Review Round 16, 2016: Box Hill Hawks v Richmond Tigers, 24 July 2016, 12.30pm @ Punt Road Oval

[HODGEYROAD]

I walked into Punt Road at 3 quarter time so maybe I am to blame.

 

[Agent Smith]

I walked into Punt Road at 3 quarter time so maybe I am to blame.

Did you leave at 3 quarter time of the AFL game after it?

 

[HODGEYROAD]

Did you leave at 3 quarter time of the AFL game after it?

I can gladly say I didn't but gee that would be a story if I did.

 

[Thaihawk]

Did you leave at 3 quarter time of the AFL game after it?

I like your thinking, agent.

 

[Ordovician]

Thanks Ordo and HH for the great, in-depth responses. I wasn't actually thinking of this year's finals series - more the thought of whether the guys at BH are up to scratch for the HFC team in the future - but this is a really valid concern. Hoping that it won't come to bite us. Particularly when it comes to competition for spots, etc.

Potentially room for a mature aged rookie to plug some gaps in the ruck next year? Gives us the luxury of not having to use a main list spot on someone unlikely to play?

1. The Hawks listed kids at BH:

Most of the kids are alright. Ha! ha!

Where the kids and the team are getting smashed, is the lack of hardened senior bodies around the place like Fitzy & Spang and now even Wx, rather than the simple notion that the kids are just not very good footballers per se.

Some of them like Lovell, Burton and maybe even Hardwick, will be very good players indeed. Remember that these kids have yet to a do a full pre-season or in Burton's case even a partial preseason.

Of the second years, Miles shows a fair bit but really needs to bulk up before playing AFL so patience will be required. Pittso is going quite well for a 19 y.o. who has often been playing a solo hand in the ruck for large parts of the season. Of the third years, Willsmore and Webster are controversial. Willsmore just seems too soft to too many observers, he is not very capable of playing contested footy a lot like Suckers. Webster might be ok if he can stay on the park long enough to run into some form without breaking down again but given his progress to date this is a faint hope.

Of the rookies Surman is tracking very well after early set backs, Woody has stormed back, but sadly Llangers and JML are languishing in the DS with little hope of escape.

As for the older BH kids like Lithers, Hartung, Howe, Brand, JOR, Sicily, & TOB you have seen enough of them at AFL level so you can make your own judgements. Most of these are now regular best 25 players and so are mostly lost to BH this season. While the club wanted to get a good look at a lot of the young players this year it was never intended that so many of them would be required every week following the retirement of Hale, the disgraceful terminating of Saint Bryza of the Lake, the skulking doggery of Suckers, and the unanticipated long term losses of Roughy, Schoey, Spang and Fitzy.

Crisis creates opportunity, indeed.

It would appear that we'll need a few more draftees to make up the numbers next year at BH as the kids that are playing senior footy will for the most part, will be playing regular AFL footy in 2017 as well even if we do trade in quite a few players. As it currently stands Roughy won't be around next season, Spang will probably hang up the boots and Hill may well go west.


2. Mature aged rookie ruckmen.

That is a nice idea and we have in effect, done this by picking up Fitzy last year for emergency ruck depth. However the sad reality is that there are stuff all rucks of even mediocre quality running around in the VFL these days. There are few like fat boy from Willi, who can impersonate an VFL ruckman but he would get smashed at AFL level where he would not be allowed to cheat by blocking his opponent's run at the ball all day. There is also the bloke at Nth Ballarat Stephenson who was with the cats for a while. However, pretty much whenever you see a competent ruck running around in the VFL they are already AFL listed.

Even at the DS level there are SFA rucks. The BH list only has one ruckman sized player and he can't be stuffed playing.

I don't know what the situation with ruckmen in the state leagues in WA & SA is like, but I suspect that with several clubs recruiting US basketballers that the situation is pretty grim. There also appears to be a dearth of rucks coming out of the TAC cup system. After all Pittso was the top ranked ruck from the TAC teams in his draft year.

 

[tommyk72]

1. The Hawks listed kids at BH:

Most of the kids are alright. Ha! ha!

Thanks as always mate. Great insight to have.

