Football
2 September, 2024
Experience and youth propel Southern Roos into grand final
A mixture of experience and youth, in a blistering nine-goal-to-one first half, has guided Harrow Balmoral to a massive 82-point win over the Swifts at the Qualifying Final in the Horsham District Football Netball League played at Edenhope Football Ground on Saturday.
The Swifts made the first shock move of the day, putting full forward Paul Summers down back to try and nullify the wind impact in the first quarter.
Kicking with the wind in the first quarter, the Southern Roos were relentless. Guided by a tough, skillful start, led by Peter Staude and Will Burbury, with Josh Dawson playing sensational at centre half back, they held the Swifts at bay.
Nick Pekin kicked the game's first goal, and coach Jai Thompson kicked the second not long after to give them an early two-goal lead.
The youth then hit the scoreboard, with Mitchell Grant kicking the first of his three goals, followed by Maddox Blake kicking a major near the end of the quarter, giving the Southern Roos a 4.3.27 to nil lead at quarter-time.
Swifts coach Brett Hargreaves had a simple message for his players at quarter-time: They were in the game, and it was their turn to use the wind to their advantage.
They responded to that message with Paul Summers kicking the first goal of the quarter.
The Southern Roos, however, had other ideas. Against the wind, they started an onslaught led by the experienced Nick Pekin, who kicked two quick goals to stun the Swifts and move the margin to five goals.
Youngster Rhys Daffey joined in on the action, kicking truly, and when Nick Pekin kicked his third for the quarter, the margin was seven goals.
Mitch Grant kicked his second goal late in the second quarter to give the Southern Roos a 49-point lead at half-time.
Kicking with the breeze in the third quarter, the Southern Roos came out of the blocks fast, with Connor Deutscher kicking his first to extend the margin to over nine goals.
Jai Thompson kicked his second from the boundary, 40 metres out, not long after, and when Rhys Daffey retrieved a fumble from team-mate Ethan Appleton in the goal square to kick his second, the margin blew out beyond 11 goals.
Thanks to the robust Southern Roos midfielders, the Swifts could get no movement at all. Goals to Nick Pekin, Mitchell Grant, and Jai Thompson to finish the quarter gave them an 84-point lead at the final break.
The Swifts fought the game hard in the last quarter, winning it by two points. Paul Summers, Jack Cann, and Kobe Lowe kicked their goals.
Jai Thompson, Connor Deutscher, and Ethan Appleton scored the Southern Roos' goals that quarter, and they won 18.7.115 to 4.9.33.
Pekin kicked a game-high five goals, with Jai Thompson kicking four. Will Burbury was a clear best on the ground, and Josh Dawson was outstanding in defense. Nick Pekin, Jai Thompson, Peter Staude, and Clinton Robinson were among the best.
Jesse Galea-Portelli was the Swifts' best on the ground, with Joseph Martin, Scott Carey, Mack Padley, Jack Cann, and Tallis Miles also among their best.
Nick Pekin summed up finals football after the game.
"Finals is all about mindset," Pekin said.
"If you are switched on and stay switched on, and you don't let the wind or anything upset you, and you roll with it, it sets you up nicely.
"I was fortunate the balls were going through the big sticks, and the boys were hitting me up."
Coach Jai Thompson was surprised that Summers started down back and said they tried to use that to their advantage.
"I thought it was a weird move, putting your full forward who has kicked 120 goals in defence, and it sort of made us feel they brought a defensive mindset," Thompson said.
"When you come into a final, you want to have an attacking mindset.
"I think it put us on the front foot as they took their biggest strength out of the game, which made us attack forward and put everything in knowing they weren't going to kick too many goals without him there."
"Once we got that first quarter out of the way and came into the second quarter, I emphasised to the boys that we weren't going to go into our shells against the breeze and made sure we played our brand of footy."
"We continued to attack and trusted our ball movement, and it was fantastic to play the way we did. We have emphasised our run and carry and using our skills, and the boys played extremely well."
Thompson's message at half-time was to raise the bar, which the players did.
"Our motto has been to continue to play our same brand of footy regardless of the score or conditions," Thompson said.
"We always want to raise the bar and set it higher, hunt the opposition and forget about being the hunted team, and if we continue to raise the bar and get one percent better each quarter, regardless of the scoreboard or what the opposition brings, it just means we can lift that little bit more.
"The second you go away from what you are doing and go into your shell, or rest players, things go wrong, and you lose momentum."
Despite being outscored in the last quarter, Thompson was happy with how they ran out the game.
"That last quarter, they kicked goals from a long way out and having the breeze, we always knew it was an issue," Thompson said.
"Josh Dawson did a great job in the first three quarters, but he went out of the game, and we lost our structure, but our pressure around the ground was still good, and we could match them kicking into the breeze.
"We still played a good brand of footy, and even though they kicked a couple of goals, it's nothing to worry about."
Thompson spoke about Nick Pekin's, Will Burbury's, and Peter Staude's games.
"Nick has done it for us all year. Michael [Close] has only played ten games, and when he plays, he is a big, commanding character, and Nick plays second fiddle," Thompson said.
"When he is not there, Peko becomes a massive leader, and his capacity to be a leader from coaching this club for five years means he never shies away from speaking his mind and throwing up things the club needs. More brains are better than one.
"He leads and commands the footy. He is a skilled footballer, and the things he does for us, with his voice, experience, creativity, and gameplan, I don't think other teams have a Nick Pekin, and we are lucky to have him down there."
"Will Burbury is coming along in strides. I saw it in his eyes at training that we wanted to come out and fire, and he trained unbelievably and did just that."
"He moved to the halfback line and played on the ball, and the way he moves off halfback, with his quickness and ability to spread the ball, is sensational, and he has done a lot of work on his skills to hit targets and finish it off."
"His problem last year was that he could play one or two quarters and fade out of the game, but this year, he has emphasised playing four quarters."
"Peter Staude holds down the fort. He does that swap with Will, and when he plays at halfback, he flows back and is a strong overhead mark."
"In the midfield, he is a grunt man and does a lot of hard physical work, and that allows Will Plush, me, and other mids to play on the outside and use our class as he gets the ball out for us."
The Southern Roos will now play the winner of Noradjuha Quantong and Swifts in the preliminary final. Thompson confirmed that Matt Jones and Michael Close will be back for the grand final, barring any mishaps at training.