Review Round 8, 2015; Box Hill Hawks v Port Melbourne, 6 June 2015, 12.00pm @ BHCO

[Dixie Flatline]

Kicks a point. 115 to 60 is your final score.

 

[LuvMyHawks]

Well done boys! Very proud of you ALL..

 

[Strapping Young Lad]

Timmy O'Brien very good in the second half.....temper that by knowing that he was playing on Jordan Lisle.

 

[LuvMyHawks]

Why don't they show the frees on TV?

 

[Pessimistic]

Noticed n the background the OB van in the background is still ABC branded.

I wonder if seven is just doing ABC a favour until they get their funding back (I wonder what would need to happen for that to come about)

 

[Procrastinator35]

Final Scores in the seniors: Box Hill 17. 13. 115 defeated Port Melb 8. 12. 60

Best: O'Rourke, Iles, McEvoy, O'Brien, Miles, Gordon.
Goals: O'Rourke 3, Sicily 2, O'Brien 2, Grimley 2, Pittonet 2, Lawlor, Lock, McEvoy, Evans, Langford, Woodward

Stats According to VFL Score-centre web-site.

 

[cryptor]

Especially good for O'Rourke kicking 3 goals given he was playing a lot in and under in the middle today rather than an outside or half forward role.

 

[Bumpswithagrin]

Noticed n the background the OB van in the background is still ABC branded.

I wonder if seven is just doing ABC a favour until they get their funding back (I wonder what would need to happen for that to come about)

As I understand it channel 7 are using all the OB equipment and staff from the ABC, presumably they have contracted it out to them. I think it's a pragmatic thing since they need it and the ABC don't anymore.

 

[VandoHawk]

I'm pretty sure that everyone, both Box Hill listed and Hawhorn listed, played a really good game. These are just some Hawthorn listed standouts for mine:

Spangher: 11 marks in the first quarter alone. Went hard at the ball and worked well with Heatherly (apart from one collision) who is growing in every game he plays. Really good signs for both these players.

O'Rourke: Showed some real class this game. Was the third highest disposal winner behind Miles and (if im not mistaken) Woodward; was the leading goalkicker with three opportunistic goals. Noticed we liked to play him more inside the contest this game rather than using him as an outside receiver and making him defer to the likes of Simpkin and Woodward, and as a result his game seemed buoyed. Between last weeks gut running and this weeks performance he's showing signs that when he adapts to the Hawthorn game plan and improves his fitness he'll be a great player.

Woodward: Is pretty darn close to AFL level. Tackles hard, contested monster, wins a considerable amount of the ball and is improving his disposal. If Hawthorn don't start playing him they could lose him to a rival club looking for sheer midfield grunt. Genuinely deserves a game.

Miles: Along with Howe, we may have found another gem here. Really good football smarts, clean and composed decision making combined with clean disposal efficiency and managed to find plenty of the ball being the leading possession getter on the ground. Showed genuine pace, and an aggression at the ball that reminded me strongly of Puopolo. Would probably be prime for selection were it not for his small figure; some time in the Gym will fix that.

Good to see McEvoy, Langford and Spangher get through their games and do reasonably well. Plenty of others that did well aswell; I'd like to give a brief mention to Pittonet, who managed to kick 2 goals but was mostly overshadowed by McEvoy, but in the last quarter when the game was done and dusted kept laying vicious tackle after vicious tackle. Positive signs.

Two interesting things: Daniel Howe and Jed Anderson didn't play. Now for Howe it could mean that he'll be a late call-up for senior selection, but what does it mean for Anderson? Is there a potential injury, or did the club think with the bye coming up for both VFL and AFL level he could spend more time with his family?

 

[Bumpswithagrin]

Final Scores in the seniors: Box Hill 17. 13. 115 defeated Port Melb 8. 12. 60

Best: O'Rourke, Iles, McEvoy, O'Brien, Miles, Gordon.
Goals: O'Rourke 3, Sicily 2, O'Brien 2, Grimley 2, Pittonet 2, Lawlor, Lock, McEvoy, Evans, Langford, Woodward

Stats According to VFL Score-centre web-site.

Wouldn't have had McEvoy in my best, serviceable but not in the best IMO. I thought O'Rourke was BOG, lots of others had very good games; O'Brien, Mirra, Woody, Sicily and Pittonet all had good games. Some of the Box Hill boys were good too, the aforementioned Mirra (as always!), Lawlor and Gordon were good.

Edit: Miles was good too. First time I've seen him up close, he looks a size smaller than everyone else but a good player nonetheless.

 

[cryptor]

Two interesting things: Daniel Howe and Jed Anderson didn't play. Now for Howe it could mean that he'll be a late call-up for senior selection, but what does it mean for Anderson? Is there a potential injury, or did the club think with the bye coming up for both VFL and AFL level he could spend more time with his family?

