{"id":894926,"date":"2026-09-17T04:58:18","date_gmt":"2026-09-17T04:58:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/894926\/"},"modified":"2026-09-17T04:58:18","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T04:58:18","slug":"peel-thunders-grand-final-selection-squeeze","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/894926\/","title":{"rendered":"Peel Thunder\u2019s Grand Final Selection Squeeze"},"content":{"rendered":"

Peel Thunder coach Adam Read admits when his team is announced for Sunday\u2019s Sullivan Logistics WAFL Grand Final there will be players who are left heartbroken.<\/p>\n

Read is on the verge of his second premiership as coach of Peel but knows the tough calls which will have to be made.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince I have taken this job, I have gone through every coaching course you could imagine and I don\u2019t think it teaches you about how you are supposed to have those tough conversations on selection,\u201d Read said.<\/p>\n

The availability of Fremantle Dockers defender Brennan Cox is a bonus for the minor premiers who will start up to 14 AFL-listed players against Claremont.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen someone of Brennan\u2019s ability is available, we are more than happy to take it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is a Peel premiership player already so has a strong connection with the club.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s also his opportunity to get himself ready for a potential AFL Grand Final.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Cox will strengthen the best backline in the competition, the selection of ruckman Sean Darcy is in doubt because of a knee issue, while forward Corey Tregenza and Aiden Riddle have been sidelined for several weeks but are both pressing to be part of Grand Final day.<\/p>\n

\u201cTregenza has trained really well this week, and his ankle is doing well so he will be discussed at length at the selection meeting,\u201d Read explained.<\/p>\n

After defeating Claremont by 28 points in the Second Semi Final, the Thunder have enjoyed a week\u2019s break before the decider.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a long season so any chance the players get to freshen up it\u2019s good and we think we have handled that well,\u201d the coach said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a great feeling at the club and we will have a captain\u2019s run on Saturday at Optus Stadium.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a great trust in the system in place at Peel and the roles we play.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

For Sears in his first full season as skipper, the chance to replicate what Ben Hancock achieved as captain in 2024, is an exciting prospect.<\/p>\n

\u201cBen has been such a great support to me and I\u2019m glad he gets the chance for another flag,\u201d Sears said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have been at the club for more than a decade, am a Mandurah boy who grew up barracking for the Thunder, so to have the opportunity to be a premiership captain would mean a lot to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Peel Thunder coach Adam Read admits when his team is announced for Sunday\u2019s Sullivan Logistics WAFL Grand Final…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":894927,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,596,85],"class_list":["post-894926","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-football","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/894926","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=894926"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/894926\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/894927"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=894926"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=894926"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=894926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}