Review 2nd Preliminary Final: Box Hill Hawks v Sandringham Zebras, 19 September 2015, 2.40pm @ NPO

[halfback dasher]

Sat and spoke with Dave Mirra post game , hardest and most ferocious he's experienced (the last 1/4) since being at BH , great leader but even better bloke
Your an "A" grader mate .

 

[Ordovician]

Apropos of nothing in particular, but Sam Collins and Tom Gordon could be twins

Collins has fairer Irish style skin (Collins ... durr ) and his hair is lighter brown whereas Gordon is a true dark brown.

 

[The BIG X]

Collins has fairer Irish style skin (Collins ... durr ) and his hair is lighter brown whereas Gordon is a true dark brown.

Not everyone sees these guys naked Ordo

 

[Bumpswithagrin]

Collins has fairer Irish style skin (Collins ... durr ) and his hair is lighter brown whereas Gordon is a true dark brown.

Skin one shade lighter, hair one shade darker... and Collins is 1cm shorter you forgot to mention that..... give me a break

(And are you saying we should have noticed Collins has fairer skin cos he has an Irish surname? Gordon is a Scottish surname, Scots have pretty light skin too you know, not that everyone's skin colour matches their surname anyway).

 

[Steven Tyler]

Whitecross I still reckon has a place in the first team. Definitely better than VFL. His disposals were a class apart all today.

Whitey tried his guts out today, but coughed up the ball time and time again
Not a chance in hell of senior footy playing like that

 

[grimlock]

 

[tommyk72]

Really interesting comparing the stats to the votes. Shows that racking up numbers doesn't mean you're best on ground. Was surprised to see Spangher no. 1. When I was listening to the last quarter I thought I barely heard his name!?

Just wondering, anyone see a repeat of last year's cyril incident with anyone like Spanger/Gunston, etc? I'm hoping not and that BHH get a good tilt at it this year!

 

[halfback dasher]

Thought Pittonet was outstanding for where he's at career wise

 

[Bumpswithagrin]

What the heck are R50s?

 

[Pessimistic]

They what??

He sealed the game but he looks like he doesn't really fit in either box Hill or hawthorn's structures. Put in plenty of effort though.

 

[Steven Tyler]

What the heck are R50s?

Rebound 50's

Getting the ball out of the defensive 50

 

[deano the hawka]

Hey guys thought I'd give my quick 2 cents.
I can summarise the entire day in a couple of words: Whirlwind day. It was a rollercoaster from the beginning of the development game to the end of the seniors. Firstly, development game was pretty shattering and going into golden point for the 2nd time in 3 years is ridiculous to say the least. Umpires were unbelievably *ed in that game, but I guess you can't expect much from games in that low a division. Highlight of the day for that game was getting to the ground and seeing Liam Tobin, the reliable hard working midfielder, on the ground smoking a cigarette, before a grand final. Pretty obscure.

Anyways, seniors match. I thought it would be an easy win after we absolutely dominated the first quarter. It was only a 5 goal lead at qtr time but it was 11 scoring shots to 2, so honestly I couldn't see Sandy doing much damage after that quarter. But then everyone fell asleep in the 2nd quarter. They started playing their possession football and got well on top for the next 2 quarters. We really struggled to get our hands on the ball and lost possession count for the next few quarters by a fair way. Anyways, unbelievable result in the end, and we're off to Etihad and I'm just counting down the minutes.

Player by player:

