HARROW-BALMORAL Football Netball Club (HBFNC) has a new senior coach with Leopold legend, Jai Thompson, signing on to coach the Southern Roos for the 2023 Horsham and District Football Netball League (HDFNL) season.

The announcement brings Nick Pekin’s incredibly successful five-year stint at the helm of the club to an end, including back-to-back senior flags in 2018 and 2019.

The Southern Roos are coming off a disappointing exit in the preliminary final against Kalkee and are out for redemption in 2023.

Thompson has had a highly esteemed career for the Lions, playing there all through his juniors before moving into the seniors and the decision to leave his career in Geelong a tough choice to make.

After playing over 200 games for the club and having spent stints playing in the Victorian Football League (VFL), he makes his way to the Southern Roos in 2023.

He held the Geelong Football League (GFL) premiership cup aloft in 2016 as captain of the Lions and was named best on ground in the grand final, in addition to this he came runner-up in the Mathieson Medal – the league’s best and fairest, also winning best in finals and Leopold’s best and fairest in the premiership year.

He brings an incredible wealth of experience to Harrow-Balmoral, named in the GFL team of the year five times, GFL interleague player five times and is a three-time club best and fairest winner.

The Leopold life member has been captain, assistant coach and coached the juniors for many seasons at his former club, but this will be his first senior coaching role.

Thompson said he couldn’t wait for the new challenge and adventure down at Harrow-Balmoral and was looking forward to leading the team next year.

“I’m just excited to get started and hopefully learn a bit from a different league, I’ve played in the GFL my whole life and it’ll be good to come to a different standard and learn; and hopefully create a legacy at another club,” he told The Spectator.

Thompson and his family decided midway through this season that they wanted a lifestyle change, so they went about making the move from Geelong to Balmoral so they could be closer to family.

The 31-year-old said he was initially just looking at playing for the Southern Roos, before he heard about Pekin calling time on the coaching gig.

“It was a lucky coincidence that Nick was winding up there after five years at the helm and he felt there needed to be a new voice, I was probably looking more at playing but the opportunity came and it happened really quickly,” Thompson said.

“I’m looking forward to it, it’ll be nice when I’ve fully moved up to Balmoral and get settled, then I can get stuck into the role more consistently and run a few more trainings.

Having had lots of connections to the area in the past, Thompson said he was fortunate enough to already know a fair few of the older players at the club.

“My wife is from Balmoral, and I’d been to a few games and functions in the past, so I’d met a few of the older boys but the meet and greet was really good to meet some of the younger guys,”

“Simon (Close) I played with in the Leopold 2016 premiership, Michael (Close) actually lived with me in Geelong while he was studying, and Nick I met last year, it definitely makes the transition easier.

“I couldn’t have asked to step into a better senior coaching role with Nick still being involved, I can use his knowledge and bounce ideas off him.

Thompson is a heavily contested midfielder who can win the ball in the stoppage and is a clearance machine, executing his good work in the forward half with a lethal left foot and will be a big inclusion for Harrow-Balmoral on-field.

“I probably lead by example in the past more than anything … I believe I’m hard working and passionate,” he said.

“I think our bar is going to be making that grand final, we’re in that window … it would be a disappointment to not get into those finals and go deep, that’s my goal.”

Outgoing coach, Nick Pekin took the Southern Roos to two flags in his five years at the helm and was ecstatic to have Thompson at the club.

“It’s exceptional … Jai took his first session the other week at the meet and greet which went really well, it reminded me that not much will change, but he will just add that extra-professionalism coming from that high standard,” Pekin said.

“I could coach forever, but with three young kids and more so due to the fact the group needs a bit of a freshen up, the COVID period sucked the life out of me a bit as it did everyone.

Pekin said he would still be present to lend a helping hand to Jai whenever he required and wanted to get the best out of his body.

“The body feels really good, similar to when Scott Carey who coached at Swifts stepped down as a coach, it allowed him to focus more on his own preparation, (for me) now it’s a bit more about rehab and management to get me up for a Saturday,” he said.

Langley makes HDFNL history

ROSEMARY Langley has made Horsham District Football Netball League (HDFNL) history after she was appointed as the first female chairperson in the league’s history.

After filling many commitments at Harrow-Balmoral and within the league in the past, Langley decided to take on the role following the league’s Annual General Meeting a couple of weeks ago.

The former Harrow-Balmoral president said it was an honour to be part of history and planned on helping the league and teams as much as she could.

“I’m looking forward to it, I’ve been on the board now for two years and have just been re-elected another two years,” Langley told The Spectator.

“Our past chairman had work commitments and I was vice-chairperson, so I thought I’d take on the role.

“It is actually (pretty special), our board is actually dominant with women at the present time, the Wimmera Football Netball League (WFNL) is Pauline (Butler), and our AFL rep is Ange Ballinger.”

Langley said everyone had missed the “sense of community” throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and wanted to bring that back.

“COVID is still around but we hope those interruptions from COVID are gone now and we can focus on helping get clubs back together, as well as keeping communication up between and netball and footy,” she said.

“All volunteer groups are struggling and that’s something we will certainly work with clubs to help improve.”