The Box Hill Hawks made a return to the winners list on the weekend, as they defeated Footscray by 43 points at Etihad Stadium.
Playing in a curtain-raiser before their respective senior sides clashed, the VFL encounter took a similar path to the AFL game as Footscray’s 14-point quarter time lead was followed by 25 Hawthorn scoring shots to the Dogs’ eight.
Hawks coach Chris Newman was pleased by the win and his side’s ability to overrun the initial threat from the Dogs.
Read below as Newman reviews the performances of each AFL-listed player’s game.
Brendan Whitecross
28 disposals, nine marks, six tackles
“Whitey had almost a complete game for the role he played. We tried to give him more time in the middle of the ground, he’s been spending time sort of all over the field but we wanted to settle him and give him some time to get the footy and capitalise on that opportunity. He was probably one of our most influential in terms of getting the ball inside 50 and setting us up. A handful of clearances and eight inside 50s which is a big number for a midfielder and probably the most effective part of his game was just his aggression in his tackling. He had a very good game.” CN
James Worpel
22 disposals, two marks, five tackles
“Worpel was effective also, had 10 clearances so he was another one of those players who we just wanted to give some more exposure to the middle of the ground. He’d been playing predominantly forward for us and changing onto the ball, but he was pretty settled on ball. There’s some things that he can still improve on which is really exciting. But along with Whitey, just his aggression and strength inside the contest for a first year player is quite impressive, so a pretty solid game from him.” CN
David Mirra
21 disposals, eight marks
“It’s two weeks in a row he’s taken five marks from the opposition’s boot. Pretty important for us when he plays back half that he can get after the footy and mark the ball and help us rebound. Mirra uses the ball quite well and makes good decisions and did that again. He had a really good mix of aggressive spoils but also his offensive game was quite impressive too so 21 disposals from him is a good return and his aggression to compete was first class.” CN
Conor Nash
21 disposals, seven marks, three tackles)
“Probably the best game that he’s played with us and we gave him a bit of an opportunity to get up and down the ground and use his main attribute which is his legs and his athleticism. When he gets going he’s very hard to stop in terms of his momentum and body size, so he worked really hard for us, his GPS numbers were through the roof and showed some great speed with ball in hand. He had one passage of play where he sort of took it from one end to the other with a few bounces and set up an easy goal for us and had some opportunities himself. He’s getting shots on goal, spends a little bit of time forward, and we’re really excited by the progression that he’s making. It was a good game from Nashy.” CN
Kieran Lovell
20 disposals, six marks, one tackle
“Been pretty consistent for the last few weeks and getting his hands on the footy with 20 disposals, playing a mixture of forward and onball. We really like when he gets his hands on the ball, he uses his legs quite a bit out of congestion. He’s got really strong legs and great agility so we want to encourage him to do that more and back himself in and take the game on and he did that for a majority of the game. We’d like to see his tackling pressure go up but he looked pretty settled and won some pretty crucial contests for us.” CN
Tim O’Brien
19 disposals, seven marks, five tackles
“Tim O’Brien played forward but had to go into the ruck after Pittonet hurt his ankle in the third quarter. Competed really hard, got up and over a couple of times in the ruck which is great to see. His aggression was terrific with five tackles, but they were really strong tackles. Took a couple of really nice contested marks but he just didn’t capitalise on his opportunities either. Hopefully he can convert those points into goals but we liked what we saw from T.O on the weekend.” CN
Ryan Schoenmakers
19 disposals, 10 marks, one goal
“Kicked 1.2 so had a few shots on goal, he’s averaging probably three or four shots on goal each week but just probably not finishing his work. He played a really important role for us during the first and second quarter. They kicked the first four goals and we needed some stability behind the ball so we put him behind the ball and he was able to stifle a few of their attacks when they had the momentum and helped shift it back our way. As soon as we got momentum at the end of that quarter we finished off really strongly, so he was an important part of that. Took some strong marks and again was a really selfless player, he blocks for others and tries to get them involved also. Predominantly forward for ‘Schoey’ and then stinks back.” CN
Dallas Willsmore
19 disposals, nine marks, two tackles, one goal)
