Round 10 Preview – Peel Thunder v West Perth Friday, June 8, 2018 - 1:16 PM - by Chris Pike

PEEL Thunder takes on West Perth for the first time in 2018 at Bendigo Bank Stadium on Saturday attempting to string wins together as the Falcons attempt to make it a third straight.

It shapes as a fascinating contest in Mandurah on Saturday with Peel trying to close in on a top five position by winning consecutive games for the first time in 2018 while West Perth makes the journey in south on the of consecutive wins itself.

The game will also be the first meeting between Peel and West Perth in 2018 with the Thunder winning their last meeting in Round 16 last year at Joondalup Arena by five goals.

West Perth's last trip to Bendigo Bank Stadium brought about a 35-point win in Round 5 last year as well coming off Peel's 10-goal win against the Falcons at Joondalup Arena in the 2016 first semi-final.

Prior to that, the Falcons had dominated the Thunder winning 12 straight matches in dominant fashion by an average of 35.8 points. That 12-game run including two 100-plus point wins for West Perth but also four others by single figures.

Now with plenty on the line with West Perth out to consolidate third position and Peel closing in on fifth, all signs point to a tremendous battle in Mandurah on Saturday.

Peel beat Claremont by 11 points in a scrappy affair at Claremont Oval last Saturday but it was the four points that mattered for the premiers of the past two seasons. 

The Thunder had lost the last two games to Subiaco and East Fremantle, the league's top and bottom teams, by a combined 116 points the previous two weeks.

But the win over the Tigers improved them to a 3-5 record and they would be just percentage out of the top five with a win against West Perth.

West Perth put in a competitive showing against Subiaco losing by just 22 points heading into the State game break and since then with a bye in between, the Falcons beat East Fremantle by 88 points and East Perth by 24.

That improves the Falcons to a 5-3 record on the season to sit in third position a game behind South Fremantle and percentage ahead of Swan Districts.

Peel is the second lowest-scoring team in the competition at just 70.1 points a game while West Perth is fourth at 95.1. The Falcons are also third best defensively at 78.3 points with the Thunder conceding 89.6 points a game.

There are plenty of changes once again at Peel Thunder after Brandon Matera, Hayden Ballantyne, Michael Johnson and Danyle Pearce all came in this Saturday and were instrumental in the win against Claremont.

As a result, Matera and Ballantyne have been put themselves in the mix for a recall into Fremantle's AFL line-up to take on Adelaide at Optus Stadium on Saturday afternoon. 

Ryan Nyhuis and Griffin Logue have also been named in the extended squad for the Dockers while Harley Bennell is out as well for the Thunder with a sore calf.

Peel will welcome back Cameron Sutcliffe against West Perth on Saturday at Bendigo Bank Stadium with Hugh Dixon, Matthew Piggott, James Kirby, Michael Tassone, Jakeb Shine and Haydn Matthews in the selection mix as well.

West Perth has added Dean Munns, Rudy Riddoch, Dylan Yem and Baylee James to its squad from the team that beat East Perth on Monday.

During the Falcons' reserves win over the Royals, Munns had 21 possessions and five marks, Riddoch 18 disposals, six marks and 1.5, Yem 15 touches, seven marks and five tackles, and James 14 possessions and eight tackles.

Connor West is one player out of the Falcons line-up to take on Peel on Saturday in Mandurah with Andrew Strijk and Kody Manning still sidelined as well.

PEEL THUNDER (3-5, 6th) v WEST PERTH (5-3, 3rd) – BENDIGO BANK STADIUM, SATURDAY 2.15PM
Selected teams, live stats 
Broadcast – HFM, Footy Radio