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BOX Hill Hawks were expecting Sandringham to come in the last quarter.
And come the Zebras did, in keeping with their practice this season of finishing their matches strongly.
But in an enthralling VFL preliminary final at North Port Oval on Saturday, the Hawks held off the Zebras to win by seven points and advance to the grand final for the third consecutive season.
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Hawks coach Marco Bell was as relieved as he was pleased to win the match and progress to the grand final.
“We knew they were the best last-quarter side in the comp and we knew they’d be coming,’’ Bello said of Sandy.
“We had to fight each little battle along the way. Those last five minutes, we fought and we fought and we fought. Because we had to.’’
Hudson noted his team’s shaky start and Box Hill’s ability to shut the game down late in the match.
“They’re good in those scenarios. Our blokes, we just couldn’t get out the way we wanted to,’’ he said.
“They created multiple stoppages and got numbers around the footy.’’
Hudson’s voice cracked as he responded to the suggestion he must have been proud of his team’s effort.
“We won’t go there. I’ll start to get emotional. You know, when you spend a year like that with the boys, the relationships that you make, it just hurts to see them get that close…’’
Minch - BOG and by a mile. 10 clearances, 18 possessions, 5 tackles.
Pierce - Vey good. Some nice deft taps and good follow up work.
Saad - Dangerous but has missed same chances. Has 2.1 but should have 3 or 4.
Markworth - Quiet.
McKenzie - Quiet but has done some nice things when he has it.
Saunders - Good run and has taken the game on. Bit sloppy at times but has been good.
Templeton - Quiet.
Murdoch - Kicked a nice long goal. Needs to find more of the ball.
Siposs - Looks dangerous with the ball and uses his long raking boot. Kicked a goal.
Shenton - Has kept his opponent out of the game completely but lacked polish with the ball.
Curren - Usual Curren game. Fair bit of the ball and some long tackles.
Simpkin - Quiet. Aggressive as always.
This is what should happen with these players (imho of course)
Minch - Keep - But lets start playing him in the middle in the seniors.
Pierce - Delist.
Saad - Delist.
Markworth - Delist.
McKenzie - Keep for now - Goes in hard but lacks skills and poise.
Saunders - Not Sure - Sloppy at times and could do with a haircut.
Templeton - Delist.
Murdoch - Keep for now as we need back ups.
Siposs - Delist.
Shenton - Keep for now as we need back ups.
Curren - Not Sure - Sloppy at times.
Simpkin - Delist - Just too short for key possie and not fast enough for anything else.
Holmes - Delist - He will not make it so let's stop pretending he will be any good.
Delist Pierce and Holmes - are you out of your mind?
Also not sure if you have watched McKenzie play?
Pierce and particularly Holmes are not up to it. I hope we don't trade Hickey or Longer because otherwise we're stuffed.
As ex-president Peter Summers said:
“If we are going to be a contender, we may as well plan to win the bloody thing.”
I was just thinking the same, jack's back. I believe that Pierce will make it eventually, but he's still a long way off. If we trade one of Hickey or Longer, we could get badly exposed by an injury or two. Having to expose a guy who is not ready is a sure fire way of destroying confidence, while using "pinch hitters" in the ruck exposes them to injury.
I started with nothing and I've got most of it left!
Sandringham kept grinding, and despite going a further 17 points down early in the term, goals to Minchington and Brown had the deficit at five points.
Then stood Kenny Ong, who sold some candy, got on his left foot and nailed goal of the day from about 50 metres out. For the first time, the Zebras were in front.
One final burst was needed from one team if they were going to win the game. Unfortunately, that came from the Hawks, who began peppering their goals. There was only so many times a class outfit like Box Hill were going to give Sandringham a reprieve and in the final stages, Will Langford broke clear of congestion to kick the winning goal.
That was that. Sandringham fought gallantly, but time had run out.
Darren Minchington starred all afternoon with 34 disposals, seven tackles and two goals. Myke Cook and Clint Jones both finished off stellar years with 27 touches respectively.
While up forward, Mitch Brown led the way with four goals and 12 marks to play a big hand in the resurgence. Ahmed Saad was lively with two goals and five tackles inside 50.
Once the dust settles the season which had it all will deemed a success. Next year, we go one step further
A good effort by Sandy, and very promising signs for next season with Minch and he seems to have the fire in the belly to take another step up, but can't really see anyone else ready to go up a rung at this stage- see how they go with a good preseason I guess.
Lewis started in the ruck and was a handy link player around the ground for most of the game. He was competitive in the ruck and we ended up winning the clearances
Luke Holmesby @LukeHolmesby
Not every footballer lives for Mad Monday - two days after his season ended, @lewis_pierce was toiling away at the gym in LHC by himself.