The club brought Hale in the other week when he wasn't a listed emergency. Chance of that.

 

[Adebisi]

Obrien gonna make it as an afl player? For those at the game...

I wouldn't count on Miles putting on kegs in the gym.

 

[Bumpswithagrin]

Re Anderson, he either has an injury or could be a late in for Hawthorn. Unless there is some family issue as such, I very much doubt selection decisions would be made so he can spend more time with his family!

 

[Bumpswithagrin]

Obrien gonna make it as an afl player? For those at the game...

I wouldn't count on Miles putting on kegs in the gym.

I'm not sure on O'Brien, I feel his development has stagnated the last couple of years.

I think Miles will be fine when he grows into his body a bit, some blokes just take a bit longer to fill out. Will never be a beast I don't suppose but I expect he'll add enough bulk to make it in the seniors.

 

[LuvMyHawks]

We don't see it much on TV naturally, but in your opinions was it a pretty good crowd?

 

[Bonscott1980]

Great win

 

[Bumpswithagrin]

We don't see it much on TV naturally, but in your opinions was it a pretty good crowd?

It was a decent crowd, Port have a lot of supporters and they don't mind travelling. Biggest crowd so far this season, but a couple of the other matches it was raining and one was also on Mother's Day so they were very small crowds. If you are asking for actual numbers I would just be guessing but maybe 1,500 to 2000???*

*Disclaimer: I am absolutely rubbish at estimating crowd numbers

 

[dermott]

You can't help but like Miles. He is a skilful natural footballer who was B & F at the Falcons. Only trouble is you can't have too many small blokes in a team today. It will be interesting to see whether Miles, Hartung, Anderson and Woodward can play in the same team at AFL level. Obviously Howe is more the prototype bigger bodied midfielder favoured by most teams.

 

[Gaston]

I know the art of recruiting might be an ancient science but in Wright we trust can keep things pretty simple.

Woodward - captain of an under 18 premiership team - would need qualities for that
Miles - B&F winner from the Micky Turner football department (formerly Geelong Falcons) - quality for that.

As for the game, plays of the day:

Woodward's determination to win the ball and set up O'Rourke's 3rd goal, was brilliant.

Sicily's kick from the boundary to spot O'Brien 30m dead in front oozed class

Miles collect and give as he ran inside the 50m arc late in the last quarter, wasn't brilliant per se but poetic all the same.

 

[Procrastinator35]

Wouldn't have had McEvoy in my best, serviceable but not in the best IMO. I thought O'Rourke was BOG, lots of others had very good games; O'Brien, Mirra, Woody, Sicily and Pittonet all had good games. Some of the Box Hill boys were good too, the aforementioned Mirra (as always!), Lawlor and Gordon were good.

Edit: Miles was good too. First time I've seen him up close, he looks a size smaller than everyone else but a good player nonetheless.

Reckon this was one game where the old blurb; 'Team effort' was most apt.

 

[Dixie Flatline]

Lovely day for a game at Box Hill City Oval today. Sun shone on the ground all day and it wasn't particularly cold. For those unfamiliar with Box Hill City Oval, you can generally count on it feeling a couple of degrees colder than elsewhere in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne. There was a slight breeze blowing to the Whitehorse Road end of the ground, and Box Hill had the breeze in the first quarter. There were periods in the first quarter when Box Hill would be dominating possession but Port's defence held firm and wouldn't let them score. Then Port would lock the ball in their forward line and Box Hill would struggle to clear it from defence.

But finally Box Hill managed to find the way to break through Port's defence through some accurate kicking and also run & carry when necessary. They were well worth their lead at the break.

I didn't particularly watch that much of the second quarter as I was busy trying to help my middle child get ready for Auskick while making sure my younger child wasn't trampled under foot with the hordes in attendance. Spangher did crash heavily into the post and the post came off second best, as you would too if Jesus Christ himself ran into you. Box Hill's defence tightened the screws in the second quarter and while Port Melbourne did have the benefit of the breeze, it was Box Hill who made best use of the conditions to extend their lead at half-time.

After the long break it was pretty much one-way traffic as Box Hill broke Port's spirit. As mentioned numerous times through the game, Port could thank the umpires for keeping them in the game; some truly baffling decisions to give Port players free kicks or to deny Box Hill players free kicks when you'd think they should receive one. Despite that, with Box Hill's midfield giving O'Brien and Sicily and to a lesser extent Grimley silver service, Box Hill remorselessly built their lead as the game wore on.

I think the Hawks coaching staff will be very pleased with the collective efforts of the Hawthorn-listed players this afternoon, including many of those players who are considered in development and probably a year or so off challenging for regular senior football. I thought McEvoy and Spangher played okay games without particularly starring. McEvoy just looks so slow across the ground and I'm not sure whether he's suited to play Hawthorn's style at present. Spangher was fearless as per usual and reasonably clean by foot. He did venture forward in the third quarter and almost pulled off a spectacular game but he wasn't sighted in the last quarter so I hope he didn't suffer a re-occurrence of his hamstring injury. Unless a senior ruckman or tall defender injures himself in the next few weeks, I don't see them pushing their names forward for selection just yet.

