Following Box Hill’s Round 21 defeat at the hands of top side Casey, Box Hill coach Marco Bello, Development coach Chris Newman and Head of Development Academy Rob McCartney review every Hawthorn-listed player’s performance.

WILL LANGFORD – 21 disposals, six marks, five inside 50s, three goals.

“Came back after having a week off and was terrific in terms of our scoring from the midfield, finishing with 3.1. He did a lot of his work in the midfield but really impacted the scoreboard when he was resting forward. Finished with 21 touches and four clearances and unlike a lot of our other mids, he had a better second half which really kept us in the game. He worked hard for his disposals and was rewarded.” MB

DALLAS WILLSMORE – 24 disposals, eight marks

“A really strong first half from Dallas -  he finished with 24 disposals but had 18 disposals in the first half. Unfortunately, he fell away in the second half but what he’s been able to consistently all year is get the uncontested football and he did that again this week. With his offensive weapon being his elite kicking, he was able to get inside 50s and two of those resulted in scores for us.” MB

DANIEL HOWE – 20 disposals, eight tackles

“Dan played in the midfield for the majority of the day but also helped us out down back. He’s missed some footy recently but looked like he had a lot of energy out there and was able to win a lot of the ball, finishing with 20 touches and eight tackles, so he was working hard both offensively and defensively.” MB

KAIDEN BRAND – 19 disposals, six marks, five rebound 50s

“Has had some time at AFL level but came back to the VFL and finished with 19 disposals and 21 pressure acts. He’s had a huge year in terms of his development and getting a taste at AFL level and he’s had a fantastic season thus far – hoping to possibly impact in the AFL finals.” CN

JONO O’ROURKE – 17 disposals, five tackles

“Similar patterns to the last few weeks, playing both inside and outside. He was influential again, probably earlier in the game – this week he got more handballs and was looking to get his hands on the footy first to give us a release. We didn’t get the scoreboard pressure from our midfielders which we’ve been accustomed to over the course of the year and we didn’t get much of Jono’s work going forward.” MB

ANGUS LITHERLAND – 17 disposals, four tackles, seven rebound 50s

Finished with 17 disposals and 20 pressure acts, the last couple of weeks ‘Gus’ has been really important with his pressure and willingness to compete, so those numbers are a good return for him. Again he’s had to shoulder the load and become and attacking half back flanker with Teia Miles out so he’s found some of the ball and was quite creative for us.” CN

KURT HEATHERLEY – 16 disposals, six marks

“Kurt finished with 16 touches and 12 pressure acts, probably not the greatest result in terms of pressure acts for him but that’s because he’s set the bar so high with his pressure act return, aiming for 20+ per game. Kurt’s a competitor, he’s had an outstanding year and been a real rock for us down back with his competitive instinct.” CN

BLAKE HARDWICK – 12 disposals, six marks, two goals

“Blake’s third quarter was his best for the game with seven of his 12 disposals coming in that term and two goals. He got us into a position at three-quarter time where we thought we were in the hunt to win the game so he had a big impact in that quarter. The thing Blake has to continue to work on is his consistency across four quarters, but after his first year of VFL footy we’re really pleased with where he’s placed heading into another pre-season.” RM

KADE STEWART – 14 disposals, seven tackles, one goal

“Kade had 14 disposals on the day but was influential in terms of impacting the game in the second and third quarters. He had 13 of his possessions in those quarters and he was a link up player for us from defence to attack. Had a couple of shots on goal for 1.1 and had a really strong tackling game with seven tackles and 20 pressure acts.” RM

MATT SPANGHER – 11 disposals, five marks, two goals

“The best thing about Spang’s game was probably his impact in front of goal. He kicked one goal pushing hard forward as a defender in the first quarter and then ended up playing forward for a portion of game and kicked another goal which shows his versatility. He’s moving really well at the moment and his body looks really strong which is a good sign.” CN

ZAC WEBSTER – 13 disposals, three tackles

“Zac played a little bit of midfield this week as well as spending the majority of his time forward. We got to see his grunt work in there as well as his speed when he has the chance to impact the contest. He really generates a lot of power and was able to affect his opponents with his tackling which was a feature, but we also saw Zac get his hands on the footy.” MB

TIM O’BRIEN – eight disposals

“A quieter day for Tim after a couple of really influential games at VFL level over the last fortnight. He probably suffered a little bit from our kicking early in the game where he got to the right spots and we couldn’t get the ball to him. Didn’t get the marks inside 50 we’ve come to expect over the last few weeks from Tim and that influenced his ability to hit the scoreboard. He’ll be hoping an opportunity opens up in the AFL finals.” RM

LUKE SURMAN – eight disposals, three marks, 25 hit outs

“With Marc Pittonet and Jack Fitzpatrick both going up to AFL level we needed him in the ruck. It was his first game as the number one ruckman and he shouldered a lot of those duties on the day. I thought he did quite well, he had a lot of energy – competed against two guys who were bigger than him and was really physical. Great for his learning and also that he was able to perform in that role for the majority of the day.” MB