Peel Coach Adam Read says patience is key for young Dockers duo as they star in Peel’s successful premiership campaign in 2024 which brought Peel it’s third premiership in a decade.

Neil Erasmus and Nathan O’Driscoll were two of Peel’s 11 listed Fremantle players who took the field at Optus Stadium in Sunday’s decider, both having a massive influence in the 33-point win over East Perth. 

For his mammoth effort, Erasmus was named the Simpson Medallist after accumulating 26-disposals, 11 tackles, six clearances and two goals which helped steer the Thunder to premiership glory. 

O’Driscoll also delivered a standout performance and continued his strong form with 10 disposals alone just in the first quarter. Fremantle announced the 22-year-old had signed a two-year extension with the club on Wednesday afternoon, acknowledging his impressive form. 

Speaking to SportFM days after the Grand Final, Read praised the young midfield duo for their patience and dedication to working on their craft as they bide their time in the WAFL.

“They both had great finals campaigns, obviously capped off for Ras with the Simpson Medal, so incredibly happy for him there,” he said.

“Sometimes it gets forgotten with these guys that they’re still quite young and they’re early in their football career and they’re sitting behind a pretty handly midfield at Fremantle with Brayshaw, Serong, Young and Fyfe running through there. 

“Everyone’s in a rush in the footy industry and I understand that, I’ve been part of it for a long time, but sometimes guys just have to bide their time and work on their craft and wait for their moment. 

“These two guys have been incredibly patient and really diligent at working on their craft. Ras in particular played a lot of footy for us this year and Driz missed a chunk with injury, so to see him come back with a healthy body at the back end of the year and show what he can do in the finals series. it’s exciting for the both of them.” 

Sunday’s clash was always anticipated to be a red hot one – with the league’s two strongest sides battling it out for the major prize. 

Peel spent 13 weeks at the top of the ladder during the regular season, while rivals East Perth spent eight weeks on top and came away minor premiers. 

This was reflected in the first half with the Royals leading by five points at quarter time but the second quarter saw the Thunder add to the scoreboard and take a 15-point lead into the main break. 

Read says while he could not identify a singular defining moment, a five-goal charge from Peel in the third quarter was instrumental in locking away the flag. 

“I thought funnily enough for the first half of the game, it really didn’t look the way that we wanted it to look,” he said. 

“At half time we came in and we had 77 kicks, 85 handballs and only 20 uncontested marks. Six of those uncontested marks came on one of our very first offensive chains off our back half. The game didn’t really look the way we wanted it to, we applied a lot of pressure with a lot of handballs. 

“It’s a grand final, pressure’s hot. So a defining moment? Not really. I think because of the chaos of the game it just opened up a bit and we were able to execute a little bit better in the third quarter.

“That was the quarter we got it done for us. The second quarter we had plenty of opportunities but we just couldn’t tie off our entries going inside 50, but our third quarter was probably where it broke open.” 

Peel’s journey to the grand final was by no means smooth sailing – losing to Swan Districts at home and being sent into a do-or-die final against Claremont the following week. 

Read – who had a triumphant first season as Peel head coach, described the feeling of winning his maiden flag as WAFL head coach as ‘wonderful.’ 

“That’s why we do it, you love to be able to bottle that and I’d love to be able to bottle the rooms and the club afterwards,” he said.

“It was such a great feeling just to see the joy on everyone’s face – the friends, the family, the supporters. It just reaffirms your purpose on why, me personally, I get up in the morning, and the players, why they come to training after work and they put the hard yards in. It’s a really wonderful feeling.” 

IMAGE: Peel Thunder