Season 2020 news - 2020 season cancelled (8 July 2020)

Full list update announced, including CJ's brother.



Box Hill’s 2020 recruits:

Brett Deledio (GWS)
Andy Otten (Adelaide)
Josh Deluca (Carlton)
Trent Mynott (Essendon VFL)
Andrew Wall (Wentworth)
Riley Bowman (Essendon VFL)
Dylan Stone (Wangaratta)
James Harrold (East Fremantle)
James Blanck (Eastern Ranges)
Zane Barzen (Murray Bushrangers)
Thomas Graham (Oakleigh Chargers)
Chayce Black (Eastern Ranges)
Mihaele Zalac (Eastern Ranges)
Cody Howard (CDHBU)
Todd Garner (Eastern Ranges)
Josh Le Grice (Sandringham Dragons)
James Ross (Eastern Ranges)
Billy McCormack (Eastern Ranges)
Isaac Abas (Morwell)
Kuiy Jiath (Morwell)
 
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Welcome to the BHH Kuiy and Isaac. I saw Isaac at the practice match last Friday and was impressed by his demeanour with his new team mates. He
is tall as evidenced standing next to Monkey in the video.


 
Exciting list taking shape with some experience, good upcoming youth, and a lot of x-factor and potential. A few very tall boys who are very raw. Will be interesting to see how this experiment goes!
 

Easy Slips Catch

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Not sure if these have been posted -

BHH Prac Matches
Sat 29/2 v Coburg - 10:30am @ La Trobe Uni
Sat 7/3 v Casey - 12pm @ Casey Fields
Sun 22/3 v Essendon - 11:30am @ Highgate Res
Sat 28/3 v Werribee - 1pm @ Highgate Res

Couldn't they get the ground a Timbuktu?
 
The usual excuse is that Box Hill City Oval is unavailable due to cricket finals. I drove past there last week and I don't recall seeing any goalposts in the ground just yet.
 

stemline

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The legendary Paul Amy wrote this in the Whitehorse Leader -

Brett Deledio, Andy Otten, Josh Deluca head Box Hill Hawks’ recruits

With 20 new signings for the 2020 VFL season, including a pair of ex-AFL stars and nine young guns straight out of the NAB League, Box Hill Hawks have rejuvenated a list that is less than two years removed from winning the premiership.

Paul Amy, Whitehorse Leader

Box Hill Hawks hijacked off-season VFL headlines with their signings of Brett Deledio and Andy Otten.

Deledio may well be the most high-profile recruit to the state league since its revamp in 2000.

But a list of 20 newcomers unveiled by the club includes much youthful talent to absorb the experience of the former Tiger and Giant and ex-Crow Otten.

The Hawks have signed nine players out of the NAB League, six of them from the Eastern Ranges: James Ross, James Blanck, Chayce Black, Mihaele Zalac, Todd Garner and Billy McCormack.

Black is the son of former AFL dasher Heath Black, and McCormack is ex-Fitzroy and Brisbane midfielder Brendan’s boy.

The Hawks have another “son of’’ in Tom Graham, former Hawthorn defender Mark’s son.

Tom is a key position type who had some standout matches last year for the Oakleigh Chargers.

Zane Barzen (Murray Bushrangers) and Josh Le Grice (Sandringham Dragons) are also at the City Oval as the Hawks boosted their stock of young players ahead of new VFL rules.

Each week teams must select a 19-year-old as well as the 23rd player as the AFL strives to expose more NAB League graduates and over-age players to senior football.

Ross, the brother of Eastern league champion Robbie, captained the Ranges last year, was the bulwark of their backline and finished third in their best and fairest.

He was also among the best players in their grand final loss to Oakleigh Chargers.

Ross was a priority for Hawks recruiting and list manager Chris Monaghan.

Defender Garner is the brother of Port Adelaide player Joel, and was a member of the Hawthorn Next Generation Academy. He was also in Eastern’s best in the under-18 decider.

Onballer Black, tall midfielder Zalac and key forward McCormack were also in the Ranges’ grand final team, having been home-and-away regulars.

Blanck, a tall, raw backman, had a back injury last year but played in an AFL Victoria Young Guns game and did well in defence.

Barzen, a 191cm forward, also had his injuries in 2019 and also played in the Young Guns series.

He first played for the Bushies in 2017.

Graham, who figured in the Chargers’ premiership, has impressed during the pre-season and is seen as having scope for sharp improvement given his sporting focus was on basketball until two years ago.

Morwell pair Kuiy Jiath and Isaac Abas are other signings.

