Position: First

Season record: 7-0

Most goals: Jai Thompson, Nick Pekin (19 goals)

HARROW-BALMORAL is hoping to go back-to-back in the Horsham District Football Netball League (HDFNL) senior football this season, for the second time in recent years.

The side has the premiership clearly in its sights in 2024 and with an unblemished record after eight rounds, they are going to take some beating once again.

The powerhouse club completed the back-to-back feat just a few years ago in 2018-2019, the next two seasons were ruled out due to COVID, before a heart-breaking preliminary final loss in 2022 against Kalkee.

Senior coach, Jai Thompson has fit in seamlessly at the club since signing prior to last season, continuing the winning ways of his predecessor, Nick Pekin, who took the side to the promised land in 2018 and 2019.

Thompson came to the club after a long and successful career at Leopold in the Geelong Football League (GFL) and is yet to register a loss more than a year and a half on from his signing.

The senior side recorded a strong win against Pimpinio on the weekend as Michael Close (five goals), Pekin and Thompson (both four goals) owned the forward 50.

Other players named in the best in the 78-point victory were Brait Headon, Will Burbury and Cody Deutscher.

It appears Stawell Swifts are one of the bigger threats among the rest of the HDFNL, having had just one loss and boasting a massive percentage.

They sit second and have been making light work of many other teams in the competition scoring heavily.

However, the likes of Rupanyup, Laharum, Noradjuha-Quantong and Pimpinio have been competitive and made the ladder incredibly close – all sides are sitting on five wins.

Thompson said he’d been impressed by the way the boys had started the year with seven strong wins.

“Very pleasing we have played all the teams that I think will be right up there at the end of the year, so to still be undefeated is a fantastic effort,” he said.

“We’ve had some injuries to key players and a fairly young side to start the year, they’ve all taken on some big roles but done them really well.”

The side has encountered some more competitive games in 2024 having won four of the seven games by 25 points or less, with the average winning margin this year being 53 points as opposed to 112 points last season.

Thompson said it had been good to take on some strong sides and felt the side had learnt a lot for when they meet later in the year.

“It’s great to see that competition, both of those teams (Stawell and Rupanyup) have recruited really well and bred some really good juniors,” he said.

“After winning the flag last year, you become the hunted and teams will find ways to try and get better and beat us, so that drives us going forward.”

Some of the players that have spent time on the sidelines include Michael Close, Matt Jones, Peter Staude, Will Plush and Noah Hildebrand.

Close is back to full health and kicked five goals last weekend while the side will look to bring back Jones and Staude after the bye.

Thompson said these injuries had provided great opportunities to some of the young talent at the club to take the next step up after coming up from the Under-17s.

“Josh Grant, Rhys Daffey, George Austin and Maddox Blake have played every game this year in the ones and have really stood up to the challenge,” he said.

“They provide a lot of drive and speed around the ground; their running and enthusiasm pushes everyone else.

“We are in a good window with the younger talent, us older players aren’t getting any younger, so we’ve got to make the most of the position that were in, it comes and goes quickly in footy.”

Harrow-Balmoral has been without start forward Simon Close who is sidelined with an ACL injury, and it’s not exactly an easy task to replace someone who kicked 84 goals in 2023, however, the side has done this well sourcing their goals from a range of players, including a number of midfielders.

Pekin and Thompson who have kicked 19 goals each – Pekin as a permanent forward while Thompson spends most of the time in the engine room, rotating forward.

Cody Deutscher has also booted 18 goals, the natural goal-kicking midfielder is a premiership player with the club and has been impressive since returning from a stint at Coleraine.

Thompson said the side wasn’t becoming complacent and had a few things to work on throughout the second half of the season.

“We want to keep knuckling down on our defensive side of the game … we want to be able to switch from attack to defence quicker,” he said.

“We are really good when we get the ball, we can score quickly, but on the turnover, we have taken a while to respond, and sides have scored a bit against us.”

The HDFNL has a league bye today, but the Southern Roos will resume their season next weekend against Kalkee at Balmoral Rec Reserve.