There was a big crowd on hand at Box Hill City Oval for the home side’s first game of the year as they battled it out with traditional ANZAC day rivals Coburg in near perfect conditions.

Coburg were highly fancied going into the match and proved the punters right, downing the Hawks by 51 points, and handing them to their third straight loss.

Box Hill Coach Damien Christensen lamented his sides costly turnovers and said Coburg’s superior skill and leg speed proved too much for his young charges.

“On turnovers and rebounds they hurt us,” Christensen said.

“The occasion didn’t overawe them today, they were ready for it, we just gave the footy back on numerous occasions and if you look at the stats on the day we had three less kicks, we won more stoppages and we entered our forward 50 on more occasions than them,” he said.

“We just need to work on accountability and skills.”

Coburg were coming off a 61 point Victory over Werribee last week and were sitting fifth on the ladder, while Box Hill started the season with losses to Casey and Port Melbourne, firmly entrenching them on the bottom of the VFL ladder.

The Tigers also had the wood over Box Hill defeating them in their last two outings including last years ANZAC day clash.

The players congregated in the middle of the ground before the first bounce for the one-minute silence and brief service which was followed by a stirring rendition of the national anthem.

The crowd was treated to a pressure packed opening term to mark the big occasion; the tackling was fierce and neither side was given a yard to move.

The Hawks were playing with far greater intensity than previous weeks and got the first goal on the board through Gary Moss as he crumbed brilliantly off the pack.

Box Hill continued to pressurise the Tigers but the ball spent most of the time in Coburg’s half as the Hawks pushed men heavily behind the ball.

The home side rued several missed chances through Gibson, Kennedy and Dowler while the Tigers piled on the next six goals to take a 28 point lead into the first break.

In reality though, the margin should’ve been smaller if not for the Hawks wayward kicking.

Coburg began the second quarter as they started the first, moving the ball very well as they streamed forward in numbers.

Kelvin Moore was mopping the ball up across half back for the Tigers, thwarting almost every forward thrust for the Hawks, while at the same time nullifying the dangerous Matthew Little.

Box Hill worked incredibly hard to get back into the contest in the second quarter forcing Coburg to throw numbers into their back half.

However, there was no reward for effort; Little managed a measly third goal for the Hawks before half time while the Tigers were piling on goals with ease.

Despite having much of the play in the second term Box Hill was outscored four goals to two and went into the main break 40 point to the rears.

Box Hill began the second half with real fluency, scoring the first major through Little after he was awarded a 50m penalty.

Again the Hawks had a lot of the play but were terribly wasteful in front of goal; to say their turnovers were hurting them would be an understatement.

The 33 point margin midway through the third quarter didn’t paint a true picture of the match with the Hawks kicking themselves out of the game.

Late goals to Renouf and Gibson for the Hawks did little to curb the trend; Coburg still held a comfortable 51 point lead at the last break.

The final term was a procession as Coburg kicked a number of “junk time” goals to complete the romp.

Box Hill took this opportunity to move the ball freely and take risks but again boasted little to cheer about in front of goal.

The loss of three key players in Beau Muston, Tom Murphy and Josh Thurgood who dislocated a shoulder, hurt the Hawks as they lost their third consecutive match.

Christensen put the team’s slow start to the season down to a lack of experience and said the departure of a number of Hawthorn-listed players at the end of last year had hurt the club.

Young gun Jack Riewoldt proved a constant headache for Zac Dawson up forward kicking three goals on him in the first quarter alone.

Cam Howat was also dominant for Coburg racking up possession after possession, hurting Box Hill with his constant run.

There were however, some positives for the Hawks; the early season form of Richard Eva continued, he had 19 disposals and seven marks.

Jason Cook worked hard all day, deep in Box Hill’s forward line, presenting a different option up forward.

Gary Moss’s form was encouraging; he had 21 touches and 10 marks.

Christensen was delighted with the form of Ben Gibson and his job of containing the dangerous Alastair Neville.

“Ben Gibson today was enourmous, he tagged Alastair Neville who’s been averaging over 30 possessions and two-three goals a game,” he said.

“In the end he (Gibson) had 32 touches and 13 marks and kept Neville to 13 (touches).”

Dean Polo was voted best on ground for Coburg with both Jack Riewoldt and Cam Howat unlucky to miss out on the accolade.

Box Hill are hoping for, and desperately await the return of a number of Hawthorn listed players in the next few weeks.

They travel to Tasmania next round and will be hoping for a better performance if they are notch their first win of 2007.

There will need to be some desperate soul searching down at the club in the next few weeks before the season, and any hope of a finals berth escapes their grasp.

Box Hill Hawks: 1.5 / 3.6 / 6.10 / 46
Coburg Tigers: 6.3 / 10.4 / 15.7 / 97
Goals: Little 3, Renouf, Moss, Gibson, Cook
Best: Gibson, Moss, Little, Eva, Height