The Thunder were gallant in defeat against a powerful East Fremantle side on Good Friday, going down by 18 points in front of approximately 2000 people at Bendigo Bank Stadium.
In a match that featured many ebbs and flows, the Sharks were out of the blocks quickly, opening up a 14-point lead at quarter time, before the Thunder fought its way back in the match with trademark tenacity to bridge the gap to four points at the long break.
The Sharks again stretched the lead out to 23 at the final change with four goals to Peel’s one, and despite a late Thunder charge, the visitors held on for a hard-fought win.
The Thunder was again well serviced by evergreen veteran Brendon Jones with 29 touches, while young Docker Tom Sheridan was the leading possession-winner on the ground with 32.
Dockers midfielder Garrick Ibbotson shrugged off injury to collect 24 touches in his latest comeback, while Anthony Morabito also was lively with 19 touches.
Craig Moller booted three goals for the home side, while diminutive forward Mat Brown continued his strong season with two majors.
Shepherd said, while there was room for improvement, the side was still playing tough, hard football.
“We’re pleased with the effort of the players, but we were disappointed with our turnovers, because we felt that gave them an opportunity to capitalise from our mistakes, but we’re going to learn from that,” he said.
Shepherd identified the Thunder’s lapses in the third quarter as a worrying trend over the past four weeks,
“I reckon we have to address it, as it has been an issue in three of our games that we’ve been slow to move in the third quarter, and as we go forward it will definitely be a focus for us in weeks to come," he said.
But again the shining light for Peel has been the development of its youngsters, with teenagers Ben Hancock and Dylan Winton along with first-year Dockers rookies Brady Grey and Jacob Ballard impressive.
Hancock amassed 17 touches off half-back in his second game, while Winton kept livewire forward Ryan Lester-Smith scoreless while collecting 17 touches himself.
Ballard was also exceptional with 25 touches, and Shepherd said the development of the group as a collective was a sign of a young group gelling together.
“From our point of view at Peel, we’re really pleased they’re pushing up and they will be great players for us as the season progresses, and they are all young men who have played less than five games each, so their ability to stand up has been exceptional.”
The midfield was a key area for Peel against a blue-chip Sharks midfield, and Shepherd said he was pleased with the improvement through the middle, which saw Peel win the clearances handsomely.
“From our midfield point of view, we were poor against Subiaco, and the boys battled really manfully on Friday and won the clearances, so getting quality of delivery from our clearances will be our next step.”
Peel will take on Claremont at the Claremont Showgrounds next, and Shepherd said he expected another strong showing from his players.
“We’re definitely building, and we’ll continue to improve in the key areas such as contested ball, clean ball use and our defence, as a means to build a large score and hopefully get the result we’re after,” he said.
