The Box Hill Hawks suffered a 17-point loss to Collingwood at Box Hill City Oval last weekend.

Despite the loss, a handful of AFL-listed Hawks delivered strong performances.  

Senior Coach Zane Littlejohn said it was a disappointing day, but is looking forward to the opportunity for the side to bounce back this Saturday afternoon against Frankston.

“Disappointing day, where we just got beaten in the areas that we really pride ourselves on as a whole football program,” he said.

“There were still positive performances from some of our boys, but overall not a great day, just based off how we went about the game.

“All in all a really disappointing performance, all our talls were beaten in the air, around our contest work, our toughness, it’s just not who we are or what we want to be known for, so we need to be better than that.

“So we’ll look to bounce back across the whole board this week.”

Littlejohn reviewed each AFL-listed player’s performance from Round 10 below.

Seamus Mitchell (35 disposals, one goal, 12 marks)

“Another really great performance from Shammy, he’s in some unbelievable form, his ability to defend the ground again was really positive and obviously provides great offence. To finish with 35 (disposals), it’s a great day out again for him. He’s been really consistent for us, and we’ll look at the 35, but he’s actually defending really solidly as well, showing some great signs in that area of his game.”

Henry Hustwaite (32 disposals, 14 contested possessions, five clearances)

“Just a normal day for Hus. He probably got beaten early in the first half, but full credit to the young man how he fought hard in the second half and started to get on top of his opponent and around the ground. So finished with 32 (disposals), six score involvements, some really good clearance work, first possession stuff was really solid.”

Sam Butler (29 disposals, 11 tackles, 10 contested possessions)

“Butsy again, like Shammy, is in some good form. 29 (disposals), had a role in the second half on Tom Mitchell and kept him to one clearance, which he had eight in the first half so to keep him to one and he finished with nine, was a great return. And he showed some real depth and growth in his stoppage craft, and then he was able to get the ball around the ground as well. Another pleasing performance from Butsy.”

Bodie Ryan (22 disposals, eight marks)

“Although a disappointing ending for Bodes with the injury (fractured clavicle). Solid enough with ball in hand, probably didn’t defend hard enough early, especially second quarter, wasn’t hard enough to play against as one of our defenders. But to finish with 22 (disposals), seven rebound 50s, hit the scoreboard but a disappointing way for it to finish for Bodes. We wish him all the best and hope he’s back bigger and stronger in the not-too-distant future.”

Cam Mackenzie (22 disposals, 15 contested possessions, seven clearances)

“Cam came back to us, and it can be challenging at times to come back to VFL level and find how the game’s being played. They obviously put a bit of energy into him, so probably not the performance he would’ve loved at the level, or the normal output we’ve probably expected from him at VFL level. So he’ll continue to work on that area, making sure he’s challenging the opposition, but just with his stoppage work but also what he can do around the ground, his work rate, his ability to raise the pressure and apply that pressure.”

Jai Serong (Two goals, 19 disposals, six marks)

“Jai was really solid again, played the wing, played half back, hit the scoreboard and kicked two first half goals which was a great return. Had 18 disposals, running really nice patterns on the wing, really reliable out there which is really important and then his ability to flick down back when we need him to, is super valuable as well. We know what Jai can bring at VFL level, the reigning Col Austen medallist, he’s keeping his foot in that ajar door so when the opportunity comes he’s going to be ready for it again.”

Bailey Macdonald (18 disposals, five contested possessions, four marks)

“Had some really good moments, got a hit early in the second quarter so did really well to push through and finish the game. Only the 17 disposals, but provided some really good offence, probably had some moments defensively where he would’ve liked to be tougher, which isn’t the standard that we accept and he’s seen that and he’ll be better at that, but he wasn’t the only one in that space around the toughness.”

