East Perth has slipped to sixth position on the WAFL ladder following a narrow 14-point loss to Peel Thunder on Saturday.
Royals’ enforcer Brant Colledge got the visitors off to a perfect start at Bendigo Bank Stadium when he emerged from a big pack, clunked a strong mark and converted a tight set shot from 30m in the fifth minute of the first quarter.
East Perth doubled its lead four minutes later via ruckman Jonathan Giles, who pushed forward, won an uncontested mark on the 50m arc and calmly slotted his drop punt much to the delight of his teammates.
Unfortunately, that’s where the fun stopped for the Royals.
Fremantle Dockers’ stalwart Michael Barlow goaled late in the quarter to reduce East Perth’s lead to seven by the first change of ends and the combatants were greeted by an almost indescribable deluge that made clean football impossible at the start of the second stanza.
The Thunder adapted to the conditions quicker and capitalised; Jack Hannath crumbed a loose ball near the goal square and dribbled it through the uprights to reduce the deficit to a point before Barlow collected his second major for the game to give Peel a seven-point advantage at half-time.
Conditions worsened in the penultimate period and only Peel’s Brady Gray managed to register a score – a goal that put the Thunder 13 points clear with a quarter to play.
East Perth hard man Patrick McGinnity gave the Royals hope of a comeback with a final quarter goal, but Barlow – who accumulated a stunning 44 disposals in the dour conditions – put a nail through East Perth’s coffin with his third goal for the match which sealed the Thunder’s 5.9 (39) v 3.7 (25) win.
Defender Tom Barrass was among the Royals’ best afield.
The 20-year-old nullified a number of Thunder attacking raids and collected 22 disposals and eight marks.
Patrick McGinnity and Kane Lucas gutsed it out in the middle with 20 possessions each while Corey Adamson, Paddy Brophy and Fraser McInnes each amassed 19 touches.
Luke Partington, Jackson Nelson, Jamie Bennell and Lewis Jetted earned 16, 15, 14 and 13 touches respectively and West Coast rookie Jordan Snadden, playing his first league game for the Royals, finished with eight touches and two effective tackles.
Budding forward Tom Lamb only managed one behind and seven touches, Colledge laid four tackles and won the ball 13 times in addition to his first quarter goal and Giles worked tirelessly in the ruck, winning 28 hit-outs around the ground.
