Qualifying for this season's finals series may be somewhat of a pipe dream for East Perth, but the club's latest hero says the Royals still have a burning desire to win games.
Small forward Mathew Seal booted five goals as the Royals snapped a five-game losing streak on Saturday, beating Peel by 36 points in a home game at Gloucester Park in Margaret River.
Seal, who has now collected three five-goal hauls in a 58-game career, led the charge up forward with Michael Swan and big man Andrew Merrington, who booted three goals each.
"Finals are always the ultimate goal but we had lost five games on the trot, so we needed to show our supporters and members that we were ready to play," the 22-year-old said.
"It was a must-win game and it was one of the best feelings I've had in football.
"We're definitely going to give it a red-hot crack in the next couple of weeks to show our supporters what we're about."
On the flipside, the 16.12 (108) to 10.12 (72) loss left Peel's hopes of a maiden finals appearance hanging by a thread.
And the Mandurah-based club's cause may suffer another blow with No. 1 ruckman Zac Beeck in trouble again after being booked for striking.
His importance to the Thunder was highlighted when he twice left the field nursing injuries, forcing the smaller Danny Chartres into the ruck against twin towers Michael Robinson and Zac Clarke, who asserted their authority in Beeck's absence.
Beeck's fitness will be assessed by the club today, with X-rays and the tribunal to determine his availability for the crunch clash with Subiaco next weekend.
"He dislocated his ring finger and it was just causing him a bit of pain," Peel football manager Steve Ashton said.
"We managed to relocate it but there was a fair bit of swelling. He also had a slight shoulder injury, but that will be OK."
Following another crushing defeat at the hands of the Demons in round 12, a week of soul-searching at East Perth paid dividends against Peel.
Despite the wet and windy conditions, both sides booted goals with regularity in the first term and Peel went into the break with a narrow three-point lead.
The Royals' run and drive from half-back through Adam Pickering, Luke Webster and Trevor Oliver was stifled at the other end by the stingy Thunder defence in the second term.
The atrocious conditions and narrow Gloucester Park configuration also combined to limit the Royals' effectiveness going forward, despite a strong breeze favouring their end as Peel managed to get numbers behind the ball.
They restricted their opponents to just one goal for the quarter but failed to capitalise on chances at the other end, to go into the main break trailing by four points.
The Royals set up their win by outscoring Peel into the breeze in the third term, with goalsneaks Seal and Swan creating havoc at the feet of Merrington.
East Perth were made to feel at home during the final term as local supporters rallied behind them.
Each goal was greeted with the customary honking of car horns which lined the perimeter of Gloucester Park as the Royals pulled clear with the last six goals of the game.
WAFL director of football Grant Dorrington said he was pleased with the crowd of 2762 and the continued support for the competition in country areas.
SHAYNE HOPE