#31 Litherland - Had a good start as did most of the team, but was rarely sighted with the ball after that. Only finished with the 9 disposals so Sandy managed to shut him down and force him into doing more defensive spoiling work.
#32 Simpkin - Stats favour him in a way. Finished with 34 disposals and 10 Inside 50s, 4 clearances (team high), but honestly can't remember him kicking even one effective kick. A lot of floaters and poor left foot ground balls, so not the best game but a hell of the ball.
#34 Heatherley - Did what he always does and was generally solid. Not sure who he was manned on but after quarter time Mitch Brown really got on top and I'm not sure if Heath was responsible. Took some good contested marks as well.
#35 Grimley - A joke of a performance. I forgot he was playing for a while. 2 disposals for the entire game, his only kick was a goal. Only way is up from that performance, he has to lift for the grand final because he's incredibly important.
#37 Anderson - Started the game off in great fashion with a speckie and a couple of goals in the first quarter. Played in and under and was always at the bottom of packs. Had a good game but because of the constant pressure I feel as though he didn't kick that well which was disappointing.
#38 Willsmore - Someone else who went missing the entire day. 1 goal for the game I think in the 1st quarter and then nothing at all afterwards. Needs to step up.
#41 Howe - Weird day for him, usually he's an absolute ball magnet but barely touched it. Only the 12 disposals. No highlights for him.
#42 Miles - Didn't have much space to work with and he was forward then back but didn't do too much on the day. Finished with 13 disposals.
#43 Pittonet - Had a great game. Not sure on hitout count, which Holmes and the other Sandy ruckman would have won, but he took a strong important contested mark. 8 disposals for him, which I think is his average anyways.
#61 Whitecross - Showed that he is a much better player than the grade, but Marco Bello was going nuts at the fact that he turned it over in dangerous situations with stupid decisions that ended up resulting in goals. I think it happened maybe 4 times. Clarko and Damian Carroll had a chat to him whilst on the bench probably to sort things out. Anyways didn't stop working at all. 32 disposals for the day.
#63 O'Rourke - Regular day for him. 22 disposals and was seen inside and outside of midfield but same old story where he doesn't have a good disposal and that's the one thing that he has to improve on.
#67 Spangher - Started off like a firework display on NYE. Contested marks, 1st goal of the game, intercept marks in defense. Dropped off after that as did the whole team.
#69 Langford - Good game but again disposal was lacking. 20 disposals in the end and kicked the winning sealing goal. Fought hard as you would expect and had many hard ball gets.
#71 Sicily - Was our best forward for the day. Ended with 3 goals and should've kicked 2 more in the last quarter when we were behind. Finished with 10 disposals for the game and 3.2.
#73 O'Brien - I really like his attack on the ball in the 2nd half of the year. He's finally showing a physical side. He didn't kick a goal on the day but took some great contested marks and should've been paid a couple of marks I50.
#74 Tatupu - Also forgot he was playing up until the last quarter. Horrible performance, 4 disposals, 1 behind from 1 mark which should've been a fairly straight forward set shot goal.

 

[The BIG X]

Hey guys thought I'd give my quick 2 cents.
I can summarise the entire day in a couple of words: Whirlwind day. It was a rollercoaster from the beginning of the development game to the end of the seniors. Firstly, development game was pretty shattering and going into golden point for the 2nd time in 3 years is ridiculous to say the least. Umpires were unbelievably ******ed in that game, but I guess you can't expect much from games in that low a division. Highlight of the day for that game was getting to the ground and seeing Liam Tobin, the reliable hard working midfielder, on the ground smoking a cigarette, before a grand final. Pretty obscure.

Anyways, seniors match. I thought it would be an easy win after we absolutely dominated the first quarter. It was only a 5 goal lead at qtr time but it was 11 scoring shots to 2, so honestly I couldn't see Sandy doing much damage after that quarter. But then everyone fell asleep in the 2nd quarter. They started playing their possession football and got well on top for the next 2 quarters. We really struggled to get our hands on the ball and lost possession count for the next few quarters by a fair way. Anyways, unbelievable result in the end, and we're off to Etihad and I'm just counting down the minutes.

