Hawks taken down by Roosters
Box Hill had a day to forget, going down to North Ballarat by 19 points.
Box Hill had a day to forget after going down to North Ballarat by 19 points on Saturday afternoon at Eureka Stadium, 14.16.100 to 12.9.81.
The game started off slowly with both sides having numbers around the ball. When Box Hill did win the ball out of the stoppages, they had trouble finding targets inside their forward 50, resulting in North Ballarat running-on with the ball and hurting the Hawks on the rebound.
Hayden Kiel and Captain Sam Gibson had fantastic first quarters and were integral to Box Hill trailing by only one point at quarter-time.
The Hawks tried to kick more in the second term which only lead to further domination from the Roosters. The Hawks pin-pointed short passes around the ground but were consistently making skill errors by foot, handing the ball straight to North Ballarat.
The Roosters had their forward-press in place and the Hawks just couldn’t get through.
With the majority of the second term played in North Ballarat’s half of the ground, they kicked a strong 6.2 to Box Hill’s 1.0.
After heading into half-time with a 33-point deficit, the Hawks came out a different side in the third quarter, going hard at the ball and taking on the bodies of the Roosters.
The Hawks worked themselves back into the game in the third after getting their zone in place, forcing the Roosters to kick to a contest where the Hawks would try and lock the ball in.
The scoreboard proved the Hawks were playing better in the second half, narrowing the three-quarter time margin to 22 points.
Box Hill kicked the first goal of the final term and seemed to be coming home strongly.
An integral stage in the final term saw the Hawks lock the ball into their forward half for five minutes but only managed to score two behinds.
North Ballarat took full advantage as they broke out of defense, passing over the top to kick a goal against the flow of play.
Hawthorn-listed Derrick Wanganeen was resurgent, kicking two goals in the final term, but only managed to cut the final margin back to 19 points.
While the Hawks showed glimpses of brilliance, they were unable to sustain a four quarter effort.
Box Hill will tackle the Northern Bullants inRround 9 on Sunday 29 May at Visy Park.
Box Hill: 3.4/4.4/8.7/12.9.81
Roosters: 3.5/9.7/11.11/14.16.100
Best: Adam Pattison, Clinton Young, Sam Gibson, Riley Milne, Hayden Kiel
Goals: Derick Wanganeen 3, Jayden Hogel 3, Clinton Young, Sam Gibson, Tom Schneider, Will Sierakowski, Taylor Duryea
