Football
29 August, 2025
Laharum out for redemption against Pimpinio in HDFNL semi final
Laharum’s men’s senior football side will look to avenge last year’s elimination final loss to Pimpinio when the two sides meet this Sunday in Horsham District Football Netball League’s semi-final one at Cameron Oval.
The two teams have played numerous competitive games over the past year, with Pimpinio prevailing in all three encounters.
The Tigers defeated the Demons 57-41 in last year’s elimination final before securing 83-78 and 89-55 victories in the home-and-away season this year.
Pimpinio would seemingly be favoured based on these previous encounters but Laharum produced one of their best performances of the season, a 85-25 victory over Kaniva Leeor, in last week’s elimination final.
Conversely, Pimpinio suffered their third-straight defeat in their qualifying final loss to Harrow Balmoral.
Pimpinio coach Guy Smith says he is not considering the recent history between the two teams, describing finals football as a different game
“We’ve sorted them out a couple times before but as soon as it comes to finals, it doesn’t matter where you’re at: it’s a totally different ball-game,” Smith said.
“Whoever's going to be the best at this time of year are going to be the ones that obviously get through.”
Asked about last year’s finals result, Laharum co-coach Shannon Argall says the game is an opportunity to reverse that result.
“We certainly remember,” Argall said.
“We finished high last year and they ended up having a home final but we didn’t complain.
“The world works in funny ways so we've got that opportunity of playing at home and hopefully we can use it and open up a path to a preliminary final.”
Although Laharum will enter Sunday with a chip on their shoulders following last year’s finals result, Argall has stressed to the team the importance of not taking anything for granted, expecting Pimpinio to bounce back from last week’s result.
“We know we have got a lot of work to do this week,” Argall said.
“Pimpinio are a really good side and they always rebound from their tough games.”
Acknowledging that Laharum are a good team, Smith says that not improving on last year’s result would be disappointing.
“We've got to stand up and have a red-hot crack, otherwise we are just going to finish where we finished last year in fourth position,” Smith said.
“As far as I'm concerned, both as a team and from a coaching aspect it's a failure if we haven't progressed past where we were last season.”
Believing both sides have impressive midfields and defensive units, Smith said the forward play from each side would be instrumental in the final result.
“They've (Laharum) got a really good ability to flood and lock up, and their back six is actually quite stripped and quite difficult to play on,” Smith said.
“Our forward line players or our forward six, we've got to get that combination right, I reckon.
“Our midfield is just as strong and physical and can move the ball just as quick, and I think our back half is pretty strict and does an exceptional job.
“I reckon where it's going to be won or lost is that forward line.
“We've always had multiple goalkickers throughout the season so that's probably one thing we've got in our favour, and I honestly think they're kind of the same: they've got multiple opportunists in front of goals.”
After a strong performance in the ruck last week, Argall will be tested against Pimpinio’s Matt Healy.
Pimpinio’s Jason Westley and Laharum’s Monty Wynne will be key players in the midfield, both coming off good performances from the first week of finals.