DEMONS OUTPLAY THE THUNDER

DEMONS OUTPLAY THE THUNDER

By Mark Thornber

Round 7, Perth v Peel

Bendigo Bank Stadium, Saturday 3 May 2014

Perth                           1.2        5.10      6.10      10.17    77

East Fremantle          1.6        1.6        5.11      6.12      48

An inaccurate Perth side recorded a comfortable victory over the Peel Thunder by 29 points at Bendigo Bank Stadium on Saturday.

Perth kicked against the breeze to the southern end of the ground. The match commenced in fairly scrappy cirminstances with plenty of players around the packs and both sides finding scoring goals difficult.

Perth Captain Paul Bevan was the first to hit the scoreboard as he slotted a goal on the run from just inside 50 metres at the 10 minute mark of the term. Peel soon responded with a goal of their own but were largely wasteful with the first use of the breeze and led Perth by 4 points after kicking 1 goal 6 to 1 goal 2 at quarter time.

The second quarter saw the Demons start to gain the ascendancy around the packs through the tigerish Dene White and new recruit Cale Morton. Ruckman Christian Eyres booted a long goal with the advantage of the wind and this was soon followed by another to sharpshooter Matthew Moody as the visitors finally started to put plenty of scoreboard pressure onto their opponents.

Along with White and Cale Morton Perth was now completely dominant across the centre with the returning Cameron Manuel also picking up plenty of important touches. Perth was holding out Peel well in defence as well with Jarryd Morton and Hayden Busher looking good in the backline.

Perth were peppering the goals now with the aid of a strong breeze and added an inaccurate 4 goals 8 but held the Thunder scoreless to lead by 28 points at half time.

The second half certainly saw the momentum of the match change as the home side came out full of run as former Demon Brendan Jones and Fremantle Docker Kepler Bradley helped the Thunder back into the match.

Peel booted the next 4 goals and hit the front by 1 point entering into time on in the third term. Mitch Morton then grabbed a great overhead mark in the goal square for the Demons and kicked a clever left foot snap to ensure Perth held a narrow lead of just 5 points at three quarter time.

The last quarter saw the momentum the match change yet again as Perth came home with the breeze and soon kicked their 7^th major through Brennan Stack. This was soon followed by another to Bevan as Perth now were starting to out run their opponents.

The Demons kicked away with late goals to Cale Morton and another to Moody to record a solid 29 point win, which saw them return to the top four.

White continued his outstanding form to gather a game high 30 possessions and was well supported by a dominant centre line with Cale Morton (29 touches) and Manuel with 25.

Mitch Morton looked impressive on the ball with 20 touches and Busher looked good and is starting to find some form in defence.

Next week Perth returns home to play ladder leaders Subiaco.

Goals: Moody, Bevan 2, Ugle, Manuel, Eyres, Stack, M. Morton, C. Morton 1.

Best: White, C. Morton, Bevan, Manuel, M. Morton, Busher.