Box Hill’s VFL side will this weekend begin its third consecutive finals campaign under Senior Coach Zane Littlejohn when they host Southport in a Qualifying Final.
Littlejohn shared his reflections on the regular season, as the Hawks finished second on the ladder with 14 wins and four losses.
He detailed the learnings from the home-and-away season, the strength of the Hawthorn/Box Hill alignment and even highlighted a few AFL and VFL-listed players he expects to be ones to watch ahead of the impending finals series.
It all kicks off this Saturday 30 August from 12.35pm at Box Hill City Oval. Tickets can be purchased HERE.
We summarised the key points from Littlejohn’s interview below.
On the season to date
“Obviously a really successful year to date, but now the real stuff starts as we say. To get a double chance and finish top two out of a 21-team competition is a pretty good effort, it’s a very good effort actually, and it’s a challenging competition. We average anywhere from four to five, six changes every week, that's just the nature of the alignment we have with Hawthorn. But really proud of the group, 14 and 4, obviously the last fortnight hasn’t been great but we’re really proud of where we’re sitting right now, and we’ve put ourselves in a position to qualify as high as we can and have a really good tilt at the next month.”
On player standouts from the season so far
“I think there’s no hiding behind the fact that Henry Hustwaite’s had a very good VFL year, just gone on to show his maturity at the level and had some AFL taste as well which has been great and really lit the fire in his belly to want to play more, which is exactly what we want and exactly our role at VFL level, is to get these guys ready to want to play at the highest level and so he’s been a big standout. Ned Reeves is another one who’s been a huge standout for us this year and not just his performance, but his leadership as well. He’s quite a senior player amongst our VFL program so his attitude’s been exceptional. And although he’s had the one AFL game and probably would love more, there’s no hiding behind that fact, but the reality is his attitude every week has been fantastic, he’s bought into the program and made us a better football club for that. So they’d be two AFL boys I’d give a shout-out to, but we’ve had a lot of guys, it’s really tough to sit here as a coach to sit here and pick out individuals. From a VFL perspective, adding Trent Bianco to our program this year, his calmness, I talk a lot around character, he's got an unbelievable character, he’s added so much to our football program, but also so much to our leadership and culture off the field, he’s been exceptional. And then I think we can’t go past Stu Horner. Obviously, we’ve had Cal Porter out for a few weeks with a quad injury and he’s stepped in as our vice-captain to captain the footy club and he's arguably had his best year of VFL footy in his tenth year at the footy club, which is pretty amazing. So loyal, so dedicated, works so hard on his game and so honest, which I love about him and why I guess Box Hill will continue to maintain and stay in a great position because of people like him."
On facing Southport in the Qualifying Final
“Yeah huge game, they’re a really proud footy side and a really mature footy side. Obviously, we beat them a few weeks ago up there but we know no (Brayden) Crossley, no (Jacob) Dawson that week, no (Jesse) Joyce, no (Hugh) Dixon, four really experienced players, all players who have spent time on AFL lists, and they lose (Matt) McGuinness in that game at halftime, another AFL-listed player who they’ve had so they’ve got some real experience on their list so they’ll add those guys no doubt into their team. And the other thing I think we need not to forget is they travelled twice last year down to Geelong, beat Geelong in the finals series and then beat the Western Bulldogs at Whitten Oval in a Prelim Final to make a Grand Final, so they travel well. We won’t hide behind the fact that we know that’s going be a challenge, they’re a mature side, but it’s a challenge that we’re ready for and it’s a challenge that we need, we need to continue to face these. So it’s a great test for our group to turn up and be ready for what’s going to be a really tough challenge at the home of footy as we say, at Box Hill City Oval. There’s obviously no AFL on that weekend so a great opportunity for all our Hawthorn and Box Hill fans to get down and support the group. We know when our crowd’s there is really lifts us, it’s like having a 19th player on the field and we love having our brown and gold fans there.”
On players to watch this finals series
“I’ve obviously mentioned Ned (Reeves) and Henry (Hustwaite) for their season but I think Jai Serong’s last month has been elite, obviously our Col Austen medallist last year, his last month’s been fantastic and I think he’s ready to continue to grow his game and as I mentioned he played AFL finals last year so if he can continue to grow we should see a really strong finals series from him. Max Ramsden’s another one now, he’s ready to grab a finals series by the scruff of the neck, really impose himself on the game, so they’d be the two AFL boys that I think could really stand up in this finals series. Along with a lot of others, like Cody Anderson, finals footy is made for someone like him, the tough the physical side of the game, a great test. Sammy Butler, these types of guys, we’ve got a lot of quality people who will be playing in the brown and gold next Saturday. And then the really pleasing thing is we’ve got some really good Box Hill listed players who’ll support that really well. Ethan Stanley, I think in what we’ve seen Milky do this year since he came back to our program, he’s a line breaker, he’s added a real toughness to his game so I think he’ll be one to really look out for come finals.”
Watch Littlejohn’s full interview below.
