Box Hill Match Report
Round 8, Burbank Oval
Saturday 24 May


The third quarter curse struck the Box Hill Hawks again as they conceded a winning position and 10 of the last 11 goals in the third term to go down to ladder-leaders Williamstown by 63 points on Saturday.

Just three minutes into third quarter an Alex Grima goal saw the Hawks lead by eight points before the side capitulated thereafter.

That means Box Hill has been outscored 45 goals to 16 in third quarters this year and is yet to win one.

“It’s about putting four quarters together and it’s a very common catch cry but its very typical of how we’ve been going this year,” Hawks coach Barry Mitchell said.

“When we get a little bit tired, we need to hang on, I’m really not sure what the cause is but it’s something we’ll have to address in the coming weeks.”

“It’s frustrating for everybody, it’s frustrating for the players, it’s frustrating for me, it’s the same thing the last two weeks where we were even at half time and we’ve really fallen away in the third quarter, we just need to persevere for that period of time where we seem drop off.”

The top vs bottom clash was always going to be a big ask for the winless Hawks who extend their losing streak to eight.

It was also a match up between the poorest defence (Box Hill) and one of the meanest attacks (Williamstown) in the league.

There was no breeze to speak of at the usually wind-tunnel-like Burbank Oval making conditions perfect for play.

The Hawks unenviable task of containing ladder-leaders Williamstown was made all the more difficult by the absence of Tim Clarke, Josh Kennedy and Tom Murphy who were all promoted to the Hawthorn side. Nathan Batsanis also went out with a leg injury.

“He (Batsanis) hurt his leg during the week but hopefully with the bye coming up he should be right for our next match,” Mitchell said.

“I think compared to last week our total midfield was out, we had Stokes in there as well as Murphy so that’s six players that we were missing so that’s just the way it goes when injuries come, we were probably left a bit short.”

That the left the Hawks midfield decimated with Rhys O’Sullivan, Matt Suckling and the welcome inclusion of Ryan Breese to pick up the slack.

“We haven’t been able to get as many listed players on the ground as we would’ve liked and I think even today we had (Matt) Suckling, he’s a rookie and Alex Grima, he’s a rookie so of the players we probably only had six.”

Meanwhile former Box Hill and Hawthorn-listed players Matt Little, Steven Greene and Brett Johnson lined up for Williamstown.

Surprisingly, it was the Hawks that took the initiative early on, applying pressure wherever possible and stifling the Seagulls into errors.

The Hawks moved the ball with ease, captain Al Neville, Breese, Brendan Whitecross and Sam Gibson stepped up in the aforementioned players’ absence.

Gibson in particular knocked up getting it; he had 10 disposals in the first quarter while some interesting match ups were posed across the ground.

The talented youngster Brent Renouf lined up against the premier ruckman in the competition to date Peter Street while Mitch Thorp went to Jason Cloke down back and Garry Moss matched up on Johnson.

The Hawks’ slick movement troubled the Seagulls at times and when Beau Dowler took a great grab within the first minute of the second and goaled, the Hawks lead was out to two goals.

The Hawks worked their way around the boundary line with great effect with some of the best link up play this year. The only thing lacking were viable targets in the forward line the crucial last kick in there.

A couple of lucky soccer goals dealt the Hawks a cruel blow as the Seagulls regained the lead.

The nippy David Stretton for the Seagulls loomed as a threat, his pace and ability to break the lines was a constant worry for the Hawks, he had 34 possessions for the game, won best a field honours and set up many of Williamstown’s attacks.

The Hawks had worked so hard but a horrible cross field ball from Joel Cross and a kick out from Neville resulted in two gimmy goals.

The Hawks trailed by 17 points at that stage but a clinical mark and finish from Dowler, his second, and a long goal to Brad Neil cut the half time margin to five points and painted a truer picture of proceedings.

All day Box Hill roved to Street’s dominant tap work and continued to do so, winning the centre clearances in the process. Breese channeled his taps particularly well but in a staggering statistic Street ended up with 47 effective hit outs to go with his 18 disposals, seven marks and two goals.

It was well documented before the game that Box Hill have a history of last half fade-outs and third quarter collapses and you could certainly tell what Mitchell had been stressing in the break.

The Hawks started on fire. The very first clearance landed in Dowler’s mits and he kicked his third and Alex Grima snapped over his shoulder just a minute later to extend the Hawk’s lead to seven points.

Thorp remained on the bench with a strapped thigh while Andrew McDougall and Wayde Skipper’s days’ appeared to have ended with both sustaining serious injuries.