They played senior football last year under former VFA and Eastern league champion Denis Knight.

Jiath is the brother of emerging Hawthorn flanker Changkuoth. Big man Abas was a Hawthorn scholarship holder in 2017 and had a run with the Box Hill Hawk reserves.

Andy Wall (Wenthworth), Dylan Stone (Wangaratta Rovers) and Cody Howard (Coreen Daysdale Hopefield Buraja United) also come from country ranks.

The Hawks have strengthened their ruck division by snaffling former Dandenong Stingray and Sandringham Dragon Riley Bowman, and bolstered their backline with the acquisition of James Harrold from the WAFL.

Deledio, 32, and Otten, 30, will play in the VFL with the Hawks as part of their development coaching roles with Hawthorn, giving the team the benefit of 384 AFL matches and comfortably covering the experience lost with the departures of captain Andrew Moore (North Adelaide) and Luke Meadow (Williamstown).

The Hawks have gained two other players from AFL lists, both midfielders: Josh Deluca, the experienced WAFL player who was Carlton’s mid-season signing last year, and Trent Mynott, who had two seasons at Essendon after coming through Eastern Ranges.

Deluca, 23, made six appearances for Carlton, to go with four at Fremantle Dockers from 2015-17.

Mynott finished equal-third in the VFL Bombers’ best and fairest last year and, like Deluca, can be expected to push his claims for a second chance at AFL level.

Max Bailey is coaching Box Hill Hawks for a second season.
 

Davo-27

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Full list update announced, including CJ's brother.



Box Hill’s 2020 recruits:

Brett Deledio (GWS)
Andy Otten (Adelaide)
Josh Deluca (Carlton)
Trent Mynott (Essendon VFL)
Andrew Wall (Wentworth)
Riley Bowman (Essendon VFL)
Dylan Stone (Wangaratta)
James Harrold (East Fremantle)
James Blanck (Eastern Ranges)
Zane Barzen (Murray Bushrangers)
Thomas Graham (Oakleigh Chargers)
Chayce Black (Eastern Ranges)
Mihaele Zalac (Eastern Ranges)
Cody Howard (CDHBU)
Todd Garner (Eastern Ranges)
Josh Le Grice (Sandringham Dragons)
James Ross (Eastern Ranges)
Billy McCormack (Eastern Ranges)
Isaac Abas (Morwell)
Kuiy Jiath (Morwell)

interesting list of recruits, 3 ex-AFL players in Deledio, Otten and Deluca, a bunch of recruits from the local leagues and a WAFL player, but what im interested in mostly is the group of youngsters not drafted in the last 2 years

Riley Bowman - is a ruck/forw who plays a good brand of footy, but is probably just outside of AFL quality, should be good in the VFL and i believe he had some experience last year in the VFL, from the 2018 draft pool

Zane Barzen - is an x-factor type forward, isnt big on pressure, but can kick a goal from any angle and has some mercurial talents, if he was more consistent might have been drafted in 2018 and injury held him back in 2019 as an overager in the u18's

Tom Graham - mostly played kpf and ruck, is a big bodied unit, with some ability, nothing like his father who was a wirey tall defender, kindve like McEvoy without his bucket hands

Mihaele Zalac - big bodied mid who likes the tough stuff, only problem is his awareness (he gets caught a lot)

Chayce Black - he was a decent player but doesnt have his fathers class, could be a solid contributor in the VFL though

James Blanck - good tall defender who has some AFL traits, if he was luckier with injuries he might have got a shot on an AFL list, so im excited to see him play if he is injury free, another from the 2018 draft pool

Todd Garner - played defensive roles as hbf and tagger, has some skills and ability, but isnt a big winner of the ball, needs work on production and consistency imo

Josh Le Grice - good role player for Sandringham last year, at times late 2018 and early 2019 looked like he could be in draft calculations, but others surpassed him in their draft years

James Ross - was captain and fb for Eastern last year and the success they had by making the grand final after being last in 2018, some of that huge change in fortune must goto the captain, he also was a solid defender in the 2019 draft pool and played on Isaac Smith on a wing in the intraclub match, which would have given him a taste of the pace and endurance of the top end AFL players

Billy McCormack - has talent in spades, tall athletic ruck/forw who at times last season looked like a guarantee to be drafted, just had an average finals series and allowed some nerves to affect his game in an important time, he has all the talent in the world, just needs to perform in big games.

i was hoping Mellis and Pretty would play for Box Hill in 2020, but i heard a rumour that they got big contracts to play local footy, also where did Stapleton end up? i hear Rossiter is going around again as an over-ager for Eastern this season, i also hear we were into him a bit last year, but may have changed our minds???
 
