Round 6, Box Hill City Oval
Saturday 10 May
The coach described it as another “spirited” loss but that’s beginning to provide hollow consolation for the winless Box Hill Hawks.
The Hawks sit at 0-6 after falling to the Cats by 14 points on Saturday at Box Hill City Oval.
“It’s another spirited loss which we’re not happy about, we had all the opportunities early, we were 5.4 and had 18 inside 50’s to 7 but weren’t able to capitalise and that’s something that has plagued us all season,” Hawks coach Barry Mitchell said.
Despite the Hawks gallant performances of late Mitchell refused to read past the side’s ladder standing.
“You can say that but we keep losing, we’re not making any excuses, we’re last and we haven’t won a game”
“We played well, they’re a good side, they won the premiership last season and had 18 (AFL) listed players playing (on Saturday).”
The home side caught the unwary Cats off guard in the opening minutes piling on five goals to lead by 32 points.
Cameron Stokes and Digby Morrell each had two by that stage and the Hawks were well on top.
Geelong broke down across the middle every time they went forward early and trailed the inside 50 count 18-7 at quarter time.
Man of the match Shannon Burns sparked the visitors as they clawed their way back in the first term. In reality the Cats were lucky to be within 15 points.
Box Hill coach Barry Mitchell warned his side about the dangerous Burns at the break after he side-stepped numerous opponents with ease.
As if on cue Travis Varcoe did just that early in the second, side-stepping the entire Hawks defence to stroll into an open goal.
The Cats began to gain the ascendancy linking up with rapid chains of handballs the Box Hill players couldn’t repel.
Still, the Hawks retained their 14 point lead at half-time.
In the third term, the intensity lifted noticeably, with both sides throwing themselves into an absorbing contest.
Geelong took the lead for the first time midway through and soon extended it to seven points. Tim Clarke pegged back a vital goal for the Hawks but the Cats hit back just before the last change to lead by seven points.
Early in the last Brent Renouf took the mark of the day if not the mark of the season as he soared over a pack deep in defence, hanging for what seemed like an eternity before landing with a thud.
Each time the Cats skipped away the Hawks answered but just couldn’t get that second goal on the run. Moss’ helicopter goal from 45m was a highlight and lifted the crowd.
But as was the case throughout the Cats had the answers when they needed them, closing out the game with style.
The final margin of 14 points was probably a fair indication of the gap between the two sides on the day.
Shannon Burns picked up best a field honours while Travis Varcoe shined with three goals and 25 touches.
Garry Moss was the Hawks best; he kicked three goals and was influential, setting up Hawk attacks all day.
Upon his return to the side Mitch Thorp was moved down to Centre Half Back and played a solid game. That could be a more permanent feature with Hawthorn possibly grooming him for that position.
Zac Dawson was good in just his second game for the year he swept across to cover other defenders and timed his spoils very well.
Josh Kennedy was enourmous again for the Hawks, his figures weren’t what we’re used to (22 disposals) but his ability to keep knocking the ball on and win the 50-50 loose balls was outstanding.
Cameron Hunter (12) ran and chased hard, Brendon Whitecross played his best game for the club (20 and eight marks) while Clarke (28), Kenna (27) and Neville (28) were good yet again.
Sam Gibson in another positive played his best game for the season. He finished with 33 possessions and found himself amongst everything particularly in the second half.
On Gibson Mitchell put the number into perspective.
“It’s not just about getting possessions, sometimes you get the ball to the players that can carry it well, he did that today, I think Kennedy, Stokes, Renouf and Clarke in the midfield probably got the ball out to those sorts of players.”
On next weeks home game against Port Melbourne Mitchell didn’t give much away.
“Hopefully we can get over the line, we’ve been able to get close but just haven’t quite got there yet,” he said.
Box Hill Hawks: 5.4 / 7.8 / 8.11 / 13.12 (90)
Geelong Cats: 3.1 / 5.4 / 10.6 / 16.8 (104)
Goals: Moss 3, Clarke 2, Morrell 2, Stokes 2, Shore, Gibson, Kenna, Dowler
Best: Kenna, Renouf, Dawson, Kennedy, Clarke, Stokes
Hawks in reserve
Garry Moss – 16 possessions, five marks, three goals. One of the Hawks best, he was very creative across half forward setting up attack after attack, while finishing off himself.
Cameron Stokes – 17 touches, five marks, two goals. Solid without being outstanding. Did move up the ground at times so he had to work a little more to get his touches.
Josh Kennedy – 22 disposals. Kennedy was enourmous again for the Hawks, his ability to keep knocking the ball on and win the 50-50 loose balls was outstanding.
Brent Renouf – 13 disposals, 19 hit outs. Took a contender for mark of the year in the last quarter deep in defence. Was up against a good ruck division in Trent West and the towering Simpson so didn’t dominate as he has in previous weeks.
Tim Clarke – 28 touches, nine marks, two goals. Worked really hard as per usual and got buried by bigger opponents a couple of times. His ball use was great, spotting up a few teammates with “long range” cross field balls.
Alex Grima – 10 possessions, four tackles. Again didn’t have any real impact was used off the bench for the most part.
Mitch Thorp – 16 touches, eight marks. Used in defence and seemed to revel in the role. He looked a lot more confident and had a lot more purpose to his play. He was thrown forward but played mainly at CHB.
Travis Tuck – nine possessions. Seemed to struggle with injury (ankle) and came of limping in the first and second terms. Didn’t reappear in the second half.
Beau Dowler – 13 possessions, 11 marks, 1.4. Dowler presented very well but misfired with his kicking. Could easily have kicked a bag but didn’t post his first goal until the contest was essentially over. Took a couple of strong grabs in front of his eyes.
Jaryd Morton – 20 touches, seven marks. Relatively quiet and looked slow at times in possession. Often looks as if he doesn’t know what to do with it.
Zac Dawson – seven disposals. Good contributor in defence particularly in the second half. Make some good decisions in terms of when to go and when not to, covered team mates as well.
Brendon Whitecross – 20 touches, eight. As mentioned before he can take a good mark and plays mainly on the wing. Probably his best game for the club and looks a good all round sort of player. Linked up well with the midfielders.
