Box Hill suffered a 19-point loss at Box Hill City Oval the hands of a visiting Footscray Bulldogs in Round 19.
Senior Coach Zane Littlejohn summarised his side’s display, saying the Hawks weren’t at the standard needed to get the result.
“Disappointing result on the weekend, but full credit to Footscray, they were way too good for us and we weren’t able to get our play and mojo flowing, so they deserved to win,” said Littlejohn.
This weekend sees the last round of the home and away season, as Box Hill head to Casey Fields to face the Demons with a chance to take out the minor premiership.
“Now this week becomes a really important game if we want to try and lock away the minor premiership. Casey are in really good form and are very tough to beat out there,” he said.
“Huge game this week against Casey, it’ll be a great challenge for us and one we’re looking forward to. We need to bounce back, how we performed on the weekend isn’t acceptable and is not the standard that we accept of each other.
“So we’ll look to bounce back against a team who’s in great form and are playing for their finals series and are trying to get a top six spot, so looking forward to the challenge.”
See Littlejohn’s analysis of each AFL-listed Hawk below.
Sam Butler (27 disposals, six clearances, five clearances)
“An OK game for Sammy without being outstanding, we probably didn’t see his usual running power, his speed. It was a well-balanced game, he’s had his 27 disposals, six clearances, five tackles. But we just didn’t see his traditional running power contest to contest, which we’re used to seeing from him.”
Jai Serong (26 disposals, 11 intercept possessions, nine marks)
“Arguably the best player on the ground I thought, played on Buku Khamis and he only kicked one, when Jai wasn’t on him at that time, had sort of slipped him, so he kicked one and only the four touches. Jai ended up having 26 (disposals) himself, 11 intercept possessions, 10 rebound 50s, five score involvements. I thought he was best on ground, and one of the best games I’ve seen him play this year. He played a lot like it last year so great to see him get back into a bit of form at the right end of the year.”
Cam Mackenzie (26 disposals, six clearances, five tackles)
“Like Butsy a solid game, the thing with Frenchie that we’re probably so used to seeing is his execution, especially going inside 50, that wasn’t at the level that we expect from him and have seen from him in the past. Still, to have eight score involvements from his 26 (disposals) is a nice return.”
Seamus Mitchell (25 disposals, nine marks, nine intercept possessions)
“Great to have Shammy back out there. A slow start but really worked his way into the game. Nine intercept possessions, started to get his intercept game going again late and then obviously used his speed and rebound which was beneficial. He’ll be better for the run, important now that he recovers really well and we see him grow to full minutes this weekend which’ll be great.”
Henry Hustwaite (23 disposals, 10 tackles, seven intercept possessions)
“Quiet day for Huss, but it’s tough to stay and play such consistent footy at the very top level all the time. So quitter day for Huss, just the 23, had some moments where we would’ve loved to see him go forward with the footy rather then shape with his hands, which we know is his weapon but just finding the balance between when he should do that and when he should take ground and territory, and use his kick because he’s a beautiful kick as well. To have 10 tackles, shows he still had impact on the game, just not his usual impact.”
Max Ramsden (19 disposals, 11 hitouts, four marks)
“19 disposals, only the one contested mark and unfortunately he got out marked a few times and he got beaten in contest, which he’s reviewing and he’ll look at and make sure it doesn’t happen. But it’s an area he’s really improved in so that’s probably what makes it less common, or disappointing to see from Ramma is the fact that he’s really improved in this area and something we don’t expect from him, so we’ll see him bounce back this week in another great test.”
Bailey Macdonald (16 disposals, six intercept possessions, three marks)
“Quieter day for Baz, we still saw some rebound from him, but unfortunately only the one genuine rebound 50, three score involvements, just the 16 disposals. So still gave us some run and dash at times just a final touch in the final nail in the coffin, wasn’t able to execute that,so not a huge day for Baz in that space.”
Bodie Ryan (13 disposals, three intercept possessions, two clearances)
“Started really strongly in the first sort of minute of the game, then lapsed for about a quarter and a half, then we got him back for whatever reason he switched back on and was able to execute his role really well later in the game, but it was probably too late by that time. So he is looking to continue to find a bit of form going into the finals and into this weekend in particular against Casey, they’ve got some dangerous forwards who can kick goals, and he’ll have a role on trying to make sure we can nullify them.”
Jasper Scaife (10 disposals, five marks, three score involvements)
“I thought he started the game really well, his movement and patterning was really good. Working really hard on Jasper’s team defence, being involved in that and what that looks like. Think his contest work is getting better but there are areas now on the other side of the ball that we need to continue to work on with him, so that’s a real focus for him and he’s working really hard on trying to get better at that.”
Ned Reeves (40 hitouts, 10 disposals, three marks)
“Like a lot of our players, didn’t have his usual influence across the game. He was the dominant big man regarding hit-outs in the game, but not his normal influence, which we would’ve loved to have from him. Was able to take a few marks, didn’t hit the scoreboard which we’ve come to see from him each week. So 10 disposals and only the four score involvements and we knew going into the game that the Bulldogs defend stoppage really well so we were prepared for that but we thought Noodle could’ve had a bit more influence around the ground.”
Will McCabe (Nine disposals, three marks, two intercept possessions)
“Will spent some time on a wing, and didn’t have huge influence out there, but had some really nice defensive running patterns as a wing which is really important, and he’ll learn that. But really just adding another string to his bow I guess you could say, in playing on the wing, we know that he can play forward and he went forward late in the game but we’re just trying to add that for his development, by giving him the opportunity to be around the footy a bit more by playing on the wing.”
James Blanck (Eight disposals, five tackles, two marks)
“Not a great day for Blancky, got beaten in a few contests. His defensive positioning was a little off at times which we don’t come to think of Blancky doing very often so didn’t have his best day either. Just the eight disposals, had a match up on Jordan Croft who was able to hit the scoreboard, probably got Blancky a little bit with separation, which Blancky will work on this week.”
Matt Hill (Six disposals, four inside 50s, two marks)
“We started to see a bit of Hilly’s weapons come back through, his speed, his toughness, his love, his work rate is getting better. Only the six touches, but the six touches probably don’t emphasise how good he played, in his effort. And that’s something we value, if you don’t try you can’t win, and his effort was quite solid and he’s still learning the game, but we started to see again on the weekend the things we know Hilly can do well, as I mentioned.”
A VFL player shoutout…
Lachy Dovaston (One goal, 18 disposals, five marks)
“Played his first game, an Eastern Ranges boy, so that connection with Box Hill is really important, as is the Gippsland Power connection. But Lachy kicked one goal three from his 18 touches, he obviously made VIC Metro, was All Australian, so we were rapt to give him an opportunity in the brown and gold and thought he held himself really, really well in the game.”
VFLW Elimination Final Results
BOX HILL 2.2 2.2 3.4 4.5 (29)
ESSENDON 1.2 3.4 3.4 4.4 (28)
GOALS: Jess Matin (2), Amy Cariss-Brett, Mikayla Lee
DISPOSALS: Tess Cattle, Isla Baldwin, Nat Exon, Emma Juneja
