Peel Thunder Football Club

Peel Thunder

Peel Thunder logo
Names
Full name	Peel Thunder Football Club
Nickname(s)	Thunder
2014 season
After finals	8th
Leading goalkicker	Matt Taberner (18 goals)
Best and fairest	Brendon Jones
Club details
Founded	1996
Colours	Blue      Teal      White
Competition	West Australian Football League
Coach	Cam Shepherd
Captain(s)	James Flaherty
Premierships	Nil
Ground(s)	Rushton Park (capacity: 10,000)
Other information
Official website	http://www.peelthunder.com.au/

The Peel Thunder Football Club is an Australian rules football club playing in the West Australian Football League (WAFL). The team is based in Mandurah, Western Australia, with their home ground being Rushton Park. The club joined the WAFL as an expansion team in 1997.

Since the 2014 season, Peel has served as the host club for the Fremantle Dockers of the Australian Football League, an arrangement which will see Fremantle’s reserves players playing WAFL football for Peel.

History

Peel Thunder was formed in 1996 after the West Australian Football Commission (WAFC) granted a ninth licence in the WAFL to the Mandurah-Peel region. The licence was issued on the condition that the club be ready to compete in the 1997 Westar Rules competition. Geoff Miles was appointed as the club’s inaugural coach and Phil Gilbert appointed captain. The Thunder in 1997 won only one game against Claremont in the satellite town of Rockingham and finished last, with Scott Simister winning the inaugural best and fairest, and won only one further game in their next two seasons against East Perth at Perth Oval.

In 2011, Peel Thunder were fined A$10,000 for breaching the league’s salary cap rules.

In the first seventeen years of its existence, to the end of 2013, Peel Thunder won only 69 matches out of 334 played, or a 20.6% winning percentage, one of the poorest prolonged periods in any state-level club's history in Australia. During that time, the club won nine wooden spoons, finished outside the bottom two only twice, and never won as many games as it lost in a season. Its best season during that period was a sixth-place finish with a record of 8–12 in 2008.

In 2014 season, Peel signed a deal to serve as the host club for the Fremantle Dockers of the Australian Football League for at least five years, an arrangement which allows reserves players from Fremantle's AFL list to play senior WAFL football for Peel. In 2015, the second season of this arrangement, Peel reached the finals for the first time in its history, finishing third on the ladder with a record of 13–7.

Honour board

Season	Position	Win/Loss	Coach	Captain	Dudley Tuckey Medal	Leading goalkicker
1997	9	1–19	Geoff Miles	Phil Gilbert	Scott Simister	Scott Simister (27)
1998	9	1–19	Geoff Miles Troy Wilson	Phil Gilbert	Darren Bolton	Scott Simister (31)
1999	9	0–20	Troy Wilson	Scott Simister	Scott Simister	Scott Simister (54)
2000	8	4–14	Shane Cable	Bill Monaghan	Vance Davison	Dean Buszan (32)
2001	6	7–11	Shane Cable	Vance Davison	Derek Hall	David McPharlin (25)
2002	8	7–11	Peter German	Derek Hall	Darren Bolton	Scott Simister (46)
2003	9	1–19	John Ditchburn	Derek Hall	Derek Hall	Derek Hall (22)
2004	8	5–15	Garry Hocking	Brandon Hill	Daniel Haines	Cameron Gauci (40)
2005	9	3–17	Garry Hocking	Grant Welsh	Pat Travers	Justin Wood (29)
2006	8	6–14	Chris Waterman	Grant Welsh	Rory O'Brien	Dean Buszan (44)
2007	8	5–15	Chris Waterman	Grant Welsh	Daniel Haines	Dean Buszan (30)
2008	6	8–12	Chris Waterman	Grant Welsh	Hayden Ballantyne	Hayden Ballantyne (75)
2009	9	5–15	Chris Waterman	Daniel Haines	Ben Howlett	Kain Robins (33)
2010	8	3–17	Trevor Williams	Daniel Haines Brendon Jones	Rory O'Brien	Matthew Battye (27)
2011	9	5–15	Trevor Williams	Brendon Jones	Kristin Thornton	Bradley Holmes (36)
2012	9	5–15	Trevor Williams Mark Moody	Brendon Jones	Brendon Jones	Bradley Holmes (52)
2013	9	3–17	Cam Shepherd	Brendon Jones	Viv Michie	Bradley Holmes (33)
2014	8	4–16	Cam Shepherd	James Flaherty	Brendon Jones	Matt Taberner (18)
2015	3	13–7

Honours

Club honours

Colts Premierships: (2) 2004, 2005

Individual honours

Sandover Medallists: (2) 2002: Allistair Pickett, 2008: Hayden Ballantyne

Records

• Highest score: Round 11, 2001 – 23.11 (149) vs. Swan Districts at Bendigo Bank Stadium
• Lowest score (official): Round 1, 2004 – 0.0 (0) vs. Claremont at Rushton Park – the team's on-field score of 10.10 (70) was annulled for playing Peter Bird with an invalid permit.
• Lowest score (on-field) : Round 14, 2002 – 1.10 (16) vs Subiaco
• Greatest winning margin: Round 11, 2001 – 71 points vs. Swan Districts at Bendigo Bank Stadium
• Greatest losing margin: Round 3, 1999 – 195 points vs. South Fremantle at Fremantle Oval

AFL draftees

The following is a list of Peel Thunder players who have been drafted to clubs in the Australian Football League (AFL). Players currently on an AFL list are listed in bold:

Draft	Pick	Player	Club	Games	Goals
1998N	10	Brandon Hill	West Coast	0	0
1999R	2	Darren Bolton	Fremantle	2	0
2000R	49	Dale Walkingshaw	Fremantle	0	0
2001R	4	Dean Buszan	West Coast	0	0
	36	Daniel Haines	Fremantle	16	4
2002N	2	Daniel Wells	Kangaroos	224	145
2003N	4	Farren Ray	Western BulldogsSt Kilda	205	58
2004R	5	Ryan Nye	Adelaide	0	0
	40	Ashley Thornton	West Coast	0	0
2005N	20	Paul Bower	Carlton	70	5
	28	Matt Riggio	Kangaroos	10	0
	54	Kristin Thornton	Sydney	6	3
2006N	2	Scott Gumbleton	Essendon Fremantle	35	45
	38	James Hawksley	Brisbane Lions	32	6
	47	Kyle Reimers	Essendon	60	68
	52	Brock O'Brien	Fremantle	3	1
2007R	18	Danny Chartres	Essendon	0	0
2008N	21	Hayden Ballantyne	Fremantle	119	191
2009N	4	Anthony Morabito	Fremantle	26	14
	25	Aaron Black	North Melbourne	50	64
2010R	20	Ben Howlett	Essendon	117	57
2010N	2	Harley Bennell	Gold Coast	83	92
2011P	2	Blayne Wilson	West Coast	9	0
2011R	48	Kelvin Lawrence	Melbourne	0	0
2012N	31	Kamdyn McIntosh	Richmond	22	7
2014R	24	Brad Walsh	Carlton	3	1

External links

• Peel Thunder Official Site
• Full Points Footy History of Peel Thunder