WHILE results haven’t gone Box Hill Hawks’ way in the past fortnight, coach Marco Bello says there have been plenty of positive signs.
The Hawks have lost their past two games by a total of nine points – to Werribee by two points, and Casey Scorpions by seven points – after starting the season with four consecutive wins.
“(We didn’t get) the results we were after in terms of win-loss, but we’ve got small results within the games that we’re content with,” Bello said.
“We played a lot better when we didn’t have the footy this week. We were really happy with the contested side of our game, our tackling – we had 82, which was our highest total for the season – and we matched them in clearances, which is an area we’ve been poor at.”
“Whilst we didn’t get the points in the end, we’re content with little wins along the way.”
A number of young Hawks have been learning their craft at Box Hill in the early stages of 2016, with first and second year players including Teia Miles, Kieran Lovell, Marc Pittonet, Blake Hardwick and Kade Stewart all seeing plenty of game-time – and showing promising signs.
“We’re still about getting better as a a group and developing each other individually,” Bello said.
Miles kicked four goals in the Hawks’ loss to the Scorpions on the weekend, while the likes of Angus Litherland, Matt Spangher, Jonathan O’Rourke and Brendan Whitecross were also named among the Hawks’ best.
Hawks go down in tight tussle against Scorpions
After facing four finals contenders in the opening six rounds, the Hawks will return from the representative break with a run of four matches against North Ballarat, Northern Blues, Geelong and Port Melbourne, which could be critically to setting up a run at a top four finish.
“We’re not accustomed to losing at Box Hill too often,” Bello said.
“I think over the past three years, we’ve lost three, four or maybe five games across the whole season. We’ve lost two in the early period and we’ll need to make it up in the next month of footy.
“We’ve played four of the top sides from last year (Sandringham, Williamstown, Werribee, Casey), who will be around the mark again this year, and we’ve got an accumulative total of a nine-point loss. We’re travelling okay without being great.”
The match also marked skipper David Mirra’s 100th for Box Hill, who Bello praised for his on-field leadership
“He’s a general at our footy club, and one who helps the development of the Hawthorn players,” he said.
“He’s been a doyen of the Box Hill Football Club and unfortunately we couldn’t get the win for him on the weekend. He was only the third player in the past 20 years to reach 100 games, so it’s not something that happens regularly at this footy club and it’s something we should all be proud of.”
