News 2016-2017 general news thread

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"Kaiden Brand, playing well across half back, hauled down an enormous contested mark"

He's in for the seniors then
Clarko said - "I HOPE he plays well at Box Hill" when asked about Brand. Also said "you'd think one guy would punch it out".

Will put my house on Brand coming in
 
A contested possession? Down back? He can't play seniors, he'd be a fish out of water...

Good to see you still have your finger on the pulse, Agent. Good observation, but you could have added, "his name's not Lake."
On the other hand, neither was Brian's, and look what a name change did for Mr. Harris. I wonder if the same could work for Mr. Brand.
Check it out Agent. I await your report.
 
Good to see you still have your finger on the pulse, Agent. Good observation, but you could have added, "his name's not Lake."
On the other hand, neither was Brian's, and look what a name change did for Mr. Harris. I wonder if the same could work for Mr. Brand.
Check it out Agent. I await your report.
I'm on it!
 
Box Hill Hawks recruit ex-AFL talent to help win contested ball this VFL season
Megan Hustwaite, Whitehorse Leader
April 5, 2017 6:23pm
TWO c’s will be key for Box Hill Hawks this VFL season under the tutelage of new coach Chris Newman.

Winning the contested ball and finding consistency are major focuses for the Hawks who have experienced a high turnover of players in the off-season after missing finals in 2016 for the first time in eight years.

The former Richmond captain, who has moved into his first senior coaching job after one year in a development role at Hawthorn, said improving both areas would help lift the Hawks who lost six games by a goal or less last year.

The Hawks finished 10th on the ladder and were ranked 14th for winning the contested footy.

“We’ve said the expectation isn’t to be number one in the competition at contested ball but we can’t be in the bottom two or three, that’s an area we need to improve,’’ Newman said.

“We’ve had a bit of a focus throughout pre-season on competing and giving players opportunity to work on that part of the game but also bringing in some personnel we feel can help inside and win that contested ball to give us first use.


Former Brisbane Lion Billy Evans has landed at Box Hill. Picture: Richard Gosling.
“We had our opportunities last year and got ourselves in reasonable positions to win games but we couldn’t finish off all that well. So consistency will be a key for us, we just need to play a consistent brand of footy and make sure we get an even contribution across the board.”

The Hawks have landed AFL-experienced trio Andrew Moore (60 games with Port Adelaide and Richmond), Will Hams (13 games for Essendon) and Billy Evans (seven games for Brisbane), while

departures include Sam Iles, Pat Lawlor (Coburg), Marc Lock (Old Carey), Tom Gordon, Jake Summer (Doncaster East).

“We’ve had a fair turnover of players, probably about 16 guys left which happens with AFL affiliated clubs. We managed to get in some TAC Cup kids and they’ve really impressed. We’ve blended that with retaining guys from last year but also brining in some experience with a few ex-AFL players,’’ Newman said.
“Billy Evans played quite a few games for Brisbane last year and impressed at their reserves level. He’s a bigger-bodied inside-mid who can help us in the clearances.

“Will’s been injury plagued but played a few AFL games last year. He feels he’s got his body in condition now so hopefully he can get a good run at it.

“And Andrew’s played the most games out of those guys and brings the most experience. He’s been voted in to the leadership group as one of our vice captains and had a really big impact already.

“I’m really looking forward to seeing what they can all bring this year.”

Experienced David Mirra, who won the club best and fairest last season, continues as captain.

The Hawks, with one win from three practice matches, have their final hit out against Coburg this weekend ahead of Good Friday’s season opener against Footscray at the Whitten Oval.
 

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OK the game down in Coburg finished a draw. Quite a few of the Hawthorn listed players didn't play. No Nash, glass, cousins, heatherley etc
BH 0.1.01 5.7.37 5.9.39 10.11. 71
CO 4.5.29 6.5.41 9.8.62 10.11. 71

Goals: Sicily 3, Stewart 2, Schoenmakers, Willsmore, O'Brien, Brolic, Fitzpatrick

Disposals: Howe 30, Sicily 28, Willsmore 26, Mirra 24

A gale blowing down one end of the ground. Coburg kicked with it first. Howe and Sicily the standouts for today. Stewart played a great second qtr to get us back into it. Sicily played a better second half including a 3 goal last qtr when he was shifted forward.

Willsmore was just going in the first half but ramped it up in the second half. Had a real influence on the result with his disposal.

TOB had a great first half and i thought he was going to take the game by the scruff of the neck but unfortunately he didn't
Schoey is treading water in that forward line. He just slow reaction time and just doesn't read the flight of the ball.

I thought Fitzy was pretty good in the ruck and up forward. Pitt also played well and showed a bit around the ground.
Hardwick was also much better in the second half.

Morrison showed some good signs he is very good kick and hit most of his targets especially given the conditions

Box Hill played much better in the second half. Our turnovers killed us today.

I can't remember anything else of significance but shoot any questions my way
 
I went along. Many many points of interest. Match was a draw after Box Hill trailed all day. For once it was us coming at them in the last qtr. Got the lead by a point with a minute or two left, but Coburg got a stoppage 20 out and then an umpire paid a high tackle to Coburg (obvious duck for mine) and the Coburg player missed from point blank. Siren.