Player by player:

#31 Litherland - Had a good start as did most of the team, but was rarely sighted with the ball after that. Only finished with the 9 disposals so Sandy managed to shut him down and force him into doing more defensive spoiling work.
#32 Simpkin - Stats favour him in a way. Finished with 34 disposals and 10 Inside 50s, 4 clearances (team high), but honestly can't remember him kicking even one effective kick. A lot of floaters and poor left foot ground balls, so not the best game but a hell of the ball.
#34 Heatherley - Did what he always does and was generally solid. Not sure who he was manned on but after quarter time Mitch Brown really got on top and I'm not sure if Heath was responsible. Took some good contested marks as well.
#35 Grimley - A joke of a performance. I forgot he was playing for a while. 2 disposals for the entire game, his only kick was a goal. Only way is up from that performance, he has to lift for the grand final because he's incredibly important.
#37 Anderson - Started the game off in great fashion with a speckie and a couple of goals in the first quarter. Played in and under and was always at the bottom of packs. Had a good game but because of the constant pressure I feel as though he didn't kick that well which was disappointing.
#38 Willsmore - Someone else who went missing the entire day. 1 goal for the game I think in the 1st quarter and then nothing at all afterwards. Needs to step up.
#41 Howe - Weird day for him, usually he's an absolute ball magnet but barely touched it. Only the 12 disposals. No highlights for him.
#42 Miles - Didn't have much space to work with and he was forward then back but didn't do too much on the day. Finished with 13 disposals.
#43 Pittonet - Had a great game. Not sure on hitout count, which Holmes and the other Sandy ruckman would have won, but he took a strong important contested mark. 8 disposals for him, which I think is his average anyways.
#61 Whitecross - Showed that he is a much better player than the grade, but Marco Bello was going nuts at the fact that he turned it over in dangerous situations with stupid decisions that ended up resulting in goals. I think it happened maybe 4 times. Clarko and Damian Carroll had a chat to him whilst on the bench probably to sort things out. Anyways didn't stop working at all. 32 disposals for the day.
#63 O'Rourke - Regular day for him. 22 disposals and was seen inside and outside of midfield but same old story where he doesn't have a good disposal and that's the one thing that he has to improve on.
#67 Spangher - Started off like a firework display on NYE. Contested marks, 1st goal of the game, intercept marks in defense. Dropped off after that as did the whole team.
#69 Langford - Good game but again disposal was lacking. 20 disposals in the end and kicked the winning sealing goal. Fought hard as you would expect and had many hard ball gets.
#71 Sicily - Was our best forward for the day. Ended with 3 goals and should've kicked 2 more in the last quarter when we were behind. Finished with 10 disposals for the game and 3.2.
#73 O'Brien - I really like his attack on the ball in the 2nd half of the year. He's finally showing a physical side. He didn't kick a goal on the day but took some great contested marks and should've been paid a couple of marks I50.
#74 Tatupu - Also forgot he was playing up until the last quarter. Horrible performance, 4 disposals, 1 behind from 1 mark which should've been a fairly straight forward set shot goal.

Very disappointed in learning this - have always respected Liam
Top post dth

 

[Ordovician]

Skin one shade lighter, hair one shade darker... and Collins is 1cm shorter you forgot to mention that..... give me a break

(And are you saying we should have noticed Collins has fairer skin cos he has an Irish surname? Gordon is a Scottish surname, Scots have pretty light skin too you know, not that everyone's skin colour matches their surname anyway).

Just a tip so you can spot them at close range in the huddle where you are close enough to spot the freckles.

At a 100m or more they are very hard to tell apart but Box Hill specialises in such trickery viz. the O'Rourke/Williams scam that they regularly pull.

Was a frustrating day to be at. The less said about the development squad, the better.

In the seniors, the first quarter was magic. It was almost a mirror image of Hawthorn's first quarter. They moved the ball quickly, the hit the Sandringham players hard, they pressured them into errors and the skills were sublime.

After quarter time though, something happened. Someone turned Box Hill's switch off. Sandringham got an early goal and from that they started taking a few risks with the ball, using their speed, they ran hard and put the BHH defenders under pressure. The key players in the first for BHH became nullified.

Over the next 2 quarters Sandringham, through use of fast ball movement and strong run and carry, they clawed the 5 goal BHH quarter time lead back.

The final quarter was a tight tussle and when Sandringham kicked 3 quick goals and took all the momentum, the key players from BHH stood up and fought and worked their asses off and got BHH back in front. After a dog day from WX and Langers, their fight was huge late in the game.

For the HFC players:
Spangher - Was a rock down back. Took lots of intercept marks and was rarely beaten. His disposal was so-so, but when he used his brain and didn't try for more than he was capable of, he was good. Close to BHH's best and one of the few that put their hands up for a Hawthorn recall.

WX - Was good in the first, but after that, it was like having Dangerfield play. Was a bull and the ball, but when he got it, turned it over.

O'Rouke - Meh. Vanilla. Good composure, but doesn't do anything of note.

Sicily - Was the best forward for BHH. Present all game, competed well, but got no love from the umps and the delivery to him was average. Made the best of what he could. The 2 kickable misses late in the 4th fortunately didn't prove costly.

TO'B - Smooth mover with a great set of hands. Doesn't demand the ball when on the lead and never looks dangerous. Was so-so. Lacks some grunt.

Litherland - Good game. Was under some serious pressure with the ball coming in quickly and under little midfield pressure. Held his composure and was able to provide some good rebound. Some crucial tackles and spoils in the 4th quarter were worthy of being noted. His experience late in the game was invaluable.

Langford - Dog day. Burnt the ball. Didn't learn anything from why he was dropped to the VFL. Hit the contest too hard at times and the ball bounced the other way leaving him chasing tail. To his credit though, he worked his ass off in the 4th quarter and laid some big tackles and won some important ball around the stoppages.

Simpkin - Looked too casual today. Didn't make many errors, but looked to be too chilled out there. So-so.

Anderson - On fire in the first quarter before being quiet until late. Seemed to play more forward today and in the 2nd and 3rd, that made it hard to get involved. Another who lifted and his pure work rate late in the game was pivotal in getting BHH over the line.

Willsmore - Did he even play? (Rhetorical question)

Howe - Feeling the effects of a long season. Is class, but had no impact. Looks tired.

Miles - All class. Cool head under pressure and is all over the ground having an impact. One of the better players today. His running to get tothe loose ball on the wing and then the tackle that resulted in a HTB call was a game winner as Sandy had a free man that would have led to a F50 entry. Reminded me a little of Cyril's tackle in the 08 GF. Worthy of a standing ovation for his effort. Am on the Miles bandwagon.

Pittonet - Something was amiss with him after half time. I didn't have any commentary on and haven't read through this thread, but the 193cm Collins was rucking most of the second half and when Pitt came on, he was off a few mins later. Anyone know what was going on?

Heatherly - Another of BHH's best today. Quite a few marks off opposition kicks and plenty of big spoils. Rarely got beaten in the contests and looked more experienced than what he is. Played within his skill set and helped keep BHH near enough when Sandringham had all the momentum.

Shem - Never in it. Rarely had it kicked to him. Seemed lost at times, which is a shame considering his parents were here for it. Will be better for the run.

Grimley - Can **** off and when he gets there, can **** off from there too. Bobs up here and there, but outside of that, is as good as useless. No defensive side to his game either. The sooner he's off the list, the sooner they can use that space on the list for someone with a hint of a future.

Of the BHH listed players:
Iles - Was a good workhorse game from him. Good, but not great.

Collins - Killed in the ruck, but he's not a ruck. Was battling against an AFL listed ruck 10cm taller and to his credit, did really, really well. Around the ground, he did some real good competing in the contests. Can hold his head high.

Mirra - The rock. All class.

Lock - Some big goals and competed well, but was exposed on the rebound.

Gordon - Not sure, kept confusing him with Collins. Sorry.

Lawlor - Plenty of it, didn't do anything with it. Horrible kicking for goal.


TL;DR - Under performed after quarter time, but the grit and will power of the experienced heads prevailed and BHH and into their 2nd consecutive GF. YEW!!!!

A very good summation.

FYI Shem's mum and family are at most of his games.

 

[savagelunchbox]

Just a tip so you can spot them at a


A very good summation.

FYI Shem's mum and family are at most of his games.

His dad is as big, if not bigger, than Shem is. Scary looking man, but looking at him interacting with the public, he seems like a real good guy as does Shem who was politely chatting to Joe Public in the pre game kick around.

 

[Ordovician]

Shem's parents are really lovely, quietly spoken people. He father is if anything, is a bit reserved with the throng of fans but I suppose he is used to it from being a sports pro himself.

Unfortunately, his dad he isn't anywhere near as tall as his son.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Tatupu

Playing stats:

Tony Taputu:

Height 190cm
Weight 98kg

If you google 'Kuripitone "Tony" Tatupu' you find some nice shots of him in images, some more contemporary and others from his playing days where he looks a lot like Shem in the face particularly in this one:

http://www.mcivor.gen.nz/matthew/1998.htm

the last photo at the bottom of the page.

 

[Bumpswithagrin]

Just a tip so you can spot them at close range in the huddle where you are close enough to spot the freckles.

At a 100m or more they are very hard to tell apart but Box Hill specialises in such trickery viz. the O'Rourke/Williams scam that they regularly pull.

Ha, ha! True, I forgot about that one, all part of our master plan

 

[Ordovician]

Ha, ha! True, I forgot about that one, all part of our master plan

Well when you consider how well the cats did once they balded-up Ablett and started regularly swapping him with Chapman, it is something that all clubs should explore for competitive advantage.

 

[grizzlym]

Highlight of the day for that game was getting to the ground and seeing Liam Tobin, the reliable hard working midfielder, on the ground smoking a cigarette, before a grand final. Pretty obscure.

Channeling David Rhys-Jones?

 

[grizzlym]

I'm still shattered by the development teams golden point loss. Effectively the fact we defeated Williamstown 18.10.118 to 9.9.63 away, 17.14.116 to 14.6.90 at home and 12.9.81 to 9.7.61 in the semi final counts for nothing. Where did we go wrong? We went through the home and away season undefeated with a percentage of 236.57 because we played as a team with a first class work rate defensively and offensively. In the grand final too much was left to too few whereas 23 Williamstown players were prepared to run hard all game to make sure we could not create any space on the ground. At half time and three quarter time I think our players thought they only had to put their foots on the accelerator but to Williamstown's credit they played four quarters of team football and totally shut down our run. As a result we had no players in space, lost our composure and just banged the ball forward and the Williamstown defenders lined up to rebound. What was particularly disappointing was the number of players who played their worst game for the season and the number of times we had a two or three players competing for a mark allowing Williamstown to clear with ease.

Whilst I must give credit to the Williamstown I have to say the umpiring was a total disgrace. I was told the free kick count in the first quarter was 9 to 1 and for the game 28 to 12. There were too many blatantly wrong decisions to consider it was a simple matter of poor umpiring. In the first quarter there was one deliberate out of bounds call which made the Grant Birchall decision on Friday night look an obviously correct call. What was so farcical was a Williamstown player called for deliberate and the umpire obliged without thought. The worst decision came in the last minute when Ryan Exon appeared to mark the ball in our goal square before a Willy player made front on contact, chopped his arms and made high contact. The ball was cleared and soon after Williamstown scored the golden point. I hope the cheating pricks were admitted to hospital with a perforated bowels as a result of their well earned rewards for their disgracefully biased umpiring.

Today I hate to admit I was in two minds over who I wanted to win the Willy v Essenscum PF. I have never known a team to so consistently be on the end of favourable umpiring decisions and after yesterday I'm nervous about the need to overcome more than Williamstown in the GF.

It sounded bad, HH.

In the main game there was an abolsute stinker not paif for Sicily deep in our forward line, where the opponent basically collected him high, front on. Staggering non decision in anyone's language.

 

[savagelunchbox]

It sounded bad, HH.

In the main game there was an abolsute stinker not paif for Sicily deep in our forward line, where the opponent basically collected him high, front on. Staggering non decision in anyone's language.

To put it into perspective, the crowd was twice as loud towards the umpires as it was towards the team after a goal.

It was Goldspink-esk.

 

[halfback dasher]

His dad is as big, if not bigger, than Shem is. Scary looking man, but looking at him interacting with the public, he seems like a real good guy as does Shem who was politely chatting to Joe Public in the pre game kick around.

Ordo summed them up , ripping people .