BOX HILL Hawks have named their senior and development sides for Round 1 of the VFL season.

Eighteen Hawthorn-listed players feature in Hawks’ 31-player senior squad.

The Hawks, last year’s runners-up, will face 2015 preliminary final opponent Sandringham Zebras at Box Hill City Oval.

Coach Marco Bello said his side was looking forward to the contest.

“We know who we’re up against, they’re a formidable side and we’ll need to be at our best to compete with them,” Bello told hawthornfc.com.au earlier this week.

“It’s been six months to the day that we started pre-season, and obviously we’re a few weeks behind the AFL. Having seen them play, I know a lot of the Hawthorn guys and Box Hill guys are pretty keen to get into it.”

The Box Hill side had a 1-2 record during the pre-season, but have been building form towards Round 1.

Young Hawks Marc Pittonet (also named in Hawthorn’s 25-player Round 3 squad), Kieran Lovell and Kade Stewart all enter the match on the back of strong practice match performances against Northern Blues last week.

Rookie Jermaine Miller-Lewis looks set to make his senior VFL debut, after spending last season in the development side.

The development match will kick off at 11am, followed by the senior match at 2pm.

SENIORS 2:00PM

DEVELOPMENT 11:00AM