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Practice Match 1 team

Box Hill Hawks vs Coburg
Saturday 29 February
10.30am, La Trobe University Sports Oval

Beau TennantJesse CucinottaMason DeWitBailey White
James BlanckTrent MynottKuiy JiathAaron Cotte
Billy McCormackJosh Le GriceJack StewartBoadie Motton
Riley BowmanTyler EdwardsJai NewcombeJosiah Duncan
Liam MackieLachlan WalkerMatthew ShannonDylan Stone
Nathan Mullenger-McHughMihale ZalacJack HumeIsaac Abbas
Mackenzie DoreianJames RossSteve KapahnkeTom Graham
 
A very good team effort by the BHH considering the team included 7 top up players from the Eastern Ranges and local league. The quarter by quarter
scores were:
BHH 3.1.19 3.4.22 3.5.23 4.6.30
Coburg 2.1.13 2.1.13 4.1.25 7.3.45
In the first half Isaac Abbas competed well in the ruck and followed up well with second efforts. As a result Lachie Walker and Trent Mynott were dominant
in the first half. Unfortunately Isaac injured his knee early in the third quarter and we lost the advantage in the midfield. His knee was heavily iced at 3/4 time
however hopefully it was only a knock. What the scores don't tell is Coburg first 4 goals resulted from questionable umpiring decisions. Because we were
undermanned we played disciplined lock down team footy so it was hard to pick out best players. Experienced players who came to my notice were Liam Mackie, Nathan M_M and Mason DeWit. Recruits who showed some promising signs were James Blanck, Dylan Stone,, Mihale Zulec and James Ross.
Kuiy Jiath is a smaller build than CJ but very quick. Given it was my first look at so many of the players I probably have missed some good players.
It was great to see Hawk recruits Will Day and Michael Hartley supporting the team. I expect some Hawk players who need some game time will play against Casey next Saturday.
 
A very good team effort by the BHH considering the team included 7 top up players from the Eastern Ranges and local league. The quarter by quarter
scores were:
BHH 3.1.19 3.4.22 3.5.23 4.6.30
Coburg 2.1.13 2.1.13 4.1.25 7.3.45
In the first half Isaac Abbas competed well in the ruck and followed up well with second efforts. As a result Lachie Walker and Trent Mynott were dominant
in the first half. Unfortunately Isaac injured his knee early in the third quarter and we lost the advantage in the midfield. His knee was heavily iced at 3/4 time
however hopefully it was only a knock. What the scores don't tell is Coburg first 4 goals resulted from questionable umpiring decisions. Because we were
undermanned we played disciplined lock down team footy so it was hard to pick out best players. Experienced players who came to my notice were Liam Mackie, Nathan M_M and Mason DeWit. Recruits who showed some promising signs were James Blanck, Dylan Stone,, Mihale Zulec and James Ross.
Kuiy Jiath is a smaller build than CJ but very quick. Given it was my first look at so many of the players I probably have missed some good players.
It was great to see Hawk recruits Will Day and Michael Hartley supporting the team. I expect some Hawk players who need some game time will play against Casey next Saturday.
Thanks HH. I take it deledio and otten didn't have runs?
 

stemline

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Desperate for some footy positivity I went and watched Box Hill today.

Found plenty. Infinitely more watchable than last night's garbage.

But first the bad news - Will Golds did his ACL. Tragic for the kid, was playing well.

Ok, the good stuff - we won 11.7 73 to 2.12 24.

3.2 - 0.3
5.3 - 0.9
7.7 - 0.10
11.7 - 2.12

As far as I could tell the Dees had 11 listed players to our 10. The first half was pretty evenly fought, but Casey just couldn't find a goal. We rushed a lot of their points but they sprayed quite a few they should have got. Second half was dominated by Box Hill.

Our listed players were Golds, Day, Jeka, Maginness, Hartley, Moore, Ross, Jones, Pepper, Reeves.

Glass was there, in civvies. Didn't seem injured, not sure why he wasn't playing. Must be a niggle. No sign of O'Brien, Howe, Gunston or M.Walker (what's happened to him?).

Day, Hartley and Pepper lined up down back. Reeves, Maginness and Jones in the middle. Ross, Jeka, Moore and Golds up forward.

Dylan Moore started on fire - best player in the first qtr. Ross kicked our first 2, the first a really good snap. Cucinotta got the 3rd from a set shot. Reeves was great, winning all the taps and taking 4 or 5 marks, 2 of them good strong contested ones.

