Thunder keep making history with first ever home final against RoyalsThursday, September 10, 2015 - 5:38 PM - by Chris Pike

PEEL Thunder will continue to make history by hosting its first ever final at Bendigo Bank Stadium in Sunday's first semi-final battle with East Perth and Cam Shepherd is looking forward to that after being disappointed with some of the discussion following the club's finals debut.

Peel took part in its first ever final last Sunday against West Perth at HBF Arena in the qualifying final, but with all but three of its Fremantle contingent unavailable and then captain Brendon Jones and defender Josh Bootsma withdrawing through injury, it wasn’t a day to remember.

In the end, the Thunder had five debutants and three players lining up in the league team for the first time in 2015 and despite starting encouragingly with a young and inexperienced group with three goals to one in the first quarter, they ended up losing to the Falcons by 109 points.

However, Peel finished the home and away season with a 13-7 record and in third position to earn the finals double chance which means the Thunder will host the Royals in Mandurah this Sunday in a cut-throat first semi-final.

Peel will welcome back not only Jones and Bootsma, but the likes of Alex Pearce, Tanner Smith, Tendai Mzungu, Clancee Pearce, Connor Blakely, Max Duffy, Hayden Crozier, Paul Duffield, Brady Grey, Ed Langdon, Jacob Ballard, Ethan Hughes, Jack Hannath and Lachie Weller from Fremantle.

Shepherd is now excited to be in charge of a Peel team playing in the first ever WAFL final at Bendigo Bank Stadium and is looking forward to the challenge that East Perth will present.

"The only thing that I can do is put the best side out on the park that we can possibly every week. That's what we did last week and that's what we will do every week of the year. That's why we won 13 games out of 20 and why we are in the position we are, and we are looking forward to a big first semi-final this weekend," Shepherd said on 91.3 SportFM.

"Our preparation and want for this weekend is strong, but we know that you can't play the game before 2 o'clock on Sunday. We're really looking forward to it and this is a great time for Peel Thunder.

"We are playing our first home final ever so it will be a great day down in Mandurah. We recognise East Perth's strengths, we feel we will field a really competitive side and gee we are looking forward to the challenge."

Peel had no control over not having the majority of its Fremantle-listed players available to play against West Perth last Sunday, but Shepherd was disappointed with the discussion generated over the late withdrawal of Jones and Bootsma, and defended the decision.

"We started really strongly with a very young group and it fell away pretty quickly after the first quarter. It's been brought up suggesting that Peel made a mockery of the WAFL by not playing Brendon Jones and Josh Bootsma. I'd just like to clarify the situation which was that both were injured and ruled out by our doctors as unfit to play," he said.

"Both were desperate, especially Jones to play in his first final after 218 games, so I was really disappointed at the insinuation in that we did anything sinister. I think what those commentators said was unacceptable and they should get their facts right before they comment any further.

"The question was in relation to Jones and Bootsma, and the context was that I care for my players and I certainly wasn’t going to put two players who were not going to be able to complete a game out on the field if they weren’t cleared to play. Clearly that was the right decision because they should be right to play this weekend. I'll take care of my players all day, every day."

While the final result and margin wasn’t flattering, the great positive out of Peel's first finals appearance on Sunday against West Perth was that it gave opportunities to a host of players of the future that might not have got the chance otherwise.

And there were several that showed exciting signs with Corey Morris doing well limiting the influence of Shane Nelson while Mitch Gill provided a good forward target, Kyle Shanahan worked hard at ground level and Harrison Tyler was impressive on debut with 18 possessions.

Brennan Gillam played his first league game of the season as well and worked hard for 22 possessions while Brayden Lawler was a strong contributor in the midfield with 18 disposals, seven inside 50s and six tackles.

Craig Moller enjoyed being the No. 1 ruckman in the absence of Zac Clarke and Hannath as well while Eddy Dann did well as skipper for the day.

All of that will hold those players in good stead either for this week against East Perth for those that hold their places and certainly for the future, and Shepherd enjoyed some of what he saw.

"Corey Morris took a step forward. He played on Shane Nelson and kept him to 20 possessions, which was a great performance from a young man who has only played six league games," he said.

"Of the five debutants, we recognise that they are early in their development and to get the opportunity to play for Peel in a final is something that we hope can fast track them going forward into 2016, 2017 and beyond.

"They are really important players for us and we are looking at developing our club with not only them and our colts who play again in a first semi-final this weekend."

East Perth has played in the last two WAFL grand finals and have seasoned campaigners like Paul Johnson, Crag Wulff, Brendan Lee, Kyle Anderson, Garry Moss and Nathan Blee in their line-up, but Shepherd is looking forward to seeing how his Peel side handles the occasion of a home final.

"Everyone would recognise East Perth have been the favourites for the flag the previous two years and had a slowish start this year, and come home really strongly so they are going to be a massive challenge for us," Shepherd said.

"But at the same time we reckon we are in pretty good nick and are looking forward to taking them on. We've had three really strong battles with East Perth this year and I think it's just a matter of effort and intent on the day."