The Box Hill Hawks lost their second game of the season, as North Melbourne proved too strong for the Hawks on Saturday at Avalon Airport Oval. 

The Hawks were unable to overcome a six-goal opening quarter burst by the Kangaroos, as the 36-point quarter time deficit was also the final winning margin for the Roos. 

Hawks Coach Chris Newman goes through the performances of each of his 17 AFL-listed players.

Read: VFL match report Round 8

Daniel Howe

26 disposals, 10 marks, 4 tackles, 2 goals

“Howe was obviously the carry-over emergency for the seniors last week so he was pretty keen. He was probably our best midfielder throughout the day. He played between wing, on-ball and forward, when he was forward he was actually quite a good forward, but he spent the majority of the day on-ball. North Melbourne were quite a big midfield, so we needed his bigger body inside and that helped us a little bit especially in the second half when he went through there a little bit more.” CN

Teia Miles

23 disposals, 8 marks, 6 tackles

“He is starting to average the amount of disposals that we want out of him. He had his moments where he defended quite well, and then there were moments where he still needs to improve. But he used the ball really well on a day where we didn’t really have a lot of those contributors using the ball well. So, it wasn’t a bad showing from him.” CN

Jonathan O’Rourke

22 disposals, 4 marks, 4 tackles

“He was OK without standing out. Again, it looked like his effort was there but we just weren’t shaping the ball well from stoppage and that hurt our mids, I think.” CN

Kaiden Brand

20 disposals, 10 marks, 1 tackle

“He can certainly play better. The way they moved the footy made it really hard for our defenders to defend. Especially in the second half, he was our only key position defender when Kurt Heatherley went off. So, he had a big job on the day. He did have a few one-on-one contests where sometimes it went their way, sometimes it went his. But when he found that balance, he got a really good fist in. He looked a lot better in the second half, when he started killing the ball a bit more. But he was under siege and we’re dealing with an inexperienced back half at the moment. It’s good that he’s finding possessions for us though.” CN

Kieran Lovell

20 disposals, 6 marks

“He was a little bit down from last week but you can his intent and his running patterns are still there, that was a big thing that he improved on last week. He still looks like he is moving a lot better and working a lot smarter. He didn’t hit the scoreboard this week, but he played mid for the majority of the game.” CN

Brendan Whitecross

20 disposals, 5 marks, 2 tackles, 2 goals

“Whitecross played across all lines. He started mid, then rotated forward and then played half-back in the second half, which wen quite well for us. We are so inexperienced that he was able to calm us down a little bit and won quite a few one-on-one contests. I thought his effort and intent on the day was outstanding.” CN

Dallas Willsmore

20 disposals, 1 mark, 6 tackles

“Willsmore went back up onto the wing for this game. Again, like the team, he probably had a better second half. He used the full distance of his leg, and he is quite penetrating when he gets hold of the ball. He was a little bit more damaging in the second half for us although he did handball it more than he kicked it which is quite rare for him (7 kicks, 13 handballs). But I think we could got some value out of him in the second half.” CN

Olly Hanrahan

18 disposals, 6 marks, 4 tackles, 2 goals

“It was better showing from Olly. Over the last two weeks, he has just been trying to find his feet a little bit coming back from injury but it looked like he was starting to move a bit better. He spent a bit of time on-ball, but predominantly forward. It’s great that he has hit the scoreboard, that is three weeks in a row that he has hit the scoreboard now. But in the two weeks prior he probably hasn’t been as influential around the ground so it’s good to see him also get a bit more of the ball.” CN

Harrison Jones

18 disposals, 4 marks

“Harry Jones played half-back for us and he is another one of those guys that is inexperienced in that position. He runs around like a madman at times, like he tries to fix everything and can cook himself in the process. By the end of the game he is just exhausted. But that’s just him and we love that about him. He just has to learn how to conserve his energy or at least work a bit smarter. But he has a real crack and I love that about him.” CN

Will Langford

18 disposals, 1 mark, 3 tackles

“Langers played midfield after starting the game forward. We weren’t getting the ball inside 50 for the bulk of that first half so he probably suffered because of that. He spent more time on-ball in the second half and he used his legs well out of congestion. We weren’t very efficient in that area before that but Langers started to just get the ball, tuck it under his arm and just burst out of stoppages. So, he provided something different for us.” CN

Conor Nash

15 disposals, 5 marks, 2 goals

“Nash played forward this week and worked with O’Brien and Schoenmakers. They all worked quite well together. It was good to see Nashy finish with that many disposals playing forward and hit the scoreboard as well. He gets up the ground well and then uses his speed on the way back to goal, when he gets going he motors. I thought he was pretty solid.” CN

Tim O’Brien

13 disposals, 5 marks, 1 goal

“He probably took Mark of the Year, with a huge mark. He competed quite well, I think we can still get a little bit more out of him. You can see him trying but we just weren’t efficient with the ball, which probably hurt our forwards.” CN

Marc Pittonet

12 disposals, 2 marks, 30 hit-outs

“Pitto had a better second half. He was rucking against Brandon Preuss and Preuss is a big, big unit and he probably got over the top of Pitto early in the game but it’s a great sign that Pitto is able to dig his heels in and respond the way that he did in the second half. He gave a much better contest in the second half and gave our mids more of a chance to win clearance. I’m sure he will learn a bit from that game.” CN

Ryan Schoenmakers

12 disposals, 4 marks, 2 tackles, 1 goal

“He was probably more influential than his stats suggest. He competes two-on-one all the time and always does well to neutralise the contest. He does a lot of unrewarded things and he is another one of those more experienced guys that you could see was trying to change the game but North just proved too good for us. His workrate every week is outstanding.” CN

Jackson Ross

9 disposals, 3 marks, 2 tackles

“Ross is slowly starting to influence the game week by week. He did some nice things. He took a nice mark and he is quite creative by foot. So, he is slowly taking some steps and trending in the right way. He still hasn’t hit the scoreboard and I know he is desperate to hit the scoreboard but I’m sure that will come soon.” CN

James Worpel

7 disposals, 1 mark, 5 tackles

“He played the majority of the game forward, we couldn’t really get him on-ball given the amount that we’ve got going through there. We’d like to give him a bit more exposure on-ball because I think that is where he is naturally suited so we would like to get him a bit more time in there.” CN

Kurt Heatherley

3 disposals, 3 tackles

”First game back since Round 1 so he only played the first half. He wouldn’t be overly thrilled with his performance in the first half. Not that he did much wrong, but, even for a big unit, three possessions in a half of footy is quiet for him. But he has missed seven weeks so we’ve got to be patient with him and hopefully he got through the game well.” CN

Images courtesy of Kadek Thatcher photography