THE BIG ONE
The Box Hill Hawks are one step away from a third consecutive grand final appearance after a convincing 40-point win over Footscray in Saturday's qualifying final at Box Hill City Oval. Hawks coach Marco Bello said it is evident that the club's "system works".
"I guess it shows that the system works, everyone from the AFL team down to our development side, you trust in the system and we'll ensure that we have success," Bello said. "Success breeds success so the guys within it need to be the drivers of it and I'm obviously at the forefront of it in ensuring that I can get these guys up."
He said he is "elated" for the Hawks, who have a week's break heading into a preliminary final.
Bello said the Hawks have found it difficult to replace tough on-baller Mitch O'Donnell, who suffered a season-ending ACL injury last week after a fine season.
"He's [O'Donnell] the barometer for us," Bello said. "We pencil 10 tackles and 15 or so contested possessions and thankfully we got Jed Anderson back and probably gave us a similar style but his heart and soul is all about Box Hill."
While the Hawks had plenty of ammunition heading in – Footscray had defeated them in last year's grand final – Bello believes that defeat was largely irrelevant. "Out of the possible 46 from last year's grand final, there were 17 guys that actually played in that from both sides," he said.
The Hawks overcame a slow start to win, 18.12 (120) to 12.8 (80). Dallas Willsmore was best on ground with five goals, while Billy Hartung, Jed Anderson, Jonathan Simpkin, Brendan Whitecross and Jonathon Ceglar dominated.
Will Hayes was the best for the Dogs with four goals.
Footscray will play the winner of Sunday's elimination final between Essendon and Casey.
THE ELIMINATION
Collingwood proved they are the danger team from outside the top four after their 29-point win over the Werribee Tigers in an elimination final at North Port Oval.
It was the Pies' first VFL finals win in six years and the first under current coach Dale Tapping.
Of course, Werribee's fate was almost known before the match – albeit they were still in the match early in the final term. There would have been echoing thoughts post-match from Tigers fans, ruing the decision of North Melbourne coach Brad Scott in resting senior players which meant that Majak Daw, Mason Wood and Kayne Turner were not playing.
The Tigers lacked firepower up forward. Matt Hanson's costly miss in the third term was a game breaker. He then gave away a free kick to Brent Macaffer, who nailed a goal to give the Pies a decisive 29-point lead in the third term.
No matter what Werribee threw at the Pies – and they had plenty in the final term, getting back within three goals – there was still a clear gap between the talent on deck.
Collingwood had 15 AFL-listed players. Four of them – Patrick Karnezis, Sam Dwyer, Brent Macaffer and ruckman Jarrod Witts – were match-winners.
The Pies will confront the loser of Sunday's qualifying final clash between Sandringham and Williamstown with more confidence given they will have up to six more AFL-listed players to choose from, including Darcy Moore, Jonathan Marsh and Brayden Maynard.
THEY SAID IT
"Once we started winning the contested ball in the middle and got it to blokes like Billy Hartung on the outside, we were really good," Jonathan Simpkin after Box Hill's triumph.
MAN OF THE MOMENT
Dallas Willsmore (Box Hill Hawks) Five goals for a best on ground.
SUNDAY WATCH
1st elimination final: Essendon v Casey Scorpions, North Port Oval, 11:40am
2nd qualifying final: Sandringham v Williamstown, Trevor Barker Beach Oval, 2pm
