Football
13 May, 2026
Southern Roos dominate Natimuk
Reigning premiers Harrow Balmoral returned from the bye with a statement win over Natimuk United in round five of the Horsham District Football Netball League on Saturday, May 9. Playing at Balmoral, the Southern Roos kicked 20.13 (133) to the Rams’ 8.6 (54).
The home side immediately took control of the game, kicking the opening five goals of the game.
Coach Jai Thompson kicked his fourth goal late in the first term to give the Southern Roos a 48-7 lead at the first break.
The momentum continued into the second quarter, kicking six straight goals before entering halftime up 86-15.
Another six goals in the third term gave Harrow Balmoral an unassailable lead, going up by over 100 points (124-23) at three-quarter time.
A more concerted effort in the final quarter, led by four goals from Cody Frizon, helped Natimuk finish on a positive note, with the deficit coming to 79 at the full-time siren.
The Southern Roos coach was the best on ground, finishing with eight goals.
Mitchell Grant booted three of his own as the home side had 11 goal kickers overall.
Connor Deutscher, Matt Jones and Will Burbury were among the other top performers in the victory.
For Natimuk, Cody Frizon finished with four goals and Jarred Combe kicked tw, with Will Kennedy, Mitchell Clarke and Zachary Smith among the side’s best players.
Thompson said the side was able to use its strength and experience in the middle of the field to create consistent opportunities up forward.
“Natimuk have a pretty young side, and they’ve been playing some really good footy of late, but I think our physicality and experience around the footy helped us win that inside ball which we were able to feed back to our runners,” he said.
“We were able to run off and create space, particularly on the big oval at Balmoral.
“That gave us better entries and quicker ball into our forward line, and it all seemed to play out in our favour.”
Asked about his eight-goal performance, the Southern Roos coach credited the consistent inside 50 ball and his favourable one-on-one matchup.
“I finally kicked straight for once, so to get back into a bit of goal-kicking form was great,” Thompson said.
“The entries I got from the inside 50s worked really well, as I had a really good matchup one-on-one.
“We utilised that and got the ball to me quickly, which gave me some great opportunities.”