Box Hill secured a 38-point victory over Coburg in Round 12, securing its place atop the league ladder with nine wins and two losses ahead of the mid-season bye.

Senior Coach Zane Littlejohn said he was happy with the performance and their position heading into the break.

“A really positive result for the program again, as we like to say an eight-point weekend which is great,” he said.

“Really windy conditions over at Coburg and after the boys put in a really great result on Friday night we wanted to make sure we could follow trend.

“Slowish start, we kicked with the breeze early, but full credit to Coburg they got on top around the footy in particular and we had to match that and try to go above that, which was a real arm wrestle in the first half. Credit to our boys, the third quarter was really dominant, that’s when we really got a sense in the game and arguably that was the difference, we kicked five goals eight, so a really great return in that space.

“A good way to reset going into the bye, a really nice result.”

Littlejohn emphasised the importance of a strong return game post-bye next weekend.

“We’ll play North Melbourne at Arden Street after the bye, they’ve been playing some really good footy and really pushed us at the start of the year,” he said.

“They’ve got some quality players player at VFL level so a great test for us to make sure we can come back ready to go again after the break and go from there.”

From seasoned Hawks playing different roles to a first-gamer at VFL level, the Round 12 match had a bit of everything.

Littlejohn reviewed each AFL-listed player’s game and a few honourable mentions to VFL-listed Hawks below.

Finn Maginness (One goal, 30 disposals, 17 contested possessions)

“Finn had a really nicely balanced game, finished with his 30 disposals, nine clearances. What we know about Finn is his work rate and ability to get contest to contest is really impressive and he was able to showcase that again which was great. Just great for him to come back and hopefully find a bit of form and get some real continuity and consistency in his footy.”

Cam Mackenzie (29 disposals, 11 contested possessions, nine clearances)

“Cam had another really solid performance. Him and Finn in particular in that third quarter really got to work around the footy, started to provide a lot of dominance for us in the clearance game and territory. Cam’s finished with nine clearances himself again, which is really important and seven of them were centre bounce clearances, so when you can get territory from centre bounce that allows you to set up behind the ball. So great reward for Cam.”

Jai Serong (23 disposals, eight intercept possessions, five contested possessions)

“Jai was super dominant again, super reliable for us down the back end. Spent a little bit of time in the first half on a wing and was able to give us some good drive from that position and then was able to behind the ball take some really good intercepts and provide some great offensive drive, he’s had 10 rebound 50s. A great return from an intercepting hybrid defender.”

Ned Reeves (One goal, 43 hitouts, 10 score involvements)

“Dominant big man on the ground, especially in the third quarter he really got us going around the footy. I spoke about Cam and Finn but it really started with Noodle and his ruck craft and his ability to get his hits onto the outside, was really important and opened up the stoppage a bit more for us, and our mids were able to get ascendancy around that which was really impressive and as I mentioned get territory off the back of that. Noodle’s been able to push forward and play a bit of time in front of the ball, hit the scoreboard, take some really crucial marks around the ground, two contested out of his five marks. A tough day to judge the footy in the air with the wind as I’d mentioned, so to take some crucial marks for us at crucial times was really important. So big shout out to Noodle.”

Bailey Macdonald (One goal, 16 disposals, three marks)

“Bailey Macdonald probably kicked goal of the day in all honesty, dashing run from half back. Again, I keep pumping up this guy with the way he’s defending the ground, I know we know a lot about his offence and his running and dash but he’s defending the ground really strongly as well. He’s becoming a bit of a leader for us among the back sort of seven as well with his voice and instruction which is really important, he’s played some senior footy now, so we sort of expect that from him when he comes back to this level.”

Cody Anderson (15 disposals, seven contested possessions, six tackles)

“Started pretty slow Code, just around the footy and some transition stuff, but got on top of that and obviously as I mentioned with our mids in the thirds quarter, he was able to get to work in that space and provide some great contest and clearance work in there. Not his normal clearance numbers, just the four clearances, but got to work in there and was tough and laid some big tackles for us as well which is what we know Cody can provide and is really important.”

