Box Hill faced a tough elimination final loss on Sunday, falling to Gold Coast by 23 points. 

Hawthorn Development Coach Andy Otten has given his review of how each AFL-listed Hawk performed in the battle.

Daniel Howe (25 disposals, 5 marks, 4 tackles)

“Howey had a really strong game for us. They were trying to run and tag with him that’s how much they must have respected his performances in the last few weeks. But he was really strong with 24 touches, four tackles and four inside 50s. He was probably one of our better midfielders for the day.”

Liam Shiels (21 touches, 6 tackles, 3 marks)

“Pup was really strong playing in the midfield most of the day. And in true Pup fashion, he got a big slice to his nose, so he was on and off for a fair bit of the game with a blood rule. He had 21 touches including six tackles and six clearances – so his in and under work was really strong and he led well from the midfield all day.”

Ned Long (12 disposals, 3 tackles)

“Longy played on the wing in the first half and probably couldn’t quite get into the game as we would’ve liked. It was one of those games where the wings weren’t used as much, it was a pretty straight up and down through the corridor kind of game. Longy finished with 12 disposals after we put him on ball in the second half to give us some grunt, drive and run in our midfield.”

Max Ramsden (2 goals, 11 disposals, 5 marks)

“Rama had 11 touches, five marks and kicked two goals. A real highlight was one he kicked in the first quarter, it was as good as a goal we’ve seen from him this year. Rama has been developing really nicely at a pretty rapid rate considering where he has come from. We’re really happy with how he played, to have a strong influence in a final will be a great confidence boost for him.”

Jai Serong (10 disposals, 6 marks)

“Jai played up forward and looked dangerous at times. He had 10 touches and six marks. When he got a bit of clean air he was able to take a few nice clunks and he got going in that third quarter as well.”

Jackson Callow (1 goal, 9 disposals, 4 marks)

“Callow was looking really strong and had a nice match-up that we liked in the first half and looked pretty dangerous. But then unfortunately the third quarter he hurt his ankle pretty badly, so hopefully the big fella's ankle is alright.”

Emerson Jeka (8 disposals, 3 marks)

"Jeks was down back in the first half and probably wasn’t quite having the impact he has had for us the last few weeks so we decided to try and swing him forward in the second half. We were lacking some potency there so we threw down there to see if he could get a couple goals for us. He generated a couple of chances forward of the ball.”

Kyle Hartigan (7 disposals, 4 marks)

“Harto was really solid for us. He had a really strong game – we matched him up on Chris Burgess who is the leading goal kicker of the comp and they had a really good battle throughout the whole game. He was really strong in plenty of contests all day which is what we like. He definitely held his hand up in a good performance in the final.”

Jack Saunders (7 disposals, 4 marks)

“Saundo came back in the side after the high last week of making his AFL debut. He was in some really strong form for us in the last month, but he probably couldn’t quite replicate that. He was working as hard as he could, but just couldn’t quite get our ball movement flow going. He finished with seven touches, and took a couple shots on goal, but couldn’t quite convert."

James Blanck (6 disposals, 3 marks)

“Blancky put his hand up to play after seven or eight AFL games. It was really exciting to have Blancky back, he is a big strong figure and had some really good spoils and looked strong down back with Hartigan.”

The Box Hill shoutouts go to…

Damian Mascitti (29 disposals)

“Damien is our old warrior – he had 29 touches and 12 rebound 50s. He is our leader down there and really strong for us.”

Ben Cavara (20 disposals, 3 marks, 3 clearances)

“Ben had an outstanding game up and around ball more so, finishing with 20 touches he looked really dangerous kicking inside 50.”

Fergus Greene (4 goals, 13 disposals, 6 marks)

“Ferg pops up with four goals and 13 touches, he looked really dangerous. One stage in the second half in the last quarter where we were coming on really strongly and it was Ferg who was on the end of these goals.”