Box Hill played with 4 talls up forward all day. Schoey, Surman, O'Brien, Chris Jones, and sometimes Fitz or Pitt. Hence every entry was a high bomb.

Bunch of Hawks didn't play, aside from knowns Birch, Lovell, O'Rourke and Ceglar. I did some snooping and best I could find out was -

Hartung - travelling emergency
Duryea - soreness
Heatherley - achilles, couple more weeks
Lewis - finger
Hanrahan - back soreness
Glass - calf, hopefully back next week
Nash - cork
Cousins - groin, hopeful of playing next week

Those that did play (HFC) -

Sicily - outstanding, good first half but especially 2nd half. I'd hazard a guess at 15+ 3rd qtr disposals, then went forward in the last and became pretty much the reason Box Hill were finally able to hit the scoreboard.

Howe - I liked his game, was watching closely. He played what probably in days gone by would be classic ruck-rover. He had it palmed down his throat by Pitts and Fitz at a lot of stoppages. But he got pummelled about half the time. Wouldn't be surprised if he had 50 possession and 30 disposals. Got crunched heavily lots of times. But kept getting up. Lot to like.

Stewart - Very Stewart like. Did things very well - good hands, tackled like a machine. It'll be interesting to see how much he had. He was good, but not dominant to my eyes.

Fitzpatrick - Beaten at ruckwork, but got involved around the ground. Nothing special.

Morrison - I saw perhaps two signs of a player - a nice in close move and a strong mark - but he was pretty invisible otherwise, despite the play being in his area a whole lot of the match. I should qualify this by saying I'm not always the best judge. He might have finished with a bunch more touches than I saw.

Hardwick - Did some ok work off half back. Not beaten one on one, but only gave a modicum of run from defence.

Surman - up forward mostly and didn't do much at all. Came under notice in the last when he was in defence, and pushed up to the wings to cut off some Coburg moves. Took a couple of nice marks.

Willsmore - He'll be a good player when the side is on top. When the opposition are dominating, he will never be in our best players. Has to be spoon fed the ball.

Pittonet - first game for a while. I thought he competed really well, won his share of taps and fought hard when the ball was on the ground. He linked up on transition more than I'd seen him before, but I didn't see a contested mark.

O'Brien - Took some lovely marks. He can judge a high ball very nicely. Had a few shots, got one I think. I think this is his level.

Shoenmakers - Worked hard, good share of lead up marks, but couldn't hold a big grab. Vocal, showed leadership. Fought hard for ground balls and won quite a few, lots of good dish offs. I quite liked his game, but it wasn't a great one.

Box Hill players - I have to admit I was there to see the Hawk players, so might not have noticed a great game by some of the smalls, but I thought Mirra was typically great, and Ayden Kennedy did some great work down back. But some of the smaller Box Hill guys - and there's a heap of them all the same size, have atrocious foot skills. Nick Evans would be lucky if even one of his kicks wasn't marked by the opposition. In the end it was these (sometimes stunning) turnovers by Box Hill players that cost the win.
 
With so many Box Hill and Hawthorn players missing, it wasn't surprising that the dev side went down. Lost by about 4 or 5 goals. I saw most of the game and they were struggling badly. Finished off strong though, better last qtr.
 
And no O'Donnell?
I noticed Mitch was wearing a sling at the practice game against the Northern Blues and was told he was injured in a motor bike accident. I didn't confirm however it appears he will have a long term injury. Very disappointing if correct.
 
I noticed Mitch was wearing a sling at the practice game against the Northern Blues and was told he was injured in a motor bike accident. I didn't confirm however it appears he will have a long term injury. Very disappointing if correct.


He looked fine the other night. I presume he is mostly over it now.
 
Spoke to a few insiders at BH yesterday , get the feeling Cuz is the next player to get very excited about .
Club is being very patient with Sis and believes he's a 200 game player as a back man .
Thought Morrison showed some nice signs down back , fearless in the air and a solid decision maker .
Howe was everywhere but I just can't help but wonder if VFL is his pace and level .
Another interesting chat ( again with an insider ) was about us playing Vickers AND two ruckman , feeling was BB could be more productive as the number 2 man .
Liked Stu in the guts too .
 
Thanks all the the reports.

HBD - any reason why club doesn't see Sicily as a forward? If BB is not playing as no1 ruck who is? Fitzy? Pitt seems miles off it.
 
Spoke to a few insiders at BH yesterday , get the feeling Cuz is the next player to get very excited about .
Club is being very patient with Sis and believes he's a 200 game player as a back man .
Thought Morrison showed some nice signs down back , fearless in the air and a solid decision maker .
Howe was everywhere but I just can't help but wonder if VFL is his pace and level .
Another interesting chat ( again with an insider ) was about us playing Vickers AND two ruckman , feeling was BB could be more productive as the number 2 man .
Liked Stu in the guts too .
Thanks Dash. Very interesting stuff.

In your conversations, did anyone indicate what they thought Hardwick's role or future might be?
 

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