“Willsmore played forward, he’s a bit of an awkward match up because he’s a good size but he can play a bit smaller. It’s probably the most selfless game I’ve seen Dallas play, just setting up others, providing blocks and letting others acquire the ball. His work rate was really good, his energy was great and again just probably a guy that needs to capitalise on his opportunities more. He kicked 1.3 so if he can straighten up a little bit and finish with two or three goals, we’re looking at a really good game. We still liked what he did and hopefully he can continue that on. He can play a variety of roles so it's either wing or half forward for Dallas but he can flick through both lines.” CN
Kaiden Brand
16 disposals, five marks
“16 disposals, pretty strong balance between marking the ball from the back half and spoils, had a couple of really strong spoils but when he gets that balance right he’s really effective defender and had to play on some really big units, they’ve got some really tall forwards so he was relatively undersized at times. He needed to be our tallest key back and he competed really well, used the ball well and had eight rebound 50s so again he’s not really a rebounder per se, but he’s able to provide that. A pretty good game from him.” CN
Mitch Lewis
16 disposals, nine marks, four tackles, three goals
Similar to our other tall forwards, Mitch was putting blocks on, helping others - a pretty selfless game and ended up with 3.3. He was one of those guys who really helped shift the momentum of the game and I think he kicked the first couple of goals for us. Love what he always brings at ground level too, always finishes with around four or five tackles for a big key forward - that’s a bit of an added bonus really that he can do that - and had some opportunity in ruck but not a lot.” CN
Dylan Moore
16 disposals, five marks, four tackles, two goals
“Played on a wing, he’s slowly sort of building his game back up again after missing so much of the year that he’s improving every week. He’s one of our best runners at the club, that’s why we like him on the wing because he can get back and assist but he can also create some goals – he kicked a really nice goal from the boundary and another in the goal square. He’s a really honest worker, runs and carries and can use the ball really well. His efficiency was about 94 per cent so that’s a pretty good turn for 16 possessions.” CN
Harry Jones
12 disposals, two marks and five tackles
“Harry played back and just did his role, it’s not always going to be about possessions for Harry but he can play high when he’s down back or he can play deep. He’s a real competitor and he didn’t get beaten I don’t think in a one-on-one all game and although he’d like his possessions to be a bit higher, that’s just a really solid defenders game from him and he’s still playing a position that’s pretty foreign. But again like a lot of our younger kids they just keep making these little steps forward each time they play and he had really strong hands in the air and was really clean at ground level. He held up really well in the back half.” CN
Marc Pittonet
11 disposals, five tackles, 24 hit-outs
“Pittonet competed really well in the ruck, played against virtually two rucks all game in Tom Campbell, who’s one of the premier ruckman in the competition this year and also Tim English. So it was going to be a really important battle for us in the middle of the ground and I thought he competed really hard, he plays a really aggressive brand of footy. A pretty solid game, we were disappointed when he went down with his ankle in the third quarter but hopefully he can recover throughout the week.” CN
Kurt Heatherley
7 disposals, two marks, one tackle
“Had to play on some of their key forwards and they can be really dangerous but didn’t think that they influenced the game all that much and he helped with that. I think admittedly he can play a better game but pretty solid when he had to be and provided quite a few strong spoils and took a couple of marks from opposition boots again.” CN
Changkuoth Jiath
7 disposals, four marks, three tackles, one goal
“Jiath played three quarters of the game so we’re just slowly building him up with his game time, he’ll probably go to four quarters this week. We really liked what he brought, he brought energy, took a couple of nice marks, had a couple of shots on goal and looks really lively playing forward. He’s one of those guys that we feel can go through all lines eventually but he’s sort of learning the forward craft at the moment.” CN
Olly Hanrahan
5 disposals, one tackle
“Hanrahan played half a game, unfortunately got ruled out with concussion at half time, copped a bit of a hit early in the second and then just had some flow on effects from that at half time after we tested him. He was playing on ball when he was on the ground, had a quiet first quarter but then started to get into the game in the second. Had five touches, but they were damaging touches using his agility and his speed but it was just unfortunate that he only got to a play half a game.” CN
