“Last year’s never going to go away…”
Box Hill’s Captain, David Mirra, said the incentive for the team’s 15-point win against Williamstown on Sunday was more about a positive start to the 2016 season, rather than making up for the loss at the end of 2015.
“The motivation was to win, get the four points, be 2-0, and sort of send a message to the competition that we’re not going anywhere.”
“Last year’s never going to go away – it’s always going to be in the back of your mind, even when you retire – but it’s a good feeling that we’re now 2-0 and we’ve had a good start to the season.”
The match was a tough and physical one, with both teams putting in a superb effort at both ends of the ground. After three quarters of intense pressure, Box Hill managed to take theirs to the next level in the fourth to eventually come out on top.
“I think we were challenged throughout the whole game – they were sort of kicking two goals and we would kick two back – and they kept getting the lead and we couldn’t quite get over the top. But the guys just kept persisting and in the end we were able to run over the top of them.”
For Mirra, the focus for his personal game was about more than his 19 disposals, but about his part as Captain and his part within the team.
“It wasn’t so much about disposals, it’s more just playing my role and ensuring that my voice and communication was high and being positive throughout the match and impacting on the contests that I could.”
Looking forward to next week’s game against Coburg, Mirra knows that to continue Box Hill’s impressive start to the season, the boys still have a lot of hard work to do.
“There’s always areas for improvement. I think one thing that’s let us down in the last two weeks is the defensive 50 stoppages where we’ve conceded a few goals, so that’s definitely one area we need to fix up and work on.”
Next up for Mirra and the boys is their ANZAC Round game against Coburg on Saturday, one that is sure to be another hard fought match.
Photo: Jenny Owens Photography
