Box Hill suffered its second loss in as many weeks to close out the home and away season, but have secured a second-placed finish on the ladder with 14 wins and four losses.
The Hawks travelled to Casey Fields to meet the Demons, where senior coach Zane Littlejohn said their second-half efforts in particular let them down.
“A really disappointing performance, especially our second half. Just some uncharacteristic moments from our group which is really disappointing,” Littlejohn said.
“We got absolutely belted around the footy, and that’s a credit to Casey, they were hungrier and brought the fight to us and we weren’t willing to step in and take it back to them.
“Disappointing day all in all, but full credit to Casey they were tougher and hungrier.”
Littlejohn said his side will now reset itself ahead of hosting a Qualifying Final next weekend.
“To finish second on the ladder of 21 teams is a pretty amazing effort. Sunday wasn’t our day, we’ll review that really hard and make sure we come out and perform in our first home final against Southport in a fortnight’s time, which will be a great test, they travel really well, they’re an experienced group who’ll be right up for the fight so looking forward to that challenge,” he said.
“We’ve got a couple of weeks to get ourselves set and support the AFL group to get a win this week as well, and hopefully they can get a top four finish.”
Henry Hustwaite (25 disposals, eight clearances, six tackles)
“Hus still had his eight clearances, but he probably got found out a little bit in team defence at times, where just his 20-metre bubble and balance around contest got found out. Six tackles, we know Hus is tough but wasn’t able to have his usual influence around the contest with how heavily dominant they were in there, missed some opportunities when he could’ve taken us forward and unfortunately he just shaped backwards.”
Sam Butler (One goal, 25 disposals, 10 marks)
“An okay game from Sammy without anything outstanding, some execution and ball-handling errors, and that’s a credit to the Casey pressure. Butsy only had the two clearances from four first possession, which is unlike him, we expect some high running power from Butsy as well, just wasn’t able to get contest to contest and Casey really challenged us in that space.”
Jai Serong (24 disposals, seven marks, six intercept possessions)
“A really solid game, nine rebound 50s, 24 disposals, three intercept marks, two contested. I thought he competed really hard, he’s had a good fortnight. Really solid performance from Jai.”
Seamus Mitchell (23 disposals, nine marks, seven tackles)
“Without anything outstanding, it was good to get him through another game of footy. Obviously with the week off now, let his body recover and then see some really solid footy from him, two games back now after a fortnight off. Really solid footy into him leading into the finals, he gave us a bit of run and dash off half back but didn’t have huge impact really on the game. He’s had 23 disposals and five score involvements so we’ll be looking for him to continue to grow into the finals now.”
Ned Reeves (35 hitouts, 18 disposals, five tackles)
“Ned got a great challenge this week against Tommy Campbell who we know is a really experienced ruckman at AFL/VFL level, he’s been around the AFL system for a long time, and it was 50/50, 49/51 to Campbell. Noodle had the five clearances, where Campbell probably got him in that space with 10 clearances. Noodle still had scoreboard impact, but if he kicks two goals he probably gets the upper hand. But a really good challenge for Noodle and that’s what he’s going to face heading into finals and even if he plays AFL footy through the finals, he’s got to be ready to compete and give greater efforts and intensity around the contest all the time, whether he’s winning or losing the hitouts. He was winning the hitouts but wasn’t able to have the impact around the actual contest and around the ground as well. But still good to see him get forward and hit the scoreboard, that’s a real threat for us.”
Bodie Ryan (17 disposals, five marks, five intercept possessions)
“I thought Bodes was solid, without being outstanding. Thought he had some good 1v1 contest wins, two intercept marks, he took a beautiful contested mark. I couldn’t fault Bodes’ effort, I couldn’t fault his intensity, only 17 disposals, but I was really pleased with his intent and effort, which stood out for me on the day for Bodie.”
Bailey Macdonald (17 disposals, eight intercept possessions, four tackles)
“Found a bit of the footy but just seemed a bit off the pace for Baz. We love his speed, just looked a little bit second-guessing himself, so that’s up to us as coaches to remind him what his best footy looks like, he still had some really good moments but they were just a little few and far between. So I know Arryn Siposs will do well in getting him set up for the first final and making sure that he’s got a real belief in what his best footy looks like because he’s a really important player for our program and our footy club moving forward.”
James Blanck (15 disposals, eight intercept possessions, five marks)
“Blancky found a bit more of the footy this week and probably goes off the back of how we used the footy in our back end, just didn’t go with any urgency or purpose at times, played a little into their hands with how we moved the ball. But Blancky had the 15 (disposals), three intercept marks, competed really hard at times, I thought he gave us a good contest, they had some good targets up forward and I thought Blancky competed really hard for us in there.”
