The Box Hill Hawks suffered defeat at the hands of minor premiers Werribee by 11 points at Fenjiu Stadium (Box Hill City Oval) on Sunday afternoon.

Senior Coach Zane Littlejohn detailed each AFL-listed player’s performance from the Round 21 hit-out.

“The weekend’s game was a disappointing start but credit to our boys how they responded and found a way,” Littlejohn said.

“We just weren’t able to play our game, or we didn’t play our game for long enough.”

Despite the loss, Box Hill has finished sixth on the league ladder and will face the winner of a Wildcard Round match in an elimination final in a week’s time.

“It’s disappointing but we’ll have the week off and we’ve just got to continue to grow and learn and bring the energy for the whole program this week and get ready to play an elimination final, which is really exciting” Littlejohn said.

“To finish sixth is a credit to everyone involved and with 21 teams, to finish sixth out of those 21 teams is a great effort. “We’ve got another finals series to take on and really hit full steam ahead.”

Seamus Mitchell
“Seamus was arguably the best player on the ground, even though we lost. He finished with 38 (disposals) and kicked two goals himself, six score involvements and used it at 87 percent but also defended the game really well and tried to help energise our ball movement which was good.”

Bodie Ryan
“Good for Bodes to find the footy 23 times at 91 percent, but probably just wasn’t daring enough and didn’t look to take territory enough with ball in hand. Maybe arguably went a little bit safe at times but great for him to get his hands on the ball. He kicked his first goal for the football club which is a great reward as well.”

Henry Hustwaite
“Hus’ normal game, the 22 (disposals), really tough inside with the 10 tackles and five clearances. Again I just probably would like him to continue to be really dangerous with ball in hand and he’s working really hard on that. The really pleasing thing is out of his 22, a 50/50 split between contested and uncontested, which he’s working really hard on to try and find a bit more easier footy.”

Finn Maginness
“So Finn as we know, can’t fault Finn’s work rate and effort. Six tackles, seven clearances. Just early in the game, he wasn’t able to get any football really on the outside uncontested-wise and really use his run so he’s finished with only the six kicks and 16 handballs. That’s just a credit to Werribee in taking the space and not allowing Finn to get damaging where he can be on the outside.”

Ethan Phillips
“Ethan was right up there as one of our best as well, he defended really well. I think between him, Denver and Will McCabe, their key forwards only kicked one goal so really solid effort from Ethan. His leadership and his love towards his teammates has been first rate. He took three contested marks and had 20 disposals at 95 percent. At times, he could absolutely probably just go at the game a bit more with possession.”

Josh Ward
“Wardy, a lot like Finn, had a really solid inside game with the 10 tackles and five clearances. But again, we just couldn’t get enough footy on the outside where the game really opened up and that was a bit to do with not taking the game forward and on enough. He’s finished with only the 10 kicks and 10 handballs, and from his 20 only two score involvements.”

Max Ramsden
“Rama started really slowly, but definitely worked his way into the game, challenged his oppo forward and kicked two points. They could’ve definitely been two goals that were gettable for him and no doubt he’d love to have them again. He had some moments where he just switched off around the contest but what I was really pleased with Rama was his ability to find his way back into the game and continue to fight it out and finish off really strongly. Arguably his third and last quarters were his best quarters.”

Jack O’Sullivan
“High work rate again from Sul, 16 (disposals), hit the scoreboard, laid some tackles, so a good balanced game from a small forward. It’s just about consistency in his game. We want consistency week to week, but we also want consistency during games and not being inconsistent, which we saw a little bit in Sul’s game. But I can’t fault his work rate and the effort he’s putting in.”

Will McCabe
“Just the 13 disposals for Will but had to play a little bit taller this week without Jai Serong which is great for his development. Probably just looked a little bit unsure of himself at times with his decision making and you’re going to get that with young players and we’ll just keep building the confidence in him that he’s good enough and he can compete at this level. I think when we see that in Will and he has the real balance of backing his own ability versus his opposition, we see the best of Will. He had some really good moments and just had some moments where you could see he wasn’t quite sure on what he needed to do in that particular situation.”

Denver Grainger-Barras
“A really solid game from Denver again, like I mentioned with Easy and Will, they both did a really good job on their keys, their keys didn’t really have much of an influence on the day. Denver was just defending the ground really solidly and just let his footy do the talking which is really pleasing from Denver and a really solid return.”

Cooper Stephens
“Coop again was moving really well but unfortunately just tweaked his ankle late in the second quarter which hindered his third quarter and then we sort of pulled him out of the game in the last quarter, he just wasn’t getting any better. His stuff around the contest was solid, he’s working really hard on his stoppage craft and moment of truth stuff in that area.”

Clay Tucker
“We didn’t see the best of Tuck this week. Him and Scaife were a little bit victims of our movement and not putting any genuine speed and going forward with it. But also some of Tuck’s ruck craft and ruck work was still solid at times, he’s had his seven hit outs. Just wasn’t able to find the footy around the ground.”

Jasper Scaife
“Scaifey was the same as Tuck, just a victim of our ball movement, no energy or speed on it to take the game on and go forward and give them a look in front. When we got the ball inside 50, we looked very dangerous but we just didn’t do it enough and didn’t take the game on enough in that space especially early so therefore Scaifey just didn’t get many looks. We threw him into the ruck in the last quarter and really liked his energy and effort that he provided in there. It actually got him into the game and he got five hitouts from about five minutes in the ruck which is really pleasing. A few tackles and all that around the ground as well.”

… A few Box Hill player shoutouts

Jake Arundell

“I think I’ve said this a few times, but ever since he’s come back into the team, his work rate, his effort and his energy has been elite. We love him in the team, not just for what he can bring offensively but also his work rate defensively to really buy in and try to be the best he can be is elite. So a shout-out to Jakey Arundell.”

Jaylon Thorpe
“Thorpey was arguably our most dangerous forward but again he was a bit crucified by the rest of the forwards with our ball movement but when we got the ball there, Thorpey looked really dangerous. He kicked 2.2, he’s working really hard already on his goalkicking to make sure that’s really consistent because arguably out of the 2.2 he should’ve kicked four, they were four gettable goals.”

Box Hill has a bye before taking on the highest-ranked winner of this weekend’s Wildcard Round matches in next weekend’s second elimination final.