Former West Coast Eagles rookie Tom Gorter reveals how to kick goals into strong Bunbury breeze

Former West Coast rookie Tom Gorter has a message for his former team as they prepare to tackle a strong Bunbury breeze — run into it. Gorter — who was on the Eagles list for one season in 2017 — has been playing for Hands Oval’s South West Football League tenants South Bunbury since 2021 after he finished up at East Perth. So, there are few better footballers to speak on how to play to the tough conditions of the country venue than the 29-year-old. Gorter said it was possible to kick a score to the southern end of the ground despite often battling into a strong breeze which goes directly down the ground. Only five goals were kicked to that end in the Eagles’ pre-season win over North Melbourne at Hands Oval earlier this year compared to 15 at the city end. Gorter said the grandstand on the west side often gave protection from the breeze which is often where the game is played. “Usually most of the time it blows straight up and down the ground, so very rarely is it a westerly or northerly where it is blowing across the ground,” Gorter told The West Australian. “Kicking to the south can be challenging if it is a Southerly so if you want to play defensive you tend to play the scoreboard side and play that outer wing if you really want to lock it down. “Most of the time, you still have the opportunity to be pretty attacking if you can run the ball more than kick it, especially into the breeze.” While it is wet and wild in Perth this week, Bunbury is set to avoid rain from Friday onwards and the game is set to be played in 20C temperatures. The ground has been unused since May 18 in preparation for the first AFL game to ever be played at the venue for premiership points. Gorter said even if there was some rain the surface at Hands Oval often held up. “It’s a good oval. They’ve put a lot of time into doing it up and making sure the surface is good,” he said. “It’s different to a lot of country ovals because a lot of them to get quite wet and quite heavy. “From what I’ve seen so far this year, it hasn’t had a heap of rain so far which is good so hopefully it will hold up pretty well under foot.”