Box Hill prevailed in another close finish, managing a five-point win over Williamstown on Friday night.

The Hawks Round 12 clash was headlined by the return of Will Day, who played on managed minutes in his first game back after being sidelined with a shoulder injury during pre-season.

Senior Coach David Mirra said it was another nail-biting victory on Friday night at DSV Stadium.

“Very pleased to have walked away with four points in another close game coming right down to the final siren where yet again we showed ability to execute,” Mirra said.

“We were down to one rotation in the last quarter meaning a lot of our players played either the whole second half or the whole last quarter, a massive effort. 

“That’s three close wins in a row for our group which now puts us in the top four. There is plenty to like about our game right now, however we also need to play better football than what we currently are to get results going forward.”

Mirra detailed the performance of every AFL-listed Hawk and gave a couple of shout outs to a few VFL-listed players.

Flynn Perez (One goal, 34 disposals, seven marks)

“A huge game for Flynn. He put his hand up for senior selection with a commanding performance that looked above VFL level. Kicked a goal from downtown about 60m out and was very attacking and created a lot of drive off half back and generated 7 kicks inside 50 to the advantage of our forwards.”

Harry Morrison (32 disposals, six marks, three tackles)

“Playing as a defender and with eight intercept possessions, Harry commanded play from the back half setting up our offensive attacks using the ball well at 88% disposal efficiency. He helps everyone set up through his leadership and communication.”

Sam Butler (30 disposals, six tackles, four marks)

“Sam played in a number of different positions but mostly wing. His tackling was a feature of his game this week laying six tackles with two of those really important in the last minute of the game. Made good decisions with ball in hand and found options well.”

Henry Hustwaite (28 disposals, six tackles, five clearances)

“Led the clearance count equally with Greeves. Again, he was prominent around the ball winning 11 contested possessions.”

Jack Dalton (One goal, 23 disposals, three tackles)

“Getting big numbers as a high half forward in terms of possessions, ground ball gets and uncontested possessions and delivered the ball well inside 50. His running power was yet again a feature on a smaller ground.”

Ollie Greeves (One goal, 20 disposals, five clearances)

“Important on the night in the midfield. He was at the coalface winning a lot of footy. Led the team for ground ball gets and clearances which is an important stat for workrate and contest. Like last week, he was able to get the clearance which helped us to kick the winning goal, stepping up in big moments.”

Matt LeRay (18 disposals, five intercept possessions, three tackles)

“Played a mixture of wing and half back. Would’ve have liked him to play a little bit more wing, but circumstances with injury forced him to play a bit more as a defender. Played his role well and held good balance on the outside of the contest. Had the balance right between defending and attacking.”

Noah Mraz (16 disposals, six marks, six intercept possessions)

“Took a while to get going in the game. He was matched up on a taller opponent in Pruess early in the game and had to adjust the way he was playing against him with the aerial contests he was in. Once he did this, he was able to win/half more contests and impact the game. Won a good amount of the ball as a key defender and generally used it well.”

Calsher Dear (16 disposals, eight marks, three tackles)

“He played a different role as a defender in which he relished. He took some key lessons out of playing this position which will help him in the long run. First and foremost, he won his position by beating his man and then he got the balance right between marking and spoiling. He collected four rebound 50’s and eight marks and made the game saving pressure act which forced a Williamstown shot on goal wide in the last second of the game.”

Will Day (16 disposals, six tackles, five marks)

“On limited minutes, Daysy looked above the level straight away which is difficult to achieve after such a long time not playing but speaks to the preparation he has put in and also how good of a player he is. Looked comfortable with the shoulder tackling the ruckman head on and went on to register six tackles for the game.”

Aidan Schubert (15 disposals, five marks, three tackles)

“After our planned second ruck Alex Lukic suffered an injury in the first quarter, Schuey became our second ruck option and mixed his time between ruck and forward. Whilst it was a challenge at centre bounce, once the ball hit ground level, Schuey was able to beat his opponent through becoming almost another midfielder. A big feature of his game was his agility and movement, running power to help defensively and his field kicking setting up three scores.”

Will McCabe (Two goals, 15 disposals, four marks)

“Enormous workrate from Will this week constantly on the move and providing us with options offensively but also helping our defensive shape. Whilst he didn’t get used as much as he would have liked, he created space and opportunities for others which is what we really rate as coaches. When his moments came, he made the most of them including the winning goal late in the fourth.”

Cody Anderson (Six disposals, six tackles, two score involvements)

“Quieter game for Cody this week after a really solid performance last week against Richmond. He received a massive corky in the last quarter which affected his game time. However, he still provided forward pressure and played six tackles.”

Jaime Uhr-Henry (One goal, 13 hitouts, five disposals)

“He had probably the toughest assignment on the ground playing against two very good VFL ruckmen who rotated well and were fresh each time they went into position against Jamie who took on a lot of the ruck load. He loves the challenge and fought really hard. He managed to kick a goal and had some nice defensive 50 spoils working hard around the ground.”

Matt Hill (Eight tackles, five disposals, two intercept possessions)

“Hilly didn’t get as much of the football this week, he ran some good patterns but couldn’t quite get the footy. He still laid eight tackles the most on the team to apply good pressure on the opposition. He has had a really good month of footy.”

A few VFL player shout outs…

Brodie McLaughlin (Seven goals, 20 disposals, six marks)

“A huge performance for Brodie against his former team. I am glad he is with us because he was the difference in the game kicking seven goals as he puts his hand up for the mid-season draft.”

Kye Declase (One goal, 22 disposals, six marks)

“Was awesome to see Kye back to his best football off the back of workrate. His GPS data was record levels for the year and he kicked an absolute beauty of a dribble kick on the boundary on the stroke of half time to give us a buffer.”

Stu Horner (20 disposals, nine marks, four intercept possessions)

“Stu is having a tremendous season as captain. He knows how to get the job done and has stood up in key moments this season.”

Box Hill are headed to RSEA Park on Saturday afternoon to face St Kilda in Round 10.

VFLW Round 2 Results

Box Hill                                 0.1          2.3          2.6          3.8 (26)
Williamstown                2.0          2.3          3.3          4.3 (27)

GOALS: Zoe Vozzo (2), Matilda Van Berkel, Poppy Gardner

DISPOSALS: Hannah Stuart (24), Stasia Stevenson (22)m Matilda Van Berkel (21), Kayley Kavanagh (21), Tess Cattle (20).