The fact that Williamstown were down to 20 players should have given the Hawks further incentive to push on and out run their opponents however, their resistance was short lived.

Little steadied it for Gulls with a controversial goal (the kick appeared to hit the post) before his side piled on a further four unanswered goals kill off the Hawks.

Dowler slotted his fourth but it did little to stem the trend with Willy slamming home 10 goals in a decisive third term to lead by 44 points at the final change.

Box Hill seemed to tire significantly in the latter stages of the match as their intensity and ability to quash the Gulls run dropped away.

At their best Willy are devastating and they showed that ruthless edge in the last two terms to consolidate their position on top of the ladder.

In the end the Hawks just didn’t have the numbers in the midfield to run out the game, the absence of Kennedy, Batsanis, Morton and Clarke hurt dearly.

Not only that Box Hill made a number of critical mistakes and conceded four crucial 50m penalties throughout the game.

Cross battled hard all day in his best game for the club and snagged a late consolation goal for his constant toiling.

Al Neville provided invaluable leadership and racked up 28 touches while Gibson (24) and Breese (24) showed glimpses of real quality particularly in the first half.

Brad Neil looked at home at senior level; he had 17 touches, 11 marks and kicked a great goal while Kenna worked hard for his 28 and Markovic (14), seven marks and two goals provided some much needed strength.

For Williamstown it was Street and Stretton as mentioned who sparked the Seagull’s third quarter surge and Patrick Rose provided a hard match up for the Hawk’s defence with five goals.

Matt Little managed four goals against his former side but the signs for the Hawks, considering the margin were overwhelmingly positive.

In fact the Hawks dominated the centre clearances winning 22-11 for the match, had four less turnovers 23-19 and the same amount of I50’s (48). Despite those indicators the Hawks still lost by over 10 goals.

It was the Hawks inefficiency going forward that marked the difference, it failed to hit targets and lacked the little bit of class Williamstown had in droves.

“We made too many mistakes and they capitalised a lot more on our mistakes than we did on theirs,” Mitchell said.

“We were pretty good we probably didn’t kick straight early on, I think we were 3.5 or 3.6, our pressure was good but whether we’re not fit enough I’m not sure but I think a lot of our turnovers hurt us again on the way back.”

With only eight listed players at their disposal the Hawks put up a real fight and deserved a better result than they got. If they can regain some personnel in the coming weeks and maintain that type of commitment for four quarters then the second half of the season will be a much more pleasant one for everyone at the club.

Next week is bye as the Big V face South Australia.

Box Hill Hawks: 3.5 / 7.8 / 11.9 / 13.12 (90)
Williamstown: 2.4 / 8.7 / 18.11 / 23.15 (153)

Goals: Dowler 4, Markovic 2, Morrell, Breese, O'Sullivan, Grima, Whitecross, Neil, Cross
   
Best: Neil, Markovic, Gibson, Renouf, Neville, Hunter
 

Hawks In Reserve

Garry Moss – Didn’t have a great day matched up on former Hawk Brett Johnson at stages in an interesting clash but was stitched up. Didn’t kick a goal.

Brent Renouf – 13 disposals, six marks. Probably lost out in the end to quality ruckman Peter Street but his movement around the ground and strength for a player who’s just turned 20 was and has been outstanding all year.

Alex Grima – Kicked a great snap goal in the third term and seems to have found his niche up forward in recent weeks. Still needs development.

Mitch Thorp – Was used in defence again and played mainly on Jason Cloke who kicked only two goals. He looks quite comfortable down back but could easily play out his career as a key forward.

Beau Dowler – Seven disposals, four goals. Was the Hawks only target up forward after Digby Morrell drifted out of the contest. Was very effective with the touches he got kicking four goals but poor delivery from the midfield didn’t do his game justice.

Zac Dawson – Played on old team mate Matt Little for periods of the game and had little of the ball. Dropped a crucial mark midway through the third quarter to stunt Box Hill’s momentum. Little probably took the honours with his four goals.

Brendan Whitecross – 23 touches, four marks, one goal. Was impressive in the middle and is beginning to find some consistency as he consolidates his role. Looks like he has all the qualities of a good midfielder: physique, pace, strength and a penetrating right foot kick. His disposal often stood out amongst the other Hawk midfielders.

Matt Suckling – Suckling was given a rare senior start as a result of the Hawk’s growing injury list. He didn’t get a great deal of the ball, probably 10-15 touches but his long, low raking left foot looks quite the weapon.