{"id":39567,"date":"2026-06-27T09:41:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-27T09:41:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/39567\/"},"modified":"2026-06-27T09:41:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T09:41:13","slug":"wafl-2026-ladder-leaders-peel-thunder-cruise-to-88-point-victory-over-last-placed-west-perth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/39567\/","title":{"rendered":"WAFL 2026: Ladder leaders Peel Thunder cruise to 88-point victory over last-placed West Perth"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">Peel Thunder have proven far too good for last-placed West Perth, cruising to their seventh-straight win by beating the Falcons by 88 points at HIF Health Insurance Oval.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">Fresh off a near triple-digit demolition of East Perth last week, the ladder leaders started in a blistering manner which suggested another massive margin would be in the offing, opening up a 47-point quarter-time lead while holding their hosts scoreless.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">And although West Perth\u2019s effort improved through the game\u2019s middle stages, surrendering seven goals in the second half while managing only one themselves condemned them to a 17.20 (122) to 5.4 (34) defeat, their largest of the season and 10th from 11 outings in 2026.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">The contest \u2014 which came nearly a year to the day since the spirited Falcons toppled the Thunder in Paul Sanzone\u2019s first game in charge \u2014 at times bore much closer resemblance to a training drill than a game for premiership points.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">Much-discussed ruck-forward Mason Cox split his return to the Thunder after being omitted from Fremantle\u2019s senior side evenly between his two positions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">Although the veteran\u2019s stat-line of 24 hit-outs, 13 disposals and a goal may not have been gaudy, he had plenty of impact when in the middle, often hitting the Thunder\u2019s midfielders in stride with centimetre-perfect taps.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/8bf6a02a5d99441f43d1bd82bc969b3183e74a82.jpg\" alt=\"Mason Cox gets the tap.\" class=\"css-16r7l45-StyledImage en5ut4d0\"\/>Camera IconMason Cox gets the tap. Credit: WAFL\/Belinda Taylor<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">Jeremy Sharp shone again for the winners, with his 25-disposal, three-goal effort almost certain to attract more Sandover Medal votes as he pushes to become the first player to win the WAFL\u2019s top honour since Hayden Ballantyne in 2008.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">Elsewhere among the 14 Fremantle-listed players to feature on the day, Jaeger O\u2019Meara (23 disposals) was classy through the middle and defender Brandon Walker (17 disposals) pressed his claims for a senior call-up with a composed showing down back.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">Any doubt over which way the result was heading was erased inside a first term in which the Thunder stacked on seven goals \u2014 the pick of which was a set shot Cox drilled from deep in the pocket \u2014 while keeping the Falcons scoreless.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">Thankfully, West Perth attacked the second term with much more endeavour, typified by Nathan Alexandre winning a holding the ball free kick to set up their first major of the day through Tyler Keitel.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">And although they managed four goals in the quarter, they whittled only two points off their deficit, with the Thunder managing to keep them at arm\u2019s length despite their own intensity appearing to ease off.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/4111b7cc1e2d6b290c1f5434b557b10f2bb1fd88.jpg\" alt=\"Jaeger O\u2019Meara.\" class=\"css-16r7l45-StyledImage en5ut4d0\"\/>Camera IconJaeger O\u2019Meara. Credit: WAFL\/Belinda Taylor<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">As passing showers blew over the ground throughout the second half, the Falcons\u2019 only goal of the second half came through Aaron Black capitalising on a moment of ill-discipline from Oscar McDonald an an ensuing 50m penalty.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">The conclusion to the contest was dominated by the Thunder, with Sharp slotting his third goal on the run the pick of the four his side managed in the final term.<\/p>\n<p>SCOREBOARD<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">PEEL THUNDER 7.5, 10.10, 13.13, 17.20 (122)<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">WEST PERTH 0.0, 4.1, 5.3, 5.4 (34)<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">Goals &#8211; PEEL THUNDER: J Sharp 3 C Tregenza 3 J Hewitt 2 C Scerri 2 C Nicholls 2 L Tardew T Whan D Walters M Cox J Carr. WEST PERTH: T Keitel 2 A Black J Demarte K Knott.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">Best &#8211; PEEL THUNDER: J Sharp L Tardew B Banfield J Carr M Cox J O\u2019Meara. WEST PERTH: C West T Keitel Z Guadagnin C Lynch,<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">Injuries &#8211; PEEL THUNDER: T Murray, A Sweid replaced in selected side by J O\u2019Meara, C Scerri (AFL), D Walters (quad). WEST PERTH: S Rotham replaced in selected side by L Carpenter, K Dehavilland (tbc).<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">Umpires: Field: M Caifano R McCaw G Simmonds W Turner. Crowd: About 1500 at HIF Health Insurance Oval.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Peel Thunder have proven far too good for last-placed West Perth, cruising to their seventh-straight win by beating&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":39568,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[30359,335,261,1342,1341],"class_list":["post-39567","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-perth","tag-peel-thunder-football-club","tag-perth","tag-sport","tag-wafl","tag-west-perth-football-club"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39567","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39567"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39567\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}