Ned Reeves (Two goals, 25 hitouts, 12 contested possessions)

“Had a really good battle against (Mason) Cox, ended up kicking two and just matched up really well against Cox around the ground, but defensively Cox probably got on top of him where Noodle wasn’t able to defend him well enough and strong enough, so that’s an area for him to continue to work on when he’s playing against quality AFL rucks like that. Yes he needed to be able to match them at a stoppage, hitout area but obviously needs to be able to defend and challenge around the ground as well, so an area for him to really focus on moving forward.”

Noah Mraz (14 disposals, nine intercept possessions, four marks)

“Back after his concussion, although he’s had 14 (disposals), a really poor day in regards to the way he’s defended and his positioning but he’s working really hard on this with Arryn Siposs and that’s why it doesn’t worry me. I’ve got full faith in this kid, he works really hard at his game, this is not a trend it’s a once off, so we’ll look for him to bounce back but defensively just wasn’t strong enough.”

Max Ramsden (13 disposals, eight contested possessions, four marks)

“Rama went back to the forward/second ruck role this week, should’ve kicked a goal but unfortunately missed. But again, showing great ability to get around the ground and compete, he was very good aerially early, but as the game went on he got beaten in that area others got on top of him, so that’s a disappointing result for him.”

Will McCabe (One goal, 12 disposals, six marks)

“Will started really well, kicked our first goal within the first ten seconds but post that, work rate wasn’t high enough, wasn’t tough enough and didn’t put himself in positions where he could use his profile and be damaging, so he’ll be looking to bounce back in that area.”

Calsher Dear (11 disposals, six marks, four inside 50s)

“Calsh got higher up the ground this week which was pleasing, that was something we really wanted to work on, trying to get a bit more footy between the arcs and because of his athletic profile his ability to get back to goal and challenge his defenders but just didn’t compete well enough in the air again, like a lot of our talls we were beaten in the air and Calsh was one of those. Unfortunately, when you’re beaten in the air there’s no influence for you at ground level which Calsh does really well as a key forward.”

Sam Frost (10 disposals, five marks, two intercept possessions)

“From a talls perspective, Frosty was probably our best – His contest, his leadership, to ability to compete and get in the fight was really pleasing, just played his role and did his role really well. Probably had some contests he would like again, but he led from the front in regards to our talls, he was probably our best in that space.”

Jasper Scaife (One goal, seven disposals, three contested possessions)

“Scaife, again, like all our talls started really well but aerially, contest, ground level, was really non-existent unfortunately so he needs to be better in that area. He’s been in some pretty good form so this was just a blip on the radar we hope, so he’s got to look to bounce back and be better in that area of his game and make sure that he’s willing to compete aerially and a ground level. And continue to buy in on both sides of the ball, so his work rate at times defensively, where we see him walking and we he needs to run which helps the rest of the team in that team D aspect.”

James Blanck (Six disposals, two intercept possessions)

“Blancky like the other talls, just contest was beaten and that’s all in all, which we don’t come to expect from Blancky, he’s usually really reliable in that space but unfortunately was beaten in that area. So he’ll look to bounce back this week and was really disappointed with his performance, and we just wanted to remind him that he’s a really valuable member of our whole football club at both Box Hill and Hawthorn and he’s a really valuable player, so we expect him to bounce back.”  

A VFL player shout-out…

Trent Bianco (28 disposals, seven marks, five contested possessions)

“Shout out to Trent Bianco again, I know I spoke about him last week, but I’m going to speak about him again. His offensive drive and ball use for us was really pleasing, obviously giving us some great use in there. He obviously needs to tidy up some defensive stuff but his attitude is unbelievable, he buys into our program, he’s really selfless, which we really value. And as I’ve mentioned before, we’ve not only got a good player but a great person. He’s finished with 29 (disposals) and really valuing what he can bring to our group.”

VFLW Round 7 Results

BOX HILL       1.0 3.0 6.3 6.6 (42)
BOMBERS         1.1 1.4     3.6     3.7 (25)

GOALS
Box Hill: Stilve, Price, Lee, Embelton, Collingwood, Cariss-Brett

DISPOSALS
Box Hill: Stevenson, Butler & I. Baldwin (19), Dillon (17), Collingwood (15)