The Box Hill Hawks suffered their fourth loss of the season, falling to a fast-finishing Essendon side by 14 points at Box Hill City Oval on Sunday.

Leading by one point at three-quarter time, the Bombers kicked four final term goals to the Hawks’ two to consolidate their third position on the VFL ladder.

See below for Hawks Coach Chris Newman’s review of each AFL-listed player’s performance.

Read: VFL match report - Round 12 

James Cousins

25 disposals, 5 marks, 4 tackles

“‘Cuzzy’ was solid again and he is starting to become a really consistent player for us. His clearance work is quite strong but the thing he has added to his game has been his ability to run and carry the ball. We love when he can surge the ball or just win a dirty ball with clearances, but when he can actually get the ball and run at the opposition he is just as dangerous. He did that a couple of times on the weekend and set up a couple of goals. He competed really hard all day at both ends of the ground.” CN

Teia Miles

25 disposals, 9 marks, 1 tackle

“Teia has been really consistent as well. His kicking efficiency wasn’t as high this week as it was last week, I think it was at 90% last week. But he was still damaging with his ball-use. He has taken a couple of marks from the opposition’s boot, which is good for him. He is trying to really work on his balance between offence and defence. He had a really courageous effort going back with the flight in the last quarter. The game was on the line and it was his turn to go, which he did. We were proud of his efforts and he showed a real want to have the footy in his hands. He is in some good form.” CN

Kieran Lovell

20 disposals, 3 marks, 2 tackles

“Lovell has accumulated again and has performed well again this week. He had a pretty good balance between his kicks and handballs. He didn’t hit the scoreboard this week but the effort was there. He probably spent a bit more time forward this week than normal, but he is still finding the footy which is what we like to say.” CN

David Mirra

19 disposals, 5 marks, 1 tackle

“Another solid performance. His ability to read the ball is quite good and he is obviously an experienced player so he can take marks off opposition kick which is important for our rebound. He is pretty strong in the contest and he had a couple of really good spoils as he used his body really well.” CN

Dylan Moore

19 disposals, 5 marks, 1 tackle

“Dylan Moore took another step in his second game back. He played on the wing. He is still trying to perfect that wing craft but we know with his ability to run up and down the line, it is going to become a real weapon for us. He progressed through the summer practice games well so he has already made some big gains on his understanding of the game and what is expected. So, we think he can only get better from his performance on the weekend, where he was already pretty solid.” CN

Brendan Whitecross

17 disposals, 4 marks, 2 tackles, 1 goal

“He has been playing everywhere, Whitey, so he doesn’t really know what to expect week to week, which would be really hard to deal with but he just handles it with class. He embraces any sort of challenge that we throw at him. On the weekend, he was a midfield-forward rotation but this weekend it could be different. His ability to go in any line and just adapt is a real strength for us. He probably didn’t use the ball as well as he would have hoped but he was still pretty solid in his efforts.” CN

Kaiden Brand

16 disposals, 5 marks, 1 tackle

“He took a really courageous mark going back with the flight in the first quarter. He defended really hard and he used the ball well this week, kicking the ball at 100% kicking efficiency. He is a mobile key defender, he can use his legs and he has quite good speed so he used that again on the weekend. When he really attacks the ball, he is a really strong presence.” CN

Kurt Heatherley

15 disposals, 8 marks, 1 tackle

“I feel like he is starting to get towards his competitive best. He had a lot of one-on-one contests and he looks at his best when he comes at the game and uses his strong fist. He saved us a couple of times, particularly early, when our backs were under the pump. He is another one that took a few marks from opposition boot so he was reading the ball really well.” CN

Jono O’Rourke

15 disposals, 1 mark, 3 tackles

“O’Rourke played back again and was solid without being outstanding. We’d like to get the ball in his hands more often, but it is a new role for him so we can continue to develop him in that area.” CN

Olly Hanrahan

15 disposals, 6 marks, 3 tackles, 1 goal

“Olly Hanrahan played forward for the majority of the game but spent some time inside. He had a couple of shots at goal and kicked a really good one for us late to keep us in the game. He is very hard to tackle, and his movements in and out add another element to our game. We have a lot of honest players that will put their head over it and Olly can really create when he gets the footy in his hands.” CN

Dallas Willsmore

15 disposals, 4 marks, 3 tackles

“His 15 disposals were probably a bit low for him. We want the footy in his hands a bit more. We also need him to be using the ball a little bit better by foot. But he tried really hard and ran the lines really well.” CN

Harrison Jones

13 disposals, 2 marks, 2 tackles

“He played back again and he is such a competitor in the way he goes about things. To his detriment at times, he will just run around like a maniac and try and tackle and chase everyone. But we love that about him and he provides a real energy to our back half. He is really coachable as well, he asks a lot of questions and tries to get better at his craft. It wasn’t an outstanding game from him, he has had better games, but not through a lack of trying.” CN

James Worpel

13 disposals, 2 marks, 5 tackles

“Worpel was a little bit down on his disposal rate. He played forward for the bulk of the game and didn’t get a lot of inside work. The thing we love about Worps is his pressure and intent, in terms of our pressure indicators he is up there every week. He has an intent to attack the man each week.” CN

Conor Glass

12 disposals, 3 marks, 1 tackle

“Conor Glass played a pretty good role on Danny Younan who has been pretty good for them this year, averaging almost three goals a game. He had no influence on the game despite kicking a goal late. Conor’s possessions were down but he was able to do a really important role for us. He used the ball quite well when he had it, and we will look to get the ball in his hands a bit more because he can really run and create off the half-back line. But it’s good to see he can play that type of role as well.” CN

Mitch Lewis

11 disposals, 6 marks, 7 tackles, 10 hit-outs, 3 goals

“Seven tackles for a big guy is great. We speak about a bit and he really does pride himself on his tackling pressure and work at ground level. He provides us with a really strong target and he challenges the opposition with his movement. He got a couple of free kicks as a forward because the defender was panicky.” CN

Marc Pittonet

11 disposals, 3 tackles, 18 hit-outs

“Pittonet had a good battle with Matt Leuenberger. He provided a bit of a link-up chain for us and also had four tackles. Pitto had majority of the ruck for us on the day.” CN

Jackson Ross

9 disposals, 3 marks, 2 tackles, 2 goals

“Rossy kicked two goals so he has again had an impact on the game. He just needs to keep making the most of his opportunities.” CN

Ryan Schoenmakers

8 disposals, 4 marks, 2 tackles

“Each week he just works his bum off, trying to compete for us as much as possible. We’re just not doing him any favours with our ball-use at the moment and on the weekend it was the same thing. He’s just an inch away from having a big impact on the game. He didn’t kick a goal this week but his ability to compete was first class again this week.” CN

Conor Nash

6 disposals, 1 mark

“It probably wasn’t the same standard of impact he has had as the last couple of weeks. He was another tall forward that we probably burned a little bit going inside 50.” CN