Will McCabe (One goal, 13 disposals, six marks)
“This is a positive from the game, he’s kicked one goal two. He started the game really strongly, spent some time on the wing, I was really impressed with his effort and intensity this week, especially early in the game when the game was on, he really drove ours from a Box Hill perspective, his intensity and effort at contest was really pleasing. Just probably faded out of the game a little bit as the game went on, and that can happen when you’re getting beaten around the footy convincingly, like we were, when you’re playing on the wing and there’s not a lot of looks on the outside. I thought a step forward for Will which is pleasing. A challenge for him now is can he double up and go again, and bring that same intensity and effort wherever he plays on the ground whether it’s forward, wing, back, whatever he’s doing, he’s got to play with the intensity, effort and contest work.”
Cam Mackenzie (13 disposals, three tackles, three clearances)
“There’s no sugar coating it, a disappointing day for Cam. He got beaten around the footy and that can happen, Cam’s a young, developing player who is really, really important to our football club. It’s been a bit year and he’s got to continue to find again, a bit like Bailey Macdonald, his best footy and what that looks like. Just the three clearances, so no real impact around the footy and to only have the 13 disposals, which is probably not when we expect from Cam at VFL level. I’ll say it again, that’s a real credit to how they challenged us around the footy so we’ll have to be ready because that’s what finals are going to be like. So a great lesson and great learning for our younger mids who have had a fair bit of their own way this year, so really exciting to see how they can respond and grow off the back of that, Frenchie being one of those.”
Sam Frost (13 disposals, six marks, six intercept possessions)
“Great leadership, great contest. He had match-ups all day down there in the back end, we swung him forward late to see if he could give us a contest in front of the ball and give us a different look, which I think he did really well. The thing with Frosty is his communication and his drive to set the group up and get the group in the right positioning is really important. Probably gets a bit frustrated at times because he gets a fair bit of attention from the opposition, can give an occasional free kick away which he’s working really hard on to make sure that it’s not a free kick he’s costing the team at any time.”
Cody Anderson (13 disposals, three inside 50s, two marks)
“Great to have Codes back out there, played limited minutes, didn’t play any of the first quarter, just good to get him back out there get him moving, hit the scoreboard. I think the thing for Codes, he probably came out and got a bit ball hungry and just lost a bit of his shape and balance around the contest at times, which is going to happen when you’re out for five, six, seven, eight weeks, all you want is to get that ball back in your hands and he just lost a bit of shape around the contest at times, got drawn in and Casey were able to use the numbers on the outside and he found himself chasing a lot. A great lesson, but that’s the beauty of getting some footy into him before a final which is awesome.”
Jasper Scaife (Three goals, seven disposals, six marks)
“Scaifey seven disposals, three contested marks, kicked two goals in the first quarter, finished the day with three. Had some better contests from Scaifey which I was really pleased with, but again just the influence around the ground was limited through not being able to get supply through our clearance wins and inside 50s, we were minus 19 inside 50s, got absolutely shown up in that space. So our key forwards are going to struggle to get looks when that’s happening and we weren’t able to move the ball how we wanted to move it because we went into our shell, just played a bit skinny and slow, didn’t give our bigs a chance when we needed to.”
Max Ramsden (One goal, seven disposals, three marks)
“Quiet day for Max, he hit the scoreboard which is great, but no real influence around the ground in all honesty in the second half. We weren’t able to win clearance and get the ball forward to give him a chance, which is really hard. Our three keys in Ramsden, Scaife and (Sam) Durdin had 21 (disposals) between them and kicked four goals, which isn’t probably what we want. But Max in particular just needs to keep using what his weapons are and identify what his best footy looks like and that’s his running power, his ability to compete in the contest and give us a great look. No contested marks from Max is something that he’s been working really hard on, so that’s an area that he’ll look to get better at leading into the first final.”
Matt Hill (Five disposals, five contested possessions, three score involvements)
“Hilly had the five (disposals), hit the scoreboard, should’ve kicked two, but it’s great to see him get some footy in his hand again. Work rate, he’s working really hard on his game sense and game understanding, positioning around stoppage and how he plays into that and he’s also working on team defence stuff. So a quieter day for Hilly but we’ll continue to work with him he’s got some good talent and great attributes that we need to make sure he can harness and grow for us.”
A few VFL player shout-outs…
Stu Horner (20 disposals, seven marks, four intercept possessions)
“I thought Stu did a good job, he had a role on Mitch Hardy and Stu had 20 (disposals) himself at 100 percent. Hardy didn’t hit the scoreboard, he only had 15 himself so I thought it was a pleasing return from Stu in that space.”
Tom Farrer (One goal, eight disposals, four marks)
“Shout out to young Tommy in his first game, kicked a goal on debut. An Old Scotch boy who came in and acquitted himself really well, where some of our more senior players weren’t tough I thought Tom had some really tough moments and stood up where he had to stand up and it was pleasing to see a guy in his first game do that.”
VFLW Semi Final Results
Box Hill: 0.1 0.1 0.2 2.4 (16)
Collingwood: 1.2 3.3 5.5 6.5 (41)
GOALS: Jess Matin, Mikayla Lee
DISPOSALS: I.Baldwin (19), R.Dillon (19), S. Stevenson (16), M.Lee (14)
