Football
22 May, 2026
Roos meet hot Demons
In the most anticipated senior football match of round seven, reigning premiers Harrow Balmoral take on a Laharum side looking to take down another grand final side this Saturday May 23.
The Demons’ statement win over Noradjuha Quantong in round five highlighted the Mountain Men as genuine premiership contenders for 2026.
Harrow Balmoral coach Jai Thompson says he's excited by the opportunity to play Laharum at home, acknowledging Demon recruits Pat MacDonough and Jack Fenner as players they'll have to play close attention to.
“It’s going to be a great challenge,” Thompson said.
“Laharum’s been a really good defensive team and they just needed to get some attacking thrust and a big ruckman, which they recruited and I think will be a real impact for them this season.
“Something we're going to have to look is who's going to play on Fenner; obviously he's been a big addition for them, kicking a lot of goals.
“Then we will work with our rucks to ensure we can still have an impact there.”
The Southern Roos coach says his midfielders will need to outplay the likes of Daniel Easson and Monty Wynne in the middle of the pitch.
“Their midfield is really talented,” Thompson said.
“I think if we can get on top in that midfield, that's going to give us a great opportunity to be able to burst forward and put some pressure on their backline.”
Demons coach Robbie Miller said his side was as good as it had ever been to defeat Harrow Balmoral, adding they needed to play at their best.
“You do look forward to these types of games, the big challenges,” Miller said.
“It’s been a number of years since the Laharum seniors have beaten Harrow Balmoral.
“We'll go there thinking that we're a big chance to win but we know we'll have to play our best football to get the results.
“We have to do a bit of homework on how to go about it.”
Asked about the key players his side would have to target, the Laharum coach said the reigning premiers were dangerous right across the park.
“They've got a lot of players who are versatile, like Jai (Thompson) himself can go forward and be damaging on the scoreboard as well as winning it at the coalface in the middle,” Miller said.
“But then again, it's not just a certain few players that Harrow Balmoral will have; they're well drilled across the board.
“Every single player's going to have to play their role and win our one-on-one battles.”