Peel Thunder coach Adam Read has praised Max Knobel and his side for the fight shown in their 23-point loss to East Fremantle but lamented another smashing around the contest.

The Thunder were severely weakened against the Sharks on Saturday, without key forward Patrick Voss, midfield bull Will Brodie and ruckman Liam Reidy while Blair Bell was missing through a hamstring strain.

At the opening bounce, Neil Erasmus copped a head knock ending his day before it began however Read said he would not be using a lack of personnel as an excuse for the Sharks’ midfield domination.

“It’s obviously, not ideal to lose one of your prime midfielders,” he said.

“We just had to reshuffle a little bit of personnel that, when you lose such a good ball winner it’s always going to hurt but we felt like we had good enough personnel to match them in there, but obviously couldn’t get it done.”

The Thunder lost the clearance battle 43-27 allowing the Sharks 11 more inside 50s which meant the Thunder were always facing an uphill battle.

The one area the Thunder had clear dominance was in the ruck with Max Knobel, playing just his fourth league game, having a huge day with 50 hitouts and five clearances in an enthralling battle with Lachlan Blakiston.

“I thought Blakiston actually had the upper hand around the ground and his follow up work was a little bit better than Max’s and especially in the first half,” Read said.

“I threw the challenge to Max to reset and I thought in the second half, he came out much better is his method to his ruck work and work around the ground.

“I felt like he started to get on on top a little bit there, but we just couldn’t maximize it at ground level with our midfield.”

Read said he also was impressed by the work of Brandon Walker, making his Peel league debut as he works his way back from a shoulder injury, who enjoyed his day battling it out with brother Chris.

“I thought he was maybe one of the few overall winners on the day and he’s pulled up and got through the game well especially with us short on rotations,” he said.

“Chris usually plays on a wing or halfback so when he lined up forward, which we weren’t expecting and they just kind of found, they found each other like they probably found each other in the backyard.

“I’m sure mum and dad in the stands are in we’re enjoying that one.”