Australian Football

Box Hill

Box Hill Football Club was formed in 1936 and played in the Eastern Suburban League prior to its admission to the VFA, along with Moorabbin, in 1951. The side was quick to come to terms with the higher standard of competition, and contested the finals as early as 1956, finishing third. Two years later came another finals appearance for fourth place. This early promise was not built upon, however, and when the VFA introduced a second division in 1961 it was there that the Mustangs found themselves, and indeed would remain for more than two decades.

Prior to gaining promotion in 1984 Box Hill played in just one second division grand final, that of 1970, losing by 30 points to Coburg at Toorak Park in front of a crowd of 6,000. Between 1977 and 1981, however, the Mustangs were consistently the worst side in the VFA, managing an overall success rate for the period of just 8.2%.

As the 1980s progressed, however, the side’s performances steadily improved. After narrowly failing to reach the second division finals in 1982 and 1983 the Mustangs enjoyed a marvellous 1984 season that culminated in a resounding (and indeed record) 135 point grand final win with scores of 32.23 (215) to a hapless Oakleigh’s 11.14 (80). Centreman Craig O’Shea, ruck rover Peter Nicholson, 10 goal full forward Dale Carroll, and rover Tony Brown (son of the club’s first Liston Trophy winner, Don Brown) were best for the victors.

The discrepancy in standard between first and second divisions was clearly evidenced the following year, however, as the Mustangs were immediately relegated.

In 1986 the side again reached the division two grand final, this time against Sunshine, whose full forward Hugh Litchfield posed a major threat having already kicked well over 100 goals for the year (he finished with 134). However, with full back and skipper Richard Murrie playing a tight, disciplined game the Mustangs managed to keep their noses in front for most of the day en route to a 3 goal win. Final scores were Box Hill 14.14 (98) to Sunshine 11.14 (80), with rovers Peter Nicholson and Doug Gleeson and back pocket Barry Dwyer especially prominent.

This time the Mustangs had genuinely arrived as a force and over the ensuing decade they were regular finals participants without quite managing to take the final step to premiership glory. The nearest miss came in 1994 when Box Hill lost a hard fought grand final to Sandringham by just 9 points. In 2000 Box Hill forged an alliance with AFL club Hawthorn as the VFL competition underwent a radical overhaul. The affiliation quickly reaped dividends as the newly-christened Hawks defeated minor premiers Werribee by 37 points in the 2001 grand final.

The side again qualified for the grand final two years later, but lost on this occasion to a highly motivated Williamstown side.

Subsequent performances were less noteworthy, however, with twelfth place out of thirteen clubs in 2007 the nadir.

The Box Hill Hawks entered the 2008 season under a new coach in Barry Mitchell and in the ninth year of their partnership with Hawthorn. After starting the season disastrously with 9 consecutive losses, the side won 6 of its final 11 matches to rise to eleventh on the ladder.

The Hawks played in the finals in 2009 for the first time since 2005 following a strong recruiting drive which yielded ex-Melbourne player Adem Yze and former AFL listed players Sam Iles and Ed Curnow. Under first-year coach Brendon Bolton, the team finished fifth on the ladder with 12 wins and 6 losses. It defeated Geelong reserves in the first elimination final before narrowly losing an epic semi final to Port Melbourne 19.10 (124) to 19.14 (128) in a game rated as one of the best played in the VFL for many years. At the end of 2009, Iles and Lukas Markovic were drafted onto AFL lists.

Box Hill built on its improved form in 2009 with another strong performance in 2010, again under the leadership of Brendan Bolton. After an indifferent start to the season, the team came home strongly with 7 consecutive wins to again finish fifth on the ladder. In circumstances uncannily reminiscent of the previous season, the Hawks won their elimination final in strong fashion and again met Port Melbourne in the first semi final.

In a tense match played in quagmire conditions on Port Melbourne’s home ground, the Hawks defeated Port for the first time in a finals game, 14.11 (95) to 12.17 (89), with the winning goal coming in the dying seconds.

North Ballarat ended the Box Hill Hawks' season in the preliminary final the following week, the match played at Box Hill City Oval. At the end of 2010, Bolton was appointed as an assistant coach by Hawthorn while Ed Curnow, Robert Campbell and Cameron Pedersen were drafted onto AFL club lists.

Under a new senior coach, Springvale games record holder Damian Carroll, the Box Hill Hawks experienced an inconsistent season in 2011, winning just 7 games and losing a number by narrow margins to fall into eighth place on the ladder which was nevertheless good enough for them to qualify for a third successive finals appearance. With a severely weakened team owing to Hawthorn resting a number of its AFL players, the Box Hill Hawks fought hard in the elimination final against Werribee before going down by 26 points.

Box Hill captain Sam Gibson won the Club Champion award for the first time and passed the milestone of 100 senior games during the season, later being drafted as a rookie by AFL side North Melbourne.

In recent seasons the Hawks have been consistently strong performers, qualifying for three successive grand finals between 2013 and 2015. In 2013 they overcame Geelong reserves in the grand final by 21 points, 14.15 (99) to 11.12 (78), but the other two grand finals, against Footscray reserves in 2014 and Williamstown the following year, were lost.

Box Hill missed the finals in 2016 after managing just seven wins from their 18 home and away matches. They finished 10th. They improved to qualify for the 2017 finals series in second place and ultimately made it through to a preliminary final clash with Richmond reserves in which they