Sears soars into maiden League Grand FinalWednesday, September 20, 2023 - 12:23 PM

ONE of the success stories of Peel Thunder’s finals series has been versatile young gun Jack Sears who has made his mark in the forward-line.

The recently turned 22-year-old has been a standout performer as the club lent on local talent to progress to the premiership decider.

While he has made more of an impact up until 2023 in defensive roles including some standout performances in the finals run of 2022, it's as a forward that he's delivered late in 2023 including a career-best four goals in the qualifying final win against Subiaco.

On the back of that, he now can't wait for Sunday's WAFL Grand Final against East Fremantle at Optus Stadium.

“Obviously very excited to play in my first league Grand Final,” Sears said.

“I’m not too nervous yet but as the week progresses, I’m sure the nerves will increase.

“Looking forward to embracing the week and the lead up to the game.”

Sears has kicked seven goals in three finals during September, providing Peel with another weapon inside 50.

“Definitely been happy with my form over the last few weeks,” he said.

“It’s always nice to be playing some good footy this late in the season and contributing to the team.

“My focus has been on playing my role for the team as it has been throughout the season and doing anything possible to get the wins over the last couple of weeks.”

The ability of coach Geoff Valentine to combine local talent with a group of Fremantle Dockers and produce results has been critical according to Sears.

“You look at the likes of Joel Hamling, Travis Colyer, Nathan Wilson and Josh Corbett and how they have come down and embraced their roles in the team.

“Their experience gives them the ability to give feedback on field as well as off the field which has been valued.

“Additionally, it’s just not the Fremantle players who have finals experience in WAFL/AFL level.

“You look at Blair Bell, Ben Hancock and Traye Bennell who are all premiership players so their knowledge is very important this time of the year as well.

“The local players have been massive over the last few weeks.

“Belly has been able to put us on his shoulders a few times this year, including in the finals, so he has been enormous for the team.

“Brody Wemm and Ben Middleton are both looking dangerous in attack, so I enjoy playing alongside them.

“Then there’s Jacob Blight who played a big role of Jono Marsh a couple weeks ago so he will be big for us once again.”

East Fremantle defeated Peel by five points in the second semi-final and head into the decider off a week’s break.

“The Sharks are a very experienced team and are strong across the ground so obviously we have a lot of respect for them.

“But as a club, we feel we can reverse the result for the Semi-Final.

“We just need to fix up a few things, which we did against Subiaco so I feel confident that the result can go our way.

The Thunder booted the first four goals of the preliminary final to set up a comfortable victory over the Lions.

“Think what impressed me the most was that we played a solid four quarters of football," Sears said.

“We have found this hard to do over the last few weeks so gives us some confidence for this week.

“I also thought our contest work was good so that’s a big positive if that continues this week.”

It’s not the first time Sears will represent Peel in a Grand Final and the pressure that comes with such a big match.

“Playing in the Peel Colts GF in 2019 will definitely help adjust to the occasion," he said.

“But losing by five points in a Grand Final just makes you want to win a flag even more. Hopefully the result is different this time though.”