Jetta ready to help Thunder bounce back against LionsFriday, May 8, 2015 - 1:34 AM - by Chris Pike

CAM Shepherd was a major reason why Leroy Jetta joined Peel Thunder in 2015 on return from Essendon, but now he has heard exactly what the coach thought of their loss to Swan Districts and that has him and his teammates desperate to bounce back against Subiaco.

Shepherd was on the front foot about recruiting Jetta to join Peel this season after spending the last eight years at Essendon where he played 93 AFL matches.

And Jetta has enjoyed the approach of his new coach, including having him point out to the group exactly what went wrong in last Saturday's 47-point loss to Swans.

That was on the back of the Thunder's first ever four-match winning streak in the club's history so it has been a good start to the season but now they are determined to bounce back this Saturday against the reigning premiers Subiaco.

The Lions moved a game clear on top of the ladder thanks to their win over Perth last Saturday while the Thunder lost to Swan Districts, but now Jetta and his Peel teammates are looking forward to taking on Subiaco at Bendigo Bank Stadium this Saturday.

"We had a pretty gruelling session last night (Tuesday) in terms of going over the tape, a lot of guys got put on the spot for a lot of weak efforts that Cam Shepherd," Jetta told 91.3 SportFM.

"We probably got off to an OK start and then after that disengaged from the game plan and weren’t playing Peel Thunder footy which we had been for the previous five or six weeks. We have addressed that and have to come out and have a hot crack at Subi. It will be a great challenge for us."

Initially when Jetta made the decision at the end of 2014 that it was time for him to move on from Essendon, he was hoping another AFL club would give him another opportunity and preferably either West Coast or Fremantle so that he and his wife could return to Perth.

However, when that didn’t happen it was Peel that quickly became the most attractive option to Jetta as opposed to the club he was initially drafted from, South Fremantle.

Because of how impressed he was with the discussions he was having with Shepherd and the opportunity provided to play with Peel, to be under the close watch of those at Fremantle and also to work with the City of Mandurah, it quickly became an easy decision for Jetta to join the Thunder.

"I was hoping to get picked up by Freo or West Coast but after the draft Cam Shepherd was one of the first coaches to give me a call and he asked what my thoughts were on coming down to Peel. I was pretty open to the decision and after I told him I would play for you guys, I have been loving it ever since," he said.

"I love his coaching style. He can be aggressive but he can also be more passive and a bit laid back and relaxed which is good. The boys love him down here but if we don’t train right or play well on the weekends, he is definitely aggressive and he will let you know about it that's for sure."

It wasn’t the smoothest of starts to the season for Jetta who had to skip the Round 2 defeat to West Perth while awaiting the AFL tribunal's decision on the whole Essendon saga, but once that came down in the favour of the players he was able to start his career with the Thunder.

Jetta's first four games with Peel were all victories with him kicking seven goals and showing some exciting signs, and he feels he is now slowly getting accustomed to playing in the WAFL again.

"Obviously I trained the whole pre-season and missed the first round because of the decision. To get that all clear verdict was fantastic and it was great to play that first game against East Freo at home and get a win," he said.

"It's been a bit different obviously playing AFL for the past eight years where all you do is train, do weights and you're at the club from 8am til 6pm. Now being at WAFL it's work during the day and train in the afternoon, and it took me a few weeks to get used to it in that sense. But I’m absolutely loving it."

Jetta has been happy to take on a leadership role at the Thunder as well given he has the experience of having played almost 100 AFL games and almost that many in the VFL as well, he is the second most experienced Peel player behind inspirational captain Brendon Jones.

With his time in the AFL to draw upon, he has tried to lead by example and take the Peel players to another level particularly with the work they are doing off the field compared to the past.

While he is helping show the way, he certainly credits former East Fremantle big man Kurt Tropiano's work as new strength and conditioning coach for much of the progress.

"I just try to lead by example and do the right thing in terms of recovery and off the track, ice baths and all that sort of thing to try to lead by example for the younger guys," Jetta said.

"Just speaking to a few of the boys that were there last year they said that the pre-season was definitely tougher this year. We have a new fitness coach down at the club who played a few games at East Fremantle and he has been absolutely flogging us over the pre-season so most of the credit goes to him.

"We also started doing more weights, which I don’t think the boys were doing last year, so they have put on two or three kilos here and there. So we are a bit stronger and have bigger bodies, and are definitely fitter so I think that's a big up for the fitness coach."