Peel Thunder make history winning maiden WAFL premiershipSunday, September 25, 2016 - 6:19 PM - by Chris Pike

PEEL Thunder has made history winning a maiden premiership in the club's first ever WAFL Grand Final appearance beating the premiers of the past two years Subiaco by 23 points at Domain Stadium.

The Thunder first played WAFL finals last year losing to West Perth and East Perth before qualifying again in 2016 from fourth position and going on to beat East Perth by 49 points, West Perth by 60 points and South Fremantle by 39 to qualify for a first Grand Final.

Subiaco has won the last two WAFL premierships and finished on top of the ladder this year before beating South Fremantle by 40 points in the second semi-final.

But Peel got on top early with the last four goals of the first quarter and managed to lead by 29 points midway through the second term.

Subiaco did its best to fight back and did get within 10 points late in the third term, but Peel again steadied to run out 11.13 (79) to 8.8 (56) winners.

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While the premiership is the first for Peel in the WAFL there were several players who are now multiple flag winners.

Shane Yarran has won three flags having been part of Subiaco's win the last two years with Clancee Pearce having won also in 2010 with Swan Districts, Josh Deluca in 2014 with Subiaco and Nick Suban with Claremont in 2012.

It was a first WAFL premiership for Peel's other 17 players, though, with Connor Blakely winning a Simpson Medal along with it following another tremendous performance in the midfield with 38 possessions.

He had plenty of help with Ed Langdon putting in a hard running display with 39 disposals, eight marks and a goal while Tendai Mzungu finished with 31 disposals, Matt de Boer 30 (14 tackles), Rory O'Brien 26, Darcy Tucker 21, Ethan Hughes 20, Harley Balic 20 and Clancee Pearce 19.

Yarran was outstanding in last year's Grand Final for Subiaco kicking five goals and he backed that up this year in a Peel jumper with another five-goal haul while captain Gerald Ugle also kicked three to go with 18 possessions.

Peel's back-line was outstanding led by Alex Silvagni who held Hamish Shepheard scoreless and to two kicks and Ryan Nyhuis who limited Liam Ryan to one goal from seven kicks.

Zac Clarke also had a big influence in the ruck for Peel with 56 hit outs to go with 10 disposals.

Subiaco captain Kyal Horsley couldn’t have possibly done more in an effort to win his fourth premiership finishing with 39 possessions, seven tackles and two goals.

Another triple premiership veteran Greg Broughton did all he could for Subiaco with 26 possessions and eight tackles while Lachlan Delahunty ended up with 26 disposals, six marks and 21 hit outs.

Adam Cockie was another who worked tirelessly for the Lions with 25 touches with Chris Phelan picking up 21 while kicking the last goals of the game.

Declan Jackson did a strong defensive job on Michael Apeness holding him to just two kicks and a goal – all of which came in the first 22 minutes.

Peel had its chances in the first 10 minutes of the Grand Final but could only manage four behinds with Apeness, Jonathon Griffin, Yarran and Brayden Lawler all missing gettable shots.

Subiaco then made the Thunder pay up the other end getting out the back with Brad Stevenson strolling into an open goal for the first major of the Grand Final.

Peel finally got going in front of goal with Mzungu the first to kick truly goaling on the run from outside 50 on his left boot following a gutsy mark.

Apeness then marked strongly to kick truly from the goal square before Yarran finished the opening term with two goals as Peel opened up a 24-point quarter-time lead.

Clancy Wheeler gave Subiaco the perfect start to the second quarter with a clever goal on his left boot but Peel responded with Yarran kicking his third and then captain Ugle his first.

That saw the Thunder's lead stretch to 29 points but the Lions built some momentum heading into half-time with goals to Ryan, Horsley and Wayde Twomey to trail by just 15 points.

Ugle opened the second half by running into an open goal for Peel to put the lead back out to 23 points but Subiaco continued to fight hard and were rewarded with goals to Brett Robinson and Horsley to get to within 10 points.

Peel did get an important late goal before three quarter-time when Yarran nailed his fifth to give the Thunder a 16-point lead before tempers spilled over after the siren.

A third goal to captain Ugle early in the last quarter saw Peel's lead head back out to 23 points and while the Lions didn’t give up, the Thunder had too much running power to be pushed in the final quarter and ran out 23-point winners to secure the club's first ever premiership.

PEEL THUNDER        4.6    7.6    9.11    11.13    (79)
SUBIACO        1.0    5.3    7.7    8.8    (56)

PEEL THUNDER Goals: Yarran 5; Ugle 3; Langdon, Apeness, Mzungu.
Best: Langdon, Yarran, Blakely, Mzungu, de Boer, Silvagni, Nyhuis, Ugle, O'Brien.
SUBIACO Goals: Horsley 2; Stevenson, Wheeler, Ryan, Twomey, Robinson, Phelan.
Best: Horsley, Cockie, Broughton, Jackson, Delahunty, Phelan.

SIMPSON MEDAL: Connor Blakely (Peel Thunder).