 

[Dixie Flatline]

Marco Bello rates the Hawthorn-listed players' games.

http://www.hawthornfc.com.au/news/2016-07-26/vfl-playerbyplayer-review-round-16

Quite a diplomatic article, I think. Really, Marco - you need to tell us what you really thought of some of the lads.

BOX HILL Hawks coach Marco Bello reviews every Hawthorn-listed player's performance in the VFL on Sunday.

The Hawks produced one of their best halves for the season to lead against Richmond at half time, but an eight-goal final term from the Tigers saw the Hawks go down by 16 points.

ALEX WOODWARD

“It was great to have Alex back. He started like a man possessed in the first half, he had 18 disposals and he won the first kick of the day – which pretty much epitomised the way he was going to go about it. He left no stone unturned over the year that he had out, and it showed from the outset. He finished with 25 disposals, 11 hard ball gets – so just real in-and-under contested footy which we’ve been lacking for long periods.”

BILLY HARTUNG

“Billy again got his hands on the footy, he finished with 29 disposals and was probably above the level in terms of being able to get his hands on the footy and his ball use. He’s obviously still got areas to work on, but his ability to win the footy in clutch situations and use it really well was good for us. He had nine inside 50s, so he was a real offensive weapon.”

WILL LANGFORD

“Will again just went about his business. He finished with 22 disposals and played a different role. Usually we’re used to Will being in-and-under and the guy who hunts the footy, but with guys like Woodward and Lovell in there, he played a selfless role and looked to play a little bit more outside. I thought he was really good for us.”

TEIA MILES

“Teia continues to be a real offensive player for us. He finished with 21 disposals, he did a lot of great defensive acts this week which was really pleasing. He’s probably been our most consistent player this year and again showed that he’s hopefully close to playing AFL footy at some stage.”

KURT HEATHERLEY

“Kurt – like Teia – has been one of our most consistent players. His ability to play on talls and smalls is important for us – he had Vickery for large parts of the day and he also matched up on a guy like Ballard, who’s a medium range player. He finished with 10 marks, a lot of those off oppo boot in our defensive half.

KIERAN LOVELL

“Kieran was really energetic, especially in the first half. He was dynamic when he had his hands on the footy and he had seven inside 50s, so he was doing a lot of his work forward of centre. I was really pleased he was able to step it up and back up from last week.”

ZAC WEBSTER

“The energy of the group in the first half was really good, and I thought Zac probable was the front-runner there. He finished with 15 disposals but had nine in the first half. He slowed up a little bit in the second half, but finished with 1.1 – so he’s hitting the scoreboard as well which is what we need from our small forwards.”

BLAKE HARDWICK

“Blake finished with 13 disposals – nine in the first half – and he kicked three goals – two of those were in the first half. He was our barometer early on. He kicked our first two goals from forward half pressure, so it’s great to have Blake doing that work in the forward half. This week he played deeper forward and was able to hit the scoreboard.”

MARC PITTONET

“I thought Marc competed really well in the ruck against two experienced players in Maric and Vickery, and he also had to compete against a Soldo type. He won a lot of hit-outs early on and finished with 34, he gave us first use of the footy and took some nice marks forward, but only kicked the one behind unfortunately this week. He continues to get better and better each week.”

LUKE SURMAN

“It was Lukey’s third game of senior VFL footy and I thought this was his best one to date. He took six marks on the day, I think five of those were in the second half when we needed a big guy to stand up. He’s a smart footballer, he uses the footy well and he gave Pitto a chop out in the ruck. He spent the majority of his time up forward and I’m really pleased that he’s coming along and starting to get used to senior footy.”

KADE STEWART

“Similar to pretty much everyone, Kade was lively early. He finished with 10 disposals and two goals, kicking both of those in the first half. He just continues to work and grind, and he’s just got to keep working at being consistent in quarters and over quarters. He’s had a great year of footy.”

DALLAS WILLSMORE

“Dallas played wing and forward, he did some good work and hit the scoreboard. But again with a lot of these guys it was a game of halves… It’s a young group that’s learning.”

 

[Dixie Flatline]

Highlights of the game now available via YouTube:

 

[Dixie Flatline]

Highlights of the development squad game via YouTube: