The Box Hill Hawks have sent a resounding message to the VFL competition after defeating Casey Scorpions by 45 points at Box Hill City Oval on Saturday.

The Scorpions sit atop of the league ladder entering the final round of the home and away season, while the Hawks are in sixth place as they eye off their own piece of finals action.

Prior to Saturday’s win, the Hawks had not beaten the Scorpions since Round 17 2015.

Read below for coach Chris Newman’s account of each AFL-listed player’s performance.

James Cousins (35 disposals, 6 marks, 8 tackles, 1 goal) 

“He’s just been consistent. His work ethic and his ability to leave contests quickly and get to the next contest and compete for us has been outstanding. We knew he had to be strong inside because that’s Casey’s game and with eight tackles he has done that for us. He was huge for us.” CN

Jono O’Rourke (25 disposals, 2 marks, 1 tackle, 1 goal)

“O’Rourke was similar and he kicked an important goal for us in the third quarter when we had all the momentum. He looks pretty dynamic at the moment, he is using his legs and driving through contests which is what we want to see.” CN

Changkuoth Jiath (20 disposals, 9 marks, 1 tackle, 1 goal)

“CJ continues to impress down back. He is reading the ball really well. He has a lot of upside in that position, but his ability to take marks from opposition boot is really good. He took five on the weekend and for a young kid to show that sort of confidence is really exciting. He could rightfully feel out of his depth in that position given that he has now only played three games back there. But he is learning as he goes and I’m loving his desire to go at the game at the moment.” CN

Kieran Lovell (18 disposals, 5 marks, 4 tackles)

“He’s been working really hard throughout the week. He looked like he was spreading really hard and providing us with an outlet. He played a little bit of forward for us at stages but predominantly on-ball. He’s another one of those guys who we like to get the ball in the hands of because he can use it quite well.” CN

Taylor Duryea (17 disposals, 4 marks, 2 tackles)

“Duryea played back. He looked really comfortable there and his leadership is really important back there, especially given the amount of youth we have back there at the moment. He was really important for us. He defended really hard and his attack on the footy and opposition was first-class.” CN

David Mirra (16 disposals, 5 marks, 5 tackles, 3 goals)

“Miz played forward again. We’re sort of at the crossroads with him on whether we persist with him as a forward or as a back. We’ve lost Heatherley with a hamstring potentially for the year so we may have to put him back at stages but if we can keep him forward then we might try to persist with that. He provides a really strong target for us and has kicked seven goals in two games. His attitude has been spot-on and his ability to provide some energy in the forward half is really good.” CN

Dylan Moore (13 disposals, 2 marks, 4 tackles, 1 goal)

“He’s been playing on the wing mostly this year but played forward on the weekend. He had three shots on goal and kicked a really nice goal from stoppage in the third quarter. He probably started to really get his game going in the second half after he started feeling a bit more comfortable. He contributed to our forward 50 pressure which was good. I was really happy with the way he ended the game.” CN

Tim O’Brien (13 disposals, 3 marks, 3 tackles)

“O’Brien took a few marks and a couple of those were from opposition boot. He just provided a lot of energy for us. They didn’t have a really tall forward line so he probably had a bit of a mismatch for the majority of the game. I thought he competed really well. He adds a bit of experience in our back half as well.” CN

Dallas Willsmore (12 disposals, 3 marks, 2 tackles)

“Probably the feature of Dall’s game is that he continues to provide blocks and trying to get others into the game. We’d like Dall to get a bit more of the footy but if he continues to get his teammates out and put them into better positions then he will also continue to get recognised for that. We appreciate the work he is doing off the ball at the moment.” CN

Olly Hanrahan (8 disposals, 2 marks)

“Hanrahan looked lively at times. The bounce of ball didn’t quite go his way at times but it looked like he had some real speed in his legs.” CN

Mitchell Lewis (8 disposals, 1 mark, 2 tackles, 21 hit-outs)

“Lewis played forward and second ruck. I thought he was really impressive in the ruck, he provided our mids with some really clean use and he really competed hard in there. He got his hands to quite a few balls in the front end but couldn’t quite hold onto them in really tricky conditions. He’ll get better from that game.” CN

Jackson Ross (8 disposals, 4 marks, 1 tackle, 1 goal)

“Rossy had some key moments throughout the game. He kicked a goal for us from one of his forward 50 tackles. He is a part of that younger crew which is learning and developing each week.” CN

Kurt Heatherley (4 disposals, 3 marks)

“He was playing back when he did his hamstring in the first quarter. I think we’ve probably lost him for the year, it looked pretty nasty, which is disappointing. He’s one of those competitors that everyone loves to play with and he is really reliable in the back end.” CN