A fired up Laharum side came out of the blocks quickly against the undefeated Harrow-Balmoral side and was determined to make a statement after a lacklustre first third of the season. 

The Demons led at the first three breaks – up by seven points after the first quarter, one point at half-time and nine points at three-quarter-time. 

In a close game, the Southern Roos were never far behind.

Harrow-Balmoral went on a final quarter rampage, almost doubling its score in the final quarter with six goals to Laharum’s one. 

The Southern Roos ended up overrunning Laharum by 21 points to continue its undefeated start to the season. 

Pekin kicked four goals for Harrow-Balmoral, while dominant Southern Roos ruckman Todd Lawrence chipped in with two and was also among the best on the ground. 

Only Tom Crawford could manage more than one goal for Laharum, kicking two. 

Pekin said his team dug deep in the final quarter.

“Laharum is a solid side and we keep producing some good wins, so it was definitely character building,” he said.

“We were down at every break and a bit undermanned so credit to the boys. Young Tom Jagger came in for his first senior game and was among the best on ground for me.”

Pekin said the first three quarters were disappointing.

“Probably for the whole game we maybe had five or six contributors – we didn’t have an even effort across the field and we need to be applying pressure for four quarters,” he said. 

“We had a good chat at three-quarter-time and I was pretty stern – it’s good to know the boys can listen and respond.”

Demons coach Robbie Miller said despite the loss it was his side’s best performance for the season.

“We went there believing that we could win – we had the self-belief and we had a great feeling before the game,” he said.

“We threw everything we had in them and just ran out of legs in the last quarter which was disappointing. It was probably our best game this season.”

Miller said there were plenty of pleasing aspects to take away from the defeat.

“We are disappointed in the result but now in how we played,” he said.

“We just threw everything for three and a half quarters and we needed to maintain that intensity for the whole game.

“Their quality shone through in the last quarter when the game was there to be won.

“Our midfield was great and our rucks are really starting to find their feet – we are starting to play the way we want to.

“If we can find that consistency we can push towards finals but we need to start winning some more games now.”