2nd qtr was a bit more of a slog. Casey off target, and Box Hill scrapping a couple of goals - Ross walking into an open goal and Jeka with a big snap around the body from distance. Golds injured early in the qtr.

3rd qtr we dominated but struggled to find the goals. Maginness and Jones really worked into it. Reeves serving it on a platter for our mids. Ross kicked his 4th and Will Day kicked a beauty late. Worthy of a description - Casey cleared from deep, Day sprinted hard to make the contest and spoiled the ball to ground wide on the boundary, somehow landing and pirouetting as he did, somehow emerging from the traffic with the ball tucked under his arm. Handpassed forward, then got it back and snapped across his body on the angle for a brilliant goal. We bemoan a lack of class in the senior side, well this kid has it in spades.

Last qtr foot came off the gas a bit and Casey snagged a couple, but it opened up for Box Hill as well. Jeka got on the end of a great passage of play, taking a big mark in the goal square. Kid can play. Reeves drifted forward and took a strong grab, dobbing it from about 25 out. Riley Bowman - new young ruckman - struggled most of the day but hit a purple patch with the last two goals, one a quick snap from a pack and then a good lead out mark and conversion.

HFC listed blokes:
Reeves - BOG by a mile for mine. I haven't seen a more dominant display by a Hawthorn ruckman since Salmon. Sure, I don't know who he was up against, but he was that dominant and impacted the game to a ridiculous extent. Every stoppage, he put it down a BH player's throat. Taps behind his head to blokes on the move, thumps into space where our blokes ran onto it, palms straight to Finn and Jones over and over again. I'll say again, I haven't seen anything like it for 20 years, and I've watched a lot of footy. Also took marks around the ground, kicked a goal, laid some heavy tackles. About 500% better than I've ever seen him play before.

Jeka - moved well, got up the ground, took marks, distributed well. Kicked a couple, could have maybe had one or two more as he had one touched on the line and one slipped through his hands in the square after he'd done all the body work to take the mark. Has a presence. Lot to like.

Day - got more and more prominent. Just after he kicked that great goal, he did a lazy kick on the wing that drifted wide of the mark and went to an oppo player. I watched him for a reaction - he took off toward the action like a mad man. I thought he's not going to impact this, it's just going back over his head. But he threw himself headlong and smothered the kick over the boundary. In the last quarter, he was everywhere, linking and driving forward. Took a big defensive mark in the goal square at full back. He's got me very very keen to see more.

Maginness - was workman-like. I'll stop short of saying he was great, but he played as well as any of our mids, and clearly knows how to play. Got ridiculous silver service at the stoppages from Reeves, and fed it out well most times. I tried to keep rough track of his possessions, I'd say he got around 20.

Jones - very very similar to Maginness. They actually play similar games. Finn actually looks the stronger, but Jones is slightly more manic and fights in and under.

Hartley - great game at full back. His ability to be in the right spot was a bit dare I say Mirra-like. He's a great kick, although he did bite off a couple of kickouts that were a bit over ambitious. He'll be a very handy player for Box Hill.

Pepper - this kid could be an absolute steal. The knock was his kicking, but he looks to have a nice compact action and hit all his targets today. (In fact Box Hill's overall skill made a mockery of what we saw last night - brrrr trying to forget). Pepper competes like crazy, has a great leap, and looks really composed. Like I said, he looks a steal.

Ross - has that happy knack of getting to the right spots at the right time. He's a very dangerous and clever player. Four goals is a good return. Did drift out of it a fraction in the second half but we were rotating forwards and he was still creating for others.

Moore - started on fire. Only played the first half, but was doing it all - marking, tackling, linking. Seem to be playing high HFF, not playing close to goal.

Golds - really sad. Was going pretty nicely, getting his share of touches pre injury.

Box Hill lads -
to be honest I was there more for the Hawks but these blokes stood out:

Mullenger-McHugh - played at CHB and looked more at home in defence than any time I saw him last year up forward. Very good game with some disciplined spoils and intercepts.

Bowman - young ruckman looked a tentative for the most part until taking his chances up forward in the last qtr. Box Hill might be very happy to have Brooksby to accompany Reeves cos Bowman doesn't look up to it (admittedly at first glance).

Deluca - stocky left footed midfielder, got involved a lot. Could be a handy replacement for Meadows, looks a similar type.

DeWit - after playing defence last year he was used as a tall wingman today and was quite prominent.

Otten was serviceable down back, Deledio didn't play.

I know this is all probably a little overly positive, but after last night I know I needed it. Was a good spectacle, and a fair bit to take away for Box Hill.
 
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