Thunder captain Ugle wants to keep making historySaturday, September 17, 2016 - 9:32 AM - by Chris Pike

GERALD Ugle has already made history in his first season as captain at Peel Thunder ahead of Sunday's preliminary final and as much as the Fremantle-listed players are receiving attention, he couldn’t be more proud of their locals.

Ugle made the decision to join Peel in 2015 after one season back in the WAFL with his original club Perth after time in the AFL with the GWS Giants. Almost two full years later it's a move that could hardly have worked out better.

After an outstanding individual season in 2015 that saw Peel make finals for the first time ever before losing the qualifying final to West Perth and first semi-final to East Perth, Ugle was named captain for 2016 despite only turning 23 during the year.

That was a great sign of the respect he had already earned by his new playing group and while not as vocal as some leaders, Ugle has enjoyed the captaincy and has led tremendously by example.

He has now captained Peel to a 49-point elimination final win over East Perth at Bendigo Bank Stadium and then a 60-point first semi-final victory over West Perth at HBF Arena.

That leads to Sunday's preliminary final against South Fremantle at Fremantle Community Bank Oval with a spot in the 2016 WAFL Grand Final against Subiaco up for grabs.

Ugle was honoured to be appointed captain coming into the season and has done everything he can to lead the Thunder with his professionalism on and off the field, and at training and game day. He feels he is getting more and more comfortable in the role as well.

"It's a pretty good feeling. I've been very lucky this year to be captain of such a strong side and to have these senior players come in and help me out in that leadership role as well," Ugle said.

"It was pretty massive for me to be appointed captain. I've always wanted to have a leadership role within any team I've been part of and I like having the boys want to come to me for help now that I'm captain.

"It was a massive thing for me personally and it gave me another thing to work on with my footy to improve my leadership skills.

"I'm always looking for ways to get better and I've learned a lot from my captains in the past like BJ (Brendon Jones) last year and now Rory is a massive help for me this year to have alongside me. I'm still growing as a leader and have a lot to work on but I'm working hard and am enjoying the role."

While much has been made publicly of Peel's Fremantle contingent so far in the finals, Ugle, Rory O'Brien, Brayden Lawler, Josh Bootsma and Blair Bell have had a significant impact on the victories.

Ugle, Bell and Lawler all combined for nine goals in Sunday's win over West Perth while O'Brien has continued to lead from the front and win plenty of the ball and Bootsma has been tremendous in defence.

Ugle is proud of that group along with the likes of Andrew Haydon, Brad Walsh, Ben Hancock, Brett Milward, Calvin Thorne, Josh Mathers, Brad McGowan, Alexander Bray, Traye Bennell, Karl Collard, Corey Morris and Keegan Power who have all played good league football in 2016.

"Our Peel based boys don't get a lot of recognition these last couple of weeks but we are proud of the way we are performing," he said.

"It's not just the ones in the team at the moment either, our boys have all stepped up when they have got their chances during the year and we've played a lot of young boys who have played their role.

"We are still learning the game structures as well and as soon as we master the game plan we are going to keep getting better and better as a group. That gives our Peel boys a lot of confidence going into next year that they can be part of something special."

While it was a good experience to be part of Peel making finals for the first time in 2015, nothing beats winning finals and Ugle was proud to be captain leading the Thunder to that home win over East Perth before then leading Peel to a first win in Joondalup over West Perth in a decade.

"It was awesome having that first finals win. They knocked us off last year in the first semi so to actually win a final on our home ground was awesome and it's good for the whole Peel region as well to show that Peel Thunder is actually having some success and winning finals," Ugle said.

"It was then great to go up there and get a win. Me personally I hadn’t ever won up there before even though we had a couple of close games against West Perth. So to go up there and win, and win pretty strongly was massive for me.

"Having two wins under our belt now going into a prelim final gives the club a lot of confidence. Beating West Perth last week was good preparation for this week to see how we go against South Freo."

Ugle enjoyed the chance this year to not only win the two finals but to eliminate the East Perth and West Perth teams who beat Peel in the club's first two finals appearances in 2016. As impressive as Peel has been in those two wins, Ugle has no doubt they can still improve on Sunday.

"It hurt last year to go through those finals losses for me personally because you want to have success in finals and that was my first chance to be part of it, but for me this year to knock off the teams who beat us last year and have been awesome the last couple of years is a good feeling," he said.

"It now gives us a lot of confidence going forward and it's a good feeling to beat teams who have had some finals success. I reckon we can still get better as a team and we can improve more on Sunday from our first two finals.

"Our last couple of games we've kept improving heaps and we are starting to gel a lot better, and everyone is on the same page and we are starting to play our trademark football."

While Ugle has enjoyed seeing the development of the likes of Bell, Haydon, Thorne, Hancock, Bray, McGowan, Collard, Power and Milward, the return to the club of Rory O'Brien has helped him with the captaincy as well.

O'Brien is a 222-game WAFL veteran with five fairest and best awards and a Sandover Medal to his credit along with being capable at East Fremantle and Ugle has learned a lot from him in 2016.

"Rory has come in and he's made an impact straight away like you would expect. All the boys love him and he works so hard so it's no surprise to see him play so well," Ugle said.

"He just leads by example and he has been great for me to have around me as a senior player so I can sponge off him and try to learn as much off him as I can.

"Just watching how he prepares for games and trains, he doesn’t miss a beat. It's been awesome having him down at the club with everything he brings."

Having come through the development squads and colts at Perth before going to the GWS Giants and then returning to the Demons in 2014 it was a tough decision for Ugle to decide to leave for the Thunder in 2015.

But now that he reflects back on the decision, it's likely the best thing he ever did for his football.

"It was a pretty hard to decision at the time. Perth has been my club since I was a young boy coming through the development squads and then colts and playing seniors there for two years," he said.

"It was a hard decision to leave but I look back and think that it was the right one for me and my family to come down to Peel. Having AFL coaches and everything around and playing under Cam Shepherd is something I thought would help me.

"I really admire Shep as a coach and he has been awesome for me. I look back at my time with Perth and am grateful what they did for me and they are still developing, but for me I have settled down at Peel and I'm enjoying the group and the club.

"It has really helped me develop my leadership and to be more accountable for my preparation and leading by example."

Not only is Ugle enjoying the move to Peel for his football the last two years, it's been great off the field to live in Mandurah for him and his young family as well.

"We are really enjoying it in Mandurah. I live just up the road from training and I work in Mandurah so everything is close by. That gives me a lot more time to be at home as well and my kids are now four and two, so they are growing up," Ugle said.

"My boy will go to school next year so we are settled down in Mandurah and we like living there. Peel Thunder itself is a great club and all the support staff, coaches and everyone involved I have a lot of respect for.

"It's a great family club as well and a few of us have young kids who love coming down and getting involved."