Sport
14 September, 2023
Roos rubber-stamp dominance
Harrow Balmoral are the 2023 Horsham and District Football Netball League champions following a tough hard fought 20 point win over Jeparit Rainbow at the Quantong Recreation Reserve on Saturday. The match was tight in the opening minutes with both...
Harrow Balmoral are the 2023 Horsham and District Football Netball League champions following a tough hard fought 20 point win over Jeparit Rainbow at the Quantong Recreation Reserve on Saturday.
The match was tight in the opening minutes with both teams applying constant pressure. Harrow started to get the edge when Simon Close kicked the opening goal followed shortly after by Nick Pekin.
The Storm got their first through Nicholas Yarran at the eight minute mark but a couple minutes later Pekin kicked his second to bring the margin back out to two goals.
The Storm started to slow the game up and control possession. Antonio James was getting a lot of the ball for the Storm and Michael Close was instrumental down back stopping everything that went down there.
The Southern Roos rallied with two late goals through Tom Conheady and Jai Thompson to take a 24 point lead into quarter time.
The Storm was sensational in the second term. Trent Burgoyne kicked his first to bring the margin back to 18 points but was quickly responded by Simon Close kicking his second for the game.
The Storm applied a lot of pressure and the Roos couldn’t get their run game going. Despite losing William Hutchison to concussion, they continued to play tough football. They had their chances in front of goal but couldn’t convert until Thomas Clarke and Xavier Oakley kicked back to back goals within a couple of minutes to bring the margin back to nine points at half time.
Harrow Balmoral threatened to run away with the game at the start of the third quarter kicking the first three goals through Ethan Appleton, Greg Hamilton and Mitchell Grant in the first five minutes to extend the margin to 27 points.
The Storm continued to give it their all and it was Nicholas Yarran who kicked two goals in two minutes to bring the margin back to 15 points.
A turnover in their back half resulted in Jai Thompson kicking his second goal at the 13 minute mark to extend the lead back out to 21 points and when Thompson kicked his third three minutes later the margin was 27 points.
The Storm didn’t give up. For the last 10 minutes of the quarter they continued to throw their body on the line and deny the Roos for getting any momentum. At three quarter time they trailed by 28 points and were still very much in the game.
The Storm kicked a behind early in the last term and was on top before an injury to Lucas Edelston stopped play for 10 minutes whilst an ambulance had to come to get him off the field.
The rain started to get heavier and after the small break it was a grind with the Storm getting a lot of the ball and forward momentum.
For the first time this year the Roos were held goalless in a quarter and the Storm battled to the very end and despite a late goal to Yarran, it was the Roos winning 11.3.69 to 7.7.49.
Michael Close was adjudged best on ground with a dominant opening quarter down back and an excellent game up forward.
This was Jai Thompson’s second premiership, the first as a coach and he said it was a relief more than anything after the game.
“Obviously the pressure we had coming in and not losing was on our minds and anything can happen in Grand Finals so when that final siren sounded it was relief,” Thompson said.
Thompson praised the Storm for their excellent game.
“They were outstanding. The pressure they applied on the day was huge. They stopped us from getting our running game going and it’s a credit to them. They gave it their all.”
“It was a tight game for most of it and it was a bit of back and forth and it worried us at times,” Thompson explained.
Thompson identified the first quarter as important in terms of winning the game.
“We know they start slow most of their games so our plan was to come out of the blocks running and to make them chase the rest of the game. We made that emphasis on the good start and we were lucky enough to do it,” Thompson said.
“We were bad in that second quarter and we let them get back to what they wanted to do and our defensive running wasn’t there. At half time I told the boys they had to work hard defensively and the offence will take care of itself.”
“At the start of that third quarter our defence was good and we piled on three quick goals. Once we kicked them they relaxed a little bit and the Storm kicked a couple of quick goals.”
“Coming into that last quarter with a 20 odd point lead we had to hold the game up and that’s what we did. I have to give full credit to the boys for holding their own. Everything I said during the breaks they took on board and they were rewarded. It’s a great feeling,” Thompson said.
Thompson said that Michael Close was thoroughly deserving of best on ground. He has played down defence all year and had to move forward after quarter time and played brilliantly.
“Michael played well that first quarter down back. He intercepted a lot. At quarter time, Simon Close got injured so we had to move Michael up forward. We just needed that in between full forward and centre half back role.”
“Nick Pekin was trying but Long had him wrapped up well. With Michael being tall we wanted him to create contests and utilise our small forwards and he did,” Thompson concluded.
For the Storm, they can hold their heads high. Thomas Long, Thomas Schumann, Ashley Clugston, Simon Clugston and Xavier Clarke were the standouts on the day, but it was a team effort with the entire team putting in.
Despite being disappointed in not winning, Storm coach Scott Driscoll said they can be proud of how they played.
“I am super proud of the boys. The whole group are disappointed as I hope they would be, but we gave it our all and take away a lot of positives,” Driscoll said.
“We sort of dropped off in the first 10 minutes of the second quarter and suffered a couple of injuries which didn’t help. We started to lose our legs a little bit and despite our best efforts in the last quarter, the damage was already done.”
“Our whole thing was to keep ourselves in striking difference. We finish games off well and we fought right to the end which was a pleasing thing. We asked of the boys, whatever the score line, fight to the final siren and I am immensely proud they did,” Driscoll explained.
Lucas Edelston was cleared of any damage through X-Ray and joined the Storm back at their clubrooms with a function and Driscoll said the support from the community was huge.
“The community responded well and gave us a lot of support back at the club that night. We were all obviously disappointed but there is always a winner and a loser and I couldn’t be prouder of the boys.”
“You don’t want to lose Grand Finals and hopefully it’s what we need as a group to galvanise and come back harder and put in more to be better next year,” Driscoll concluded.
In the reserves, Noradjuha Quantong defeated Harrow Balmoral by 17 points, Pimpinio beat Natimuk by 16 points and in the under 14’s, Noradjuha Quantong won a thriller by 1 point beating Kaniva Leeor.