In fact, I was more impressed by Pittonet's game this afternoon than I was by McEvoy's game. Pittonet was more than competitive in the ruck, directing taps to the advantage of his midfielders and scrapping hard when the ball was in dispute on the ground. He certainly wasn't afraid to get his knees dirty in the mud, which is more than what I could say for Ceglar when Ceglar was at the same stage of his development at Box Hill a couple of seasons ago. Build up Pittonet's core strength to battle the hardened AFL ruckmen and I think we have a player who can tandem with Ceglar in the seniors in 2017 onwards. Having said all that, I was a huge believer in Lowden's potential so perhaps I don't have much luck in picking ruckmen! Pittonet rucked most of the last quarter solo with McEvoy only on the ground for a short cameo; Grimley was generally the man to give Pittonet a chop-out when he needed it.

As noted during the game, Box Hill's midfield completely dominated Port's midfield. If it wasn't Langford grabbing another clearance, it was Woodward wheeling onto his right foot and kicking into the forward line. I don't have the stats handy but Langford, Simpkin and Woodward would have dominated in the clearances this afternoon. Woodward is approaching the type of form that saw him rush home to take out the JJ Liston Trophy last year, IMO. He'd be playing AFL for other teams at the moment, but the strength of Hawthorn's midfield is hard for him to crack into at present.

I see Langford as a type of player who is all elbows. He's not afraid to go where angels tread and often Port needed to gang-tackle him to bring him down. I'm sure the coaches would have loved to see his response to not being called up to the senior team after recovering from his calf injury.

O'Brien presented well at CHF all afternoon. As I noted during the thread, he does have a tendency at the moment to two-grab at marks, which is not a habit he should be adopting, but later in the game he did take some ripping one-grab marks, so hopefully that's something he can build on. He still needs to develop his core strength to hold off defenders in marking contests because at the moment he's too easily shifted off his position when he's having to grapple with a defender. He's good on the lead but in order to be a complete footballer he needs that strength. He's a reasonably good kick and has a good tank to cover the kilometres during the game. He has the talent to be a good AFL player; he just needs that physical strength.

I'm not entirely sure where Sicily fits in at Hawthorn at the moment. He's not big enough to be a key forward but he tends to be a mark-and-kick player at present. Unless he's in a marking contest, he tends to drift out of the game at the moment. He needs to add an extra string to his bow in order to be a useful contributor at senior level, IMO.

Grimley bobbed up now and again for a mark and a kick. Again, it's a case of whether you can teach an athlete how to play football as he still tends to run to the wrong spots on occasion. He had occasional runs on the ball as an oversized ruck rover and I genuinely think that's probably his best position as he doesn't really need to think about where to run; he can just follow the ball around the ground. I haven't seen enough to think that Hawthorn will keep him on the list past this season at this stage.

Willsmore was another player to stand out on occasion. Generally Box Hill played him on the wing and he drifted forward to full-forward as a mid-sized option when he was given a break. Hit the post with a shot at goal after a strong mark in a pack, and was reasonable.

Teia Miles is a very clever and creative player. I wonder about his lack of height but there's no doubt he's a very talented player. He was particularly prominent as a forward pocket but also enjoyed some good work through midfield. It's well worth your while keeping an eye on "42" for Box Hill.

Of the VFL-listed players, Mirra played a great game marshaling the defence and taking some strong intercept marks. Gordon also looks like a very solid VFL-listed player and took over as a key defender when Spangher didn't appear after three-quarter time. Lock and Iles more than played their part in the midfield. Lawlor presented tirelessly across half-forward.

 

[Dixie Flatline]

The first time I've been impressed with O'Rourke today. Previously I've seen him play, he's tended to be an outside-only player and I thought that his skills and talent were a little over-blown. Today I thought he was vying for best-on-ground. Kicked three goals, including a ripper snap after Woodward plunged through a number of Port Melbourne players to get the ball to O'Rourke. Even apart from the goals, though, O'Rourke was very creative and clever with his disposal and he was amongst the leading players in terms of disposals on the ground. Keep that up and he'll be pressing a strong case for selection for the senior team.

 

[The Depth Chart]

My take on today's action
http://wp.me/p66KRU-1P

 

[Bumpswithagrin]

Reckon this was one game where the old blurb; 'Team effort' was most apt.

Agree. I honestly don't think there was a player that had a bad game. My only concern really is Whitecross who seemed a bit quiet and is yet to recapture his best form.

 

[TyHawk]

So, Howe in for Lewy? Or maybe Sammy gets a a couple weeks off.