Round 13, Sunday 6 June
Box Hill City Oval
The Box Hill Hawks were outclassed by a more experienced Coburg Tigers side, going down by 52 points on Sunday 18.14.122 to 9.16.70.
The Tigers had the luxury of fielding a few extra Richmond players in Dean Polo, Jay Shultz and Jake King with the AFL’s split round break, while the Hawks lost key players Steve Kenna and Matt Suckling before three-quarter time.
Hawks coach Barry Mitchell admitted his side wasn’t good enough on the day but said injuries to key players had hurt.
“They kicked straight obviously in the first quarter into the breeze - they kicked seven goals straight we kicked 4.5 - so with the wind advantage it was too much,” Mitchell said.
“We lost two running players in Kenna and Suckling so were a bit short on the bench.”
“We were outclassed a bit in the end with the amount of listed players they had in their side today.”
The Hawks skipped away to a 14 point lead midway through the first term but that was the only time they led during the match.
The Tigers slotted six of the next seven goals to gain a healthy advantage, one which they never surrendered.
After stringing together some good football in the first term the Hawks’ play became a little stagnant in the second quarter as numbers were thrown behind the ball.
The aptly named Fortunato Caruso swept on a loose ball to screw a goal through from the boundary moments before half-time to sting the Hawks.
Coburg kicked three early goals after the main change to lead by 40 points before the Hawks staged a mini renaissance with goals to Zac Dawson – who was thrown forward – and two goals on the run to Nathan Batsanis.
The tempo lifted noticeably with the three-quarter-time margin 30 points. It was a situation the Hawks had faced time and time again this season, but one they had recovered from on two previous occasions.
Box Hill needed the first goal to breed confidence but it wasn’t to be, Coburg snagged the first two, making the task impossible.
The Hawks struggled at times in the middle, with Coburg winning the clearances 18-13. Players like King and Polo managed to extract the ball while the Tigers also found space through the midfield where Box Hill couldn’t.
Of the nine goals Box Hill kicked, only two of those were to permanent forwards (Dowler and Smithwick), which was indicative of the side’s inability to find a leading target Inside 50 on the day.
The Hawks had three premier forwards in Mitch Thorp who had a quiet game, Tim Boyle who struggled with injury and Beau Dowler who started well but drifted out of the game.
Dawson performed well when he went forward as he has all season and tamed giants Angus Graham and Tristan Cartledge who rotated through full-forward.
Nathan Batsanis and Ryan Breese were terrific in the midfield and across half forward. Batsanis continued his stellar month of football with 24 disposals and two classy goals while Breese provided some grit in the middle with 17 touches and seven tackles.
Batsanis also had to deal with some heavy treatment from the opposition in the second half.
Mitchell was happy with the aforementioned as well as youngsters Thomas Warby and Ben Smithwick who did “bits and pieces”.
The inexperienced Tim Walsh battled hard in the ruck but has had to bear the brunt of that role earlier than expected, with the Hawks luckless run with injured ruckman continuing.
“It’s his (Walsh) first year and he’s coming off a serious knee injury but he’s pretty much all we’ve got at the moment,” Mitchell said.
Luke McEntee (injured), Brent Renouf (suspended), Simon Taylor (gashed knee), Max Bailey (out for season) remain on the sidelines indefinitely while Lukas Markovic, who can play in ruck, is expected back next week.
Mitchell also said crumbing forward Matthew Stokes wasn’t too far away but for the time being it appears the Hawks aren’t having too much luck with injury.
The seniors travel to Skilled Stadium next Saturday to face Geelong in the AFL curtain raiser at 10:40am.
Box Hill Hawks: 4.5 / 5.7 / 8.14 / 9.16 (70)
Coburg Tigers: 7.0 / 9.7 / 14.8 / 18.14 (122)
Goals: Kenna 2, Batsanis 2, Gibson, Dawson, Dowler, Whitecross, Smithwick
Best: Breese, Tuck, Batsanis, Neville, Hunter, Dawson
Hawks in Reserve
Matt Suckling – 3 touches: Came off hurt and played no further part in the game.
Beau Dowler – 13 disposals, four marks, one goal: Started very well, setting up Box Hill attacks but didn’t benefit from a cluttered forward line. Played a little in the ruck and down back as well.
Travis Tuck – 26 disposals. Was run down at one stage with a clear lack of awareness but played a very good game in all. Plays more of a role at the stoppages unlike last year where he played more of an outside player.
Josh Kennedy – 20 possessions, six tackles: Hasn’t displayed the form he did earlier in the year upon his return to Box Hill but still remains an integral component in the midfield setup.
Zac Dawson – nine touches, four marks, one goal: Played on ruckman Tristan Cartledge and Angus Graham when they rotated forward. Both kicked one goal a piece but Dawson was named in the best. He did some good work in the ruck and was probably the most effective of the three (Dowler and Walsh) in the hit outs. Went forward and kicked one goal, good all round game.
Tim Boyle – 10 possessions, four marks. Really struggled with his hip, coming off of in the second term for treatment and later in the game. Was relatively unsighted in the match after his five-goal haul against Collingwood last week.
Brendan Whitecross – 14 possessions, seven marks, one goal: Couldn’t find the ball through the midfield as he has in previous weeks and was run down in much the same fashion as Tuck, resulting in another goal.
Timothy Walsh – 8 disposals, 3 marks, 13 hit outs. Didn’t have a huge impact and was out of his depth against the VFL’s premier ruckman Tristan Cartledge. His disposal around the ground is very good as is his mark but he’s probably not tall enough to be a permanent ruckman. The ruck was an area Coburg dominated winning the hit outs 53-28.
Mitch Thorp – 16 touches, two marks: Tried really hard but it didn’t quite click for him on the day. Had a nasty fall sliding into the fence guttering which summed up his day.
Alex Grima – 10 possessions: Played in the reserves and didn’t have a great impact.
