By Colin MacGillivray

This Saturday, Noradjuha-Quantong will be all that stands between Harrow-Balmoral and a premiership that could cement the Roos as one of the great Horsham District Football Netball League dynasties.

The stakes are high for both sides, with the Roos standing on the cusp of a second successive premiership after an undefeated season during which only two sides came within three goals of them.

A win would not only give Harrow-Balmoral back-to-back flags, but, with the COVID-19 pandemic preventing a premier from being crowned in 2020 and 2021, would mean the Roos have won four of the past five Horsham District league premierships.

Such a run of success would place the Roos in the company of teams including Laharum, which won five premierships in seven years between 1958 and 1964; Quantong, which won four flags between 1972 and 1977; Rupanyup’s four between 1996 and 2001; and Kalkee’s league-record five consecutive premierships between 2008 and 2012.

The Bombers meanwhile have a chance to claim their first senior premiership since the merger of Noradjuha and Quantong in 1997.

Different paths

While Harrow-Balmoral’s minor premiership earned it a week off to start the finals and its semi-final victory over Swifts delivered it a second week of rest, Noradjuha-Quantong has faced elimination in each of the past three weeks.

The Bombers throttled a depleted Rupanyup in an elimination final and were impressive in a 79-point semi-final win against Pimpinio, before emerging victorious in a back-and-forth preliminary final against Swifts at the weekend.

Noradjuha-Quantong was sluggish out of the blocks, with Baggies coach Brett Hargreaves winning plenty of ruck taps to the likes of Angus Murray, or simply taking possession and clearing it himself.

The Baggies used the wind at their backs to lock the ball in their forward line after winning it out of the centre, but although spearhead Paul Summers snapped two impressive goals early, they failed to capitalise on several opportunities, kicking 5.8 to 1.1.

At quarter time Noradjuha-Quantong coach Damian Cameron let his side know its effort at centre bounces had been unacceptable.

“I addressed that at quarter time and put it to the midfield group a little bit. They were as disappointed as I was with the clearance count in the first quarter,” he said.

“Then in the second quarter I was pretty happy with what we were able to do. We nullified their scoring and managed to hit the scoreboard ourselves.

“I don’t know what the clearance count was in the second quarter, but I don’t think we would have lost one. Those blokes took control from the start of the second quarter and it all flowed from there.”

Noradjuha-Quantong’s Jack Vague showed why he and Hargreaves are both regarded among the league’s premier ruckmen, battling back to win hitouts to midfield trio James Gregg, James Hallett and Jayden Besford.

The Bombers were able to capitalise on the scoreboard, kicking 7.3 while holding the Baggies scoreless, as Brock Orvall, Dylan Shelley and Jason Kerr got involved.

Despite kicking into the wind in the third quarter, the Bombers were able to maintain a slender four-point lead at the final change, as the Baggies’ lack of midfield depth in the absence of the injured Ryan Folkes became more apparent.

Swifts battled bravely in the last term, retaking the lead through a Kobe Lowe goal, but the Bombers maintained composure to kick the final two majors of the contest and run out with a 12.14 (86) to 10.11 (71) victory.

Grand final match-up

Harrow-Balmoral and Noradjuha-Quantong have met twice this season, with the Roos winning by 24 points in round one and 106 in round 13.

Roo coach Jai Thompson said he expected the grand final to resemble the former clash more closely than the latter.

“I think we match up really well with Noradjuha-Quantong,” he said.

“I think we probably have a fair bit of height over them, so that’s going to be a good advantage for us, but they have some really good midfielders and a really good forward line, so if we can’t shut them down defensively that’s going to be our biggest weakness.

“We have to make sure we can shut them down defensively and then attack off that to use our offence, which is probably our strength.”

Noradjuha-Quantong and Harrow-Balmoral met in the Horsham District senior grand final in 2019, and while nine players from the Roos’ premiership team remain in the line-up, only three – Vague, Jason Kerr and Riley Dunlop – will run out for the Bombers on Saturday, with captain Wade Francis set to miss with a shoulder injury.

The Roos will have a full list to choose from, with key forward Michael Close expected to return after missing Harrow-Balmoral’s semi-final with a calf injury.

The Roos’ list is a mix of young and old, with a veteran brigade led by Thompson, forward-midfielder Nick Pekin, Close and midfielders such as Peter Staude and Will Plush.

Bolstering that group have been the additions of fresh faces including pacy forward Rhys Daffey and defender George Austin.

Noradjuha-Quantong, meanwhile, is led by its on-ball unit, including Vague, Besford, Gregg and Hallett, while Judah Hobbs is dangerous at full forward.

Cameron said his team was embracing its underdog status.

“There’s a fine line between being underdogs and being under-confident, but I feel the way we’re going at the moment, having no pressure on us and it all been on Harrow-Balmoral is good for us,” he said.

“It does free us from the pressure of expectation a little bit, and I don’t mind that.

“We’re obviously going to have to play a pretty special game, get all our plans right and slow down their top players to give ourselves a chance.”

Thompson said his team would continue to focus on remaining the hunter, rather than the hunted.

“We’ve just got a feeling that we want to continue striving to get better. As soon as you succumb to thinking things are just going to happen, you lose the mindset of hunting teams and you lose that drive,” he said.

“We wanted to make sure we maintain a system of trying to hunt the teams we play and continue to raise the bar for ourselves every week.

“This weekend coming is no different – we’ve just got to try to play the best footy that we can to our system and keep trying to raise the bar for ourselves to get better and better.”

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