Round 12
Box Hill v Collingwood
Saturday 28 June
Box Hill City Oval

Box Hill has missed a golden opportunity to notch up its third successive win against the lowly Collingwood, going down 13.8.86 to 17.10.112 at the City Oval.

The Hawks were outplayed by a Magpies outfit full of verve and looking to drag itself out of last position on the VFL ladder.

But for a few sporadic bursts throughout the game, Box Hill was unable to truly pressure Collingwood on the scoreboard.

However the form of Tim Boyle especially (five goals), as well as young players Tim Walsh and Ben Smithwick were definite positives to be drawn from the game.

The Hawks started brightly, with Boyle marking and goaling within the first minute.

It wasn’t until Collingwood’s first real attacking foray six minutes later that the Magpies started to show they had come to City Oval switched on and ready to play.

Brent Macaffer, who would later finish with five goals, started a goal-for-goal sequence involving Hawk captain Al Neville and the lively Smithwick.

But two quick goals from Magpie Tilly Yayman (one of them soccered from the goal-square) by the 15-minute mark soon broke the deadlock for Collingwood, whose forwards seemed to have ample space in their attacking half of the ground.

Hawks coach Barry Mitchell identified this during the break, urging his charges to get back to basics and to cover the space into which the Magpie forwards were leading.

Yayman booted a goal to open the second term’s scoring, extending the margin to 6.2.38 to Box Hill’s 3.4.22.

It was then up to Steve Kenna – best on ground for the brown and gold – to earned an overdue free kick in front of goal and keep the side in touch.
Ryan Breese too showed dash through the middle and solid defensive work, but still the Hawks were unable to maintain or sustain any real scoreboard pressure.

Boyle started to work his way into the game, putting his stamp on the contest and kicking three goals to half time, but four majors to Magpie forward Brent Macaffer somewhat nullified his potency.

Collingwood opened the scoring in the second half, goals to defender-come-forward John Anthony and Chris Egan pushing the margin beyond 30 points.

On the other hand, Box Hill continued to miss targets, its young defenders allowing the Magpie forwards too much space.

Majors to Boyle (his fourth) and Breese reduced the margin, but a goal to Collingwood’s Chris Dawes – a handful up forward and around the ground all day – saw the Hawks enter the final quarter 29 points in arrears.

Once again the young Hawks found a spark, putting together a solid patch mid-way through the last term with two goals to Brendan Whitecross and singles to Batsanis and Boyle.

However with the margin cut to just 17 points, Box Hill couldn’t sustain their charge against a Magpies outfit determined to reap reward for its superior ball movement and finishing.

A true kick from Dawes on the 20-minute mark put the game finally out of reach, as the Hawks continued to be largely ineffective in stopping midfielders Rohan Frost and Paul Licuria.

A late Digby Morrell goal offered only consolation for a Hawks, who have a chance again on their home patch next week when they play for pride against the Coburg Tigers.

Coach Barry Mitchell said after the game he was disappointed with the way the Hawks succumbed to Collingwood’s hardness at the ball and the call-carrier.

“It was an average performance from us,” he said, “we started off ok, but really after that we weren’t in the match.”

Mitchell was wary after the match about his side regularly coming back from losing positions, having won against Frankston the previous week after a deficit of 39 points at one stage.

“You can’t go doing it every week; we just made so many mistakes.”

Meanwhile, Mitchell was optimistic about the side’s chances next week at home against the Coburg Tigers.

“We led (them) for a fair bit last time we played them. But if we can put together four quarters of footy, we’ll give ourselves a good chance.”


Box Hill Hawks  3.4      6.7      8.8        13.8   (86)
Collingwood       5.1      9.4      13.7      17.10 (112)

GOALS: Boyle 5 Whitecross 2 Breese  Neville  Batsanis  Morrell  Kenna  Smithwick

BEST: Kenna Boyle Smithwick Dawson Batsanis Marcius, Walsh