BOX HILL Hawks coach Marco Bello evaluates every Hawthorn-listed player's performance at VFL level in Round 9.

The Hawks’ VFL affiliate returned to the winners’ list, defeating North Ballarat by 27 points at Box Hill City Oval.

KIERAN LOVELL

31 disposals, eight marks, seven clearances, eight tackles, five inside 50s, seven rebound 50s

“It was Kieran’s best game to date this season. I know he’s had some really good games, but this was a four-quarter effort. He showed not only his hunting ability – which we’ve seen more of in the first half of the year - but his ability to now win footy on the outside. He was effective with his disposals in our defensive end and our forward end. He had seven clearances and eight tackles, so his hunting ability on the ball and opposition was very good from a first-year player."

BLAKE HARDWICK

17 disposals, five marks, six tackles, four inside 50s, one goal

“Blake could have finished with six goals – he finished with 1.5. It was his most complete game for the year, in terms of getting his hands on the football as well as doing the defensive aspects. Unfortunately he couldn’t finish off in front of goal, but he really showed his ability to be able to impact the scoreboard – hopefully next time he can turn that into 5.1. It’s good to see that he’s getting his hands on the football, with 17 disposals, five marks and six tackles.”

TEIA MILES

21 disposals, five marks

“We’re accustomed to talking about Teia as an offensive weapon from our back-end, but he impacted more defensively this week. He still finished with 21 disposals, but what we were pleased with was his contested style. He had six contested possessions, worked hard to fill the holes and took some really nice contested and chop-out marks in our defensive end. As we know with Teia, he uses the ball really well on the offensive side of the game."

BRENDAN WHITECROSS

23 disposals, four clearances

“Whitey was influential for us. Again, a guy with a bigger body, a smart ball-user… he really willed himself to contest after contest. He finished with 23 disposals – nine of those contested – and four clearances, so he worked really hard. He came away with three score assists and four rebound 50s, so he was working across the full ground to influence the game.”

KURT HEATHERLEY

12 disposals, three tackles

“Kurt was able to chop out the ball in the air and he influenced the game with 15 pressure acts. He finished with 12 disposals – eight of them contested – on a tough, physical day."

JONATHAN O’ROURKE

19 disposals, four tackles, four clearances, one goal

“It’s great to have Jono up and about. It was his second match back post-injury and he started off really well, and probably just slowed up a little bit in the second half. It was a physical game and Jono’s an in-and-under type, and he would have copped a fair few knocks, which probably impacted him later in the game. He finished with 19 disposals on the day, but had 15 in the first half and kicked the first goal.”

JERMAINE MILLER-LEWIS

Six disposals, two free kicks

“Jermaine did his defensive work really well, but wasn’t really able to get on the offensive side of the game, in a game that was all about just getting it forward. It was on the ground more than it was about being able to kick, handball and mark. We were really pleased with his defensive efforts.”

ANGUS LITHERLAND

Eight disposals, three inside 50s

“Gus only had eight disposals, but what we were pleased with were his defensive absolutes. He had 22 pressure acts, he impacted a lot of contests and saved us a lot of times. That doesn’t show up on the stats side of things, but if it wasn’t for Gus’ ability to give us a chop out defensively, North Ballarat would have been a little bit closer on the scoreboard."

DALLAS WILLSMORE

15 disposals, five marks. four tackles

“Similar to a lot of the guys, Dallas started off really well. He had 12 disposals in the first half, but only finished with 15 for the game, so he wasn’t really able to continue on his good form from the start of the game. What he did do well was give us that uncontested style of play, he worked tirelessly to open up the ground and really tried to get on the outside as much as we could, but it wasn’t really a day for it with the conditions.”

MARC PITTONET

22 hit-outs, nine disposals, eight tackles

“Pitto competed really well against a bigger more-experienced ruckman in Orren Stephensen. Whilst his numbers in the hit-out department weren’t as strong as his opponent, I though Pitto worked tirelessly when the ball hit the ground. He finished with 25 pressure acts – eight of those were tackles. He only had the nine disposals, but showed that he can work both offensively and defensively.”

KAIDEN BRAND

17 disposals, six rebound 50s, five marks, four tackles, one goal

“Kaiden was terrific for us down back. He had 17 disposals, played three quarters as a defender and really impacted North Ballarat’s ability to hit the scoreboard. They went inside 50 four more times than us, but we had 12 more scoring shots. It was the ability of Kaiden and the rest of the defenders to be able to impact their entries. We threw him into the forward line in the last quarter, and he kicked a goal and also gave away an assist, so in his limited time up there, he really showed he can play in that area of the ground.”

LACHIE LANGFORD

Eight disposals, two marks

“Lachie was a bit quieter, it was a hard day at the office for the forwards. It went in there 50 times, but it was a challenge for the guys who are first or second-year players and probably not accustomed to the bigger, competitive side of the game. He finished with eight disposals, five of those in the first quarter, but he just wasn’t able to have an influence over the full four quarters. He gave off a goal, which was terrific that he could impact that side of the game.”

ZAC WEBSTER

Seven disposals, seven tackles, three rebound 50s, three marks

“It was great to have Webby back in the senior side, his first match at senior level this year. The numbers won’t show his true impact, but what we were really pleased with was his energy and his work-rate. We know what we’re going to get from him – his ability to hunt, hit the ball hard and hit the opposition hard. He had seven tackles to go with seven disposals, and we were really pleased that he was able to get through a game of football, which he hasn’t been able to do for too many games this year.