunder coach Cam Shepherd is confident of a strong first season in charge and it's more based on five star recruits plus more depth in the squad than anything to do with the Fremantle alignment.

Shepherd has arrived to coach Peel looking to improve on yet another wooden spoon season in 2012, but looks likely to have the most talented looking squad that the Thunder ever has had at his disposal.

That is highlighted by five recruits that could very well mean Peel has done the best recruiting of any club in the competition.

Indigenous trio Cruize Garlett (North Melbourne), Jarrhan Jacky (Swan Districts) and Marlon Motlop (Swan Districts) will add plenty of experience, pace and skill while Paul Bower (Carlton) and James Hawksley (Brisbane) return from the AFL system to strengthen Peel's defence.

On top of that, talented pair Kelvin Lawrence and Johnny Bennell return for another crack at WAFL level and that's before anything from Fremantle is even taken into account.

At least for this season, Peel is unlikely to actually improve based on having Fremantle on board given the fact that West Coast's Scott Lycett and Blayne Wilson regular players will now be with East Perth.

The Thunder might have Fremantle's Jayden Pitt, Tom Sheridan, Alex Forster, Viv Michie, Tanner Smith, Peter Faulks, Jack Hannath, Craig Moller and Matt Taberner, but all are young players still finding their feet as senior footballers aside from Faulks who played 13 games with Peel in 2012.

While all that sounds good from a playing front, Shepherd knows all too well that just having plenty of talent and a good side on paper will count for little if the attitude and commitment isn’t right.

Demanding that commitment from the entire playing group might not have been popular with all the existing players when Shepherd arrived, but he has no doubt that what he is trying to implement could very well give Peel its best chance ever of climbing up the ladder.

"The first thing is that it is a club that has been starved of success and has been yearning for something that is just a bit different to hopefully open the door to that success," Shepherd said.

"I'm not saying that I am going to provide that, but we have put in some behaviours and trademarks that we think are really important to us and the player group have embraced those, and driven those.

"Those are the sort of things that we will constantly refer to in order to hopefully give us success off the field as well as off it. We've got a great facility down at Peel and now we need to put some wins on the board, but more importantly get the behaviours right and get the team thinking about what's important not only for themselves, but for the team."

While the likes of Brendan Hancock, Matt Battye, Callan Eddy, Bryce Thornton, Ryan Herring, David Johnston, Mitchell Lleyendekkers, Mitch Keddell and Rhett Mason might be among those no longer at Peel, Shepherd has no question everyone remaining is totally committed to the cause.

"We won't tolerate half-hearted efforts," he said.

"That's not to say that in the past they have been half-hearted, but they've had different standards and our standards this year are equivalent to most other WAFL sides in the competition and we will be training as often, and as hard as the opposition. I think that stands us in good stead.

"To be at Peel this year, you have to be one all, all in and we are all together, and know what is expected of each other. There are no excuses."

Shepherd is especially excited with the arrival of Garlett from North Melbourne where he played 32 AFL games, Motlop from Swan Districts where he starred last year coming from Port Adelaide and Jacky who has been a strong performer for Swans also since coming back from the Adelaide Crows.

"We really think that Cruize will be one of the better inside mids in the competition. He's had a slow start to the year because of the protracted clearance arrangements, but we are just looking forward to Cruize having a stellar year to put himself back in front of the AFL scouts," he said.

"I really believe in both of those two boys (Motlop and Jacky) and their skills of football, but more importantly in their assets as people around the footy club.

"I think that both of them should have really strong years and I admire them for coming down to Peel and hopefully they will enjoy what could be a good season for them. They both have been really fortunate in securing wonderful employment, so Peel has been instrumental in that as well."

Add in Garlett, Motlop and Jacky to a midfield already consisting of Pat Travers, Brendon Jones, Kristin Thornton, Matt Orzel and Jamason Daniels, and it is an impressive looking on-ball brigade.

"We think that at our best with everyone up and going we should be able to match it with most sides in the competition in the midfield," he said.

"On top of Jones, Travers, Thornton and those guys, there are three or four others who can grow into accomplished midfielders as well who are young fellas coming through the colts.

"I think they will be learning off some really good players like Jones, Patty Travers and guys who are good, reliable WAFL players. In the past those guys have had to shoulder most of the burden and eventually get run down, but we think the added depth will help them."

Shepherd is looking forward to how Peel's defence will be shaping up anchored by Hawksley and Bower, with help from Drew Robinson, Chris Luff, Devin McFarlane and others.

"Part of any good side is how they defend and providing we remain healthy, and our good players stay on the park we think that our best back-line should be able to be as good as any in the competition," he said.

"Paul Bower has played 70 games for Carlton and he is a really good person around the footy club. We expect him to have a really strong year in the back-line. James Hawksley since he came to training and came to us early in November after being delisted, and suffering that disappointment, has been wonderful to the young players in our side.

"Both of them being ex-Peel boys will be really important to our group. The club hasn’t been successful in the past in getting ex-Peel boys back to the club so these two are a real benefits for the footy club to get them back in and have them playing for us."

Despite all the attention focused on Peel's new alignment with Fremantle that takes full effect in 2014, Shepherd has been impressed with the way it has all gone so far.

"We haven’t had anyone down to our training, which has been as much as I hoped, because we need to get our players to understand that Peel standing alone is important and then the Peel-Fremantle alignment hopefully makes us stronger," Shepherd said.

"We have worked really closely with Fremantle since the partnership was announced and they have been really welcoming to myself, and I've been lucky enough to be involved with Simon Lloyd and Ash Prescott, and Ross Lyon in relation to understanding their players and some of the important things as to how they go about their business."