Round 7 Preview Perth vs Peel Thunder

After showing signs of improvement last week against East Perth the Demons will be looking to play four whole quarters when they take on Peel Thunder at Bendigo Bank Stadium this Saturday.

Perth threatened to cause an upset against the Royals last weekend and got to within 15-points when Callum Walley kicked truly at the 22^nd minute mark of the last quarter.

However a goal to Patrick McGinnity courtesy of a 50m penalty seemed to deflate the Demons spirit and East Perth then kicked four unanswered goals in the last eight minutes to runaway with the match and win by 44-points.

Clint Jones was one of the better players for Perth with 35 possessions, while Liam McKenna (26 disposals and a goal), Aidan Tropiano (25), Julian Jacobs (24) and Jared Bell (17, seven marks) were also impressive.  Debutant Lennon Marlin showed good signs in his first game for the club, collecting 12 disposals, three marks and a goal.

Inspired by Rory O’Brien (35 possessions, 2 goals) and Matt de Boer (36, 9 tackles), the Thunder last week kicked four goals to one in the final quarter against Claremont to win by 21-points.

The Demons have lost the last five games against Peel by an average loosing margin of 33-points.  Perth's last victory was back in round seven, 2014, when they won by 29-points.  From that team only Jarrad Irons, Brennan Stack, Dene White, Michael Sinclair, Christian Eyres and Brad Keast remain at the club.

If the Demons are to beat the Thunder this week they will need to improve their disposal efficiency around the ground and also make sure that they are concentrating for the whole duration of the game.

In the reserves Cody Leggett was a strong contributor in a Perth side that went down by 37-points, collecting 27 disposals, seven marks and kicking two goals.  Fraser Millar (26, six marks), Samuel Garstone (23, 12 marks), Jarrad Irons (22, 7 marks, 4 I50’s) and Matt Thompson who kicked four goals were others to play well.

Peel lost by 27-points last week against Claremont.

In the colts Perth won by 46-points while Peel lost by 105-points.

Bounce down is 2:15pm, following Reserves at 11:30am.  This week the Colts will be playing straight after the league game at 5pm.