Narrow Loss for Box Hill Hawks Seniors

The Box Hill Hawks VFL side have lost their first game of the season in a devastating two-point loss against Werribee yesterday at Avalon Airport Oval.

Whilst Box Hill managed to stay in the contest right up until the final quarter, Werribee held their composure and came out on top in the end.

The first quarter saw accurate kicking from both sides, with no behinds recorded for the term. Chris Jones kicked our first early on, with Julian Soccio and Liam Kidd following.

The battle in the midfield was hard fought, with lots of numbers around the contests, both sides putting on some intense pressure.

With 12 missed tackles and 19 turnovers for the quarter, our skill errors in the second-half of the term allowed Werribee back into the game, resulting in two late goals.

The second quarter played out much like the first, with some quick goals to start the quarter. Werribee’s quick running and fast use of the ball allowed them to move quickly into their Forward 50.

Werribee managed to move the ball swiftly and efficiently out of our Forward 50, but our back six continually read the ball well, dominating the rebounds 21 to Werribee’s 9 for the half.

Although leading the tackle count 44 to Werribee’s 20, Box Hill still missed a number of tackles, particularly in their forward half of the ground, to allow them five scoring shots to the Hawks’ three.

The third quarter proved to be Box Hill’s toughest for the game, with Box Hill recording seven behinds for the term. Werribee yet again improved their efforts and showed their speed through the middle of the ground, allowing quick back-to-back goals.

Box Hill could not manage to get their hands on the footy and allowed Werribee to dominate.

The last quarter saw the intensity from both teams improve, with hard running another feature in the last quarter.

Jermaine Miller-Lewis, Kade Stewart and Kurt Heatherley were again strong in defense, tough smothers and solid marks evident in Werribee’s half of the ground.

Although the group were getting first use of the ball, dominating clearances 29 to 44, it was Box Hill’s missed shots on goal that proved extremely costly in the final term.

Hawthorn listed player Teia Miles spoke to boxhillhawks.com.au after the narrow loss.

“We always knew coming down to Werribee that it was going to be a hard, tough game.”

“At three-quarter time Marco (Head Coach Marco Bello) just said our work rate needed to lift. Our work rate wasn’t great, and our ball use and running was really poor.”

“There were a few passages of play where we took the game on and looked really good, but in the end a few skill errors from us, and opportunities missed in front of goals, meant we were wasteful and we were beaten.”

Miles was one of the standouts for Box Hill on a disappointing day, ending the game with 28 disposals and one goal.

“I did get a bit of the footy and it was good to get a couple of kicks, but in the end I kicked one 1.4 and it’s not good enough.”

After Round 6’s tough loss, Box Hill will be looking to return to better form against the Casey Scorpions next Saturday night.

 

SCORES

 

Box Hill:       3.0 4.2 6.9 9.14 (68)

Werribee:     2.0 3.4 7.5 10.10 (70)

 

 

GOALS

 

Box Hill: P. Lawlor 2, L. Kidd 2, T. Miles, C. Jones, B Hardwick, J. Soccio, K. Stewart

Werribee: A. Black 4, J. Maishman 2, T. Gribble, C. Wagner, D. McFarlane, M. Hanson

 

 

DISPOSALS

 

Box Hill: D. Mirra 31, T. Miles 28, D. Willsmore 23, K. Lovell 22           

Werribee: T. Dumont 33, T. Gribble 25, M. Hanson 25, F. Ray 23

 

BEST

 

Box Hill: D. Mirra, M. Spangher, D. Willsmore, K. Stewart, K. Heatherley, T. Miles

Werribee: T. Dumont, A. Black E. Petterwood, M. Sodomaco, B. Preuss, S. Sherlock

 

 

Photo credit: Jonathan Dimaggio