Sam Frost (Three goals, 14 disposals, eight marks)

“Frosty as I’m sure everyone knows now played forward for the day, just saw an opportunity with Calsher being rested and Coburg not being overly tall to push Frosty forward and he was really keen just to try something there. And what a return it was, kicked three, had his hand in a number of others, really vibrant, competes super hard Frosty which we love about him and provided great energy. So when you’ve got a key forward who can do that, he’s finished with (14 disposals) and as I mentioned, give great energy in contest, so really rapt for him to get some return in front of the ball. And just really rapt for him and his attitude and buy in to our program, to make all our players and coaches better is fantastic.”

Luke Breust (One goal, 13 disposals, six score involvements)

“This man, we’re just so lucky to have him at the Hawthorn Footy Club, his leadership to help everyone else get better and sometimes at the sacrifice of his own performance, he’s just an unbelievable human being. He hit the scoreboard, had his hand in a number of others, his leadership around the footy, got up around the ball a bit more this week which was great and just really smart going into the wind, how he helped position our forwards and when we were with the wind how he helped position our forwards. When you’ve got someone like that which is arguably an on field coach, he’s really valuable. When we get back from the bye we’ll look for Punky to get some continuity in his body and footy and get him back in the senior team to hopefully kicking goals on the MCG.”

Noah Mraz (12 disposals, five marks, five contested possessions)

“Noah a really solid game, becoming a really reliable young man down in our back end, gets his job done. He’s worked really hard with Arryn Siposs on his positioning, in particular we talk about wind, it can sometimes be tough for defenders to get their positioning right, is the ball going to carry is it going to fall short, took him a little while to adjust to that but full credit to Arryn Siposs who coached the defenders on the day, to get them really clear minded in what they needed to do depending on if we were going with or against the wind. Noah was really reliable in that space, his 12 possessions, five marks, he’s just a good all-round performer for us now which is really important.”

Matt Hill (Nine disposals, five contested possessions, three inside 50s)

“Quiter day for Hilly, just didn’t quite get going early, after a couple weeks out with his ankle, it’s just continuity for him now. When you haven’t played the game growing up as consistently as all the other boys, he’s just got to get continuity in his game. What I love about Hilly is he’s got a real desire to want to compete, which we saw again on the weekend, he’s chasing hard, looking to put pressure on, just didn’t get reward in front of goal this week but it’ll come, when you’ve got his attitude who wants to get better and be the best he can be, I’m sure good things will happen so he’s just got to continue to work hard in that space. And hopefully post-bye we see him jump back to some good form.”

Will McCabe (One goal, 10 disposals, six inside 50s)

“Quiet start for Will, just based off his work rate, I think the people that saw him play against Frankston would’ve been rapt with his work rate, ability to get up and back and really work hard. I didn’t think his work rate was as high as it needed to be at the start of the game and what we saw the week before, so we know he can do it, it just wasn’t quite at the level that we saw that week prior. That’s great learning for a young developing player, to understand the standard that he needs to continue to strive for. But full credit to him I thought he worked his way into the game really well and ended up hitting the score board which is great reward but ultimately, when he got on his bike and started to work really hard, that’s when his game started to come open. No marks in the first quarter but then ended up finishing with five, we know when he’s getting his marks up and around between the arcs that’s when he’s playing his best footy.”

Jack Scrimshaw (Eight disposals, four intercept possessions, three contested possessions)

“He started like a house on fire, took two beautiful contested marks and was right in the game and looking really strong for us and setting up a lot of offensive drive. But then unfortunately, just had a little twinge in his hammy, nothing major but we didn’t want to risk Scrim he’s obviously a really valuable player and hasn’t had a lot of continuity with his body this year unfortunately. So we decided to pull him out of the game straight away and put him on ice, obviously with the bye coming up and then some really important footy ahead post the bye for both VFL and AFL.”

Jasper Scaife (Six disposals, four score involvements, three marks)

“Could’ve had a really good day, kicked three behinds. No time in the ruck this week, just contest work in front of the ball was solid again, he’s working really hard on that area of his game and it’s a growth area for him so he’s got to continue to find a real balance of when to compete in the air and his ability to react when the ball hits the ground as well. He got high at times which was really good, we want to see him getting up between the arcs and getting contests and then also deeper, he’s learning a lot of great lessons having the likes of Luke Breust down there helping to set him up and getting in the right spots. But he’s getting shots on goal which is really important for a forward, unfortunately on the weekend he didn’t quite finish the work, as I mentioned with three behinds.”

James Blanck (Four disposals, three intercept possessions, two marks)

“Now you’ll look at Blacnky’s numbers and go yep he’s only had four disposals, but we gave Blancky a target this week and a job, so he played on Mitch Podhajski from Coburg, who’s the leading goal kicker of the competition, so Blancky played on him and kept him to five touches and no goals, the first game he hasn’t kicked a goal this year and he’s actually kicked multiple goals every game this year. So we set Blancky the challenge to go to him and he did an amazing job, to keep him to five touches, one mark and no goals, was outstanding. And that’s just what we know Blancky can do, he wore him dare I say like a blanket and didn’t give him a sniff, he competed really hard, took him out of the game and we love when Blancky’s playing that way. When you’ve got one of your key defenders just willing to sacrifice his role and get his job done, you know it’s going to go a long way to helping your team be really successful on the day, which is great.”

Jaime Ure-Henry (15 hitouts, four disposals, three contested possessions)

“Absolutely rapt to give Jaime a taste of some VFL footy. He’s worked really hard, supported Ned in the ruck, played a few minutes forward in the second half and he did a really good job in the ruck, he built some nice connections with the mids in there and they gave him some great feedback. He’s had 15 hitouts which is really good, one clearance himself, finished with his four disposals, a handball in each of the quarters which is great and just competed really hard and that’s what we asked him to do on the day, just be really physical and compete really hard in the ruck and I thought he did a fantastic job of that. He’s got a long way to go in his footy journey, but this is a small step in the right direction for him to continue to learn the game and what’s required to compete at the level and obviously one day hopefully, be AFL ready. Great to give him an opportunity, great to have his family there as well to see him play that game, and I thought he provided some real energy to the group which is really exciting.”

A few VFL Player shout outs …

Stu Horner (19 disposals, 13 intercept possessions, nine contested possessions)

“Our vice captain, he’s had a really good month of footy. He’s had 13 intercept possessions, really phsycial, really tough. As we know with Stu he’s just found the right mix in his game, he’s not an offensive beast but he needs to just be able to provide enough offence to be involved when he has to be, but his weapon is his ability to defend the ground and defend his oppo 1v1 is elite. And he’s been able to do a really good job of that the last month and we hope he can continue that in the back end of the season.”

Jake Arundell (Two goals, 22 disposals, four score involvements)

“First year in our leadership group, he’s finished with 22 touches, his work rate, his ability to link play from back end to front end is really important, he’s hit the scoreboard which we know isn’t the be all and end all but when you’ve got a small forward who can get up between the arcs and get back and help impact on the scoreboard is obviously been important as well and he’s been able to do that as well which is great. Great shout out for Jakey Arundell who can hopefully continue in fine form leading into the back end of the year for us and be really consistent.”

VFLW Round 8 Results

Box Hill               1.0          2.3          3.4       6.7 (43)
Darebin             1.0          1.0          1.5          1.5 (11)

Goals: Matin 3, Cattle 2, Price 1

Disposals: Cattle 23, Van Berkel 19, Stevenson 18, Murdoch 18,