Sport
6 June, 2023
Roberts to follow parents footsteps
Laharum Club legend Hamish Roberts will follow in his parents’ footsteps in gaining life membership tomorrow for the Demons when he plays his 300th game against Taylors Lake. His father Barry played over 300 games for the club and mother Jill an...
Laharum Club legend Hamish Roberts will follow in his parents’ footsteps in gaining life membership tomorrow for the Demons when he plays his 300th game against Taylors Lake.
His father Barry played over 300 games for the club and mother Jill an excellent netballer. Both have been prominent for the club off field over the year – both at board level and also other roles within the club.
Hamish is born and bred Laharum. The 36-year-old played his junior football at the club. He got his first taste of senior football starting with the reserves at the age of 14 and seniors at 15 and hasn’t looked back. Playing predominantly off the half back flank he does his role week in week out.
Hamish is extremely proud and humble to play his 300th this week.
“To play 300 games is a huge honour and that is something I am proud of,” Hamish said.
When asked if it means more in Laharum’s centenary celebrations and as a coach Hamish responded.
“I haven’t really given it that much thought. I have coached before and am no stranger to coaching. Whether it’s the 101st or 150th year someone had to step up and the club wanted me to do a different role and I was happy to do it.”
The only time Hamish hasn’t played his football at Laharum was in 2011 when he played for Leopold in the Geelong Football League. He moved to play football with his brother Jake who was down there at university at the time and he reflected on that year.
“I was searching for a change in life and wasn’t sure what I was after. I went down there to find something,” he explained.
“Leopold were fantastic and it was an eye opener in terms of professionalism and how they go about it. They bring a high standard.”
“I was home sick the entire time I was down there so the stint lasted a year but I learnt a lot and brought it with me when I was an assistant coach leading into the 2012 season for Laharum,” he added.
Hamish was an assistant coach from 2012 to 2016. In that time, he played in two premierships – 2013 and 2015. Whilst he has no best and fairest to his name, he has represented the league on numerous occasions and the two premierships were career highlights.
Two weeks ago, Hamish and team-mate, Shannon Argall replaced Glenn Doyle as coach. Hamish has said he doesn’t have the time to coach from next year onwards but will be still looking at playing for as long as he can. In the meantime, as coach and experienced player, it’s all about development for the young Demons.
“We are aiming to teach them good habits. We are not going to change too much what Glenn was coaching. He was clear on how he wanted the game to be played,” he said.
“Shannon and I may tinker it a little bit but it’s really in line with what he was teaching – stripping the game back to basics.”
“We have a young team and we want to teach them things like how to defend and have that defensive mindset first – to defend well and then using that to set up attacking play. We have a core group that we can mould and I believe we will reap the benefits in a couple of years,” he concluded.
Hamish has three daughters whom are great netballers that play at the club. 12 year old Marlie, 10 year old Immi and five year old Jonti. Roberts said he spends most his time now down at the netball courts than he ever has and he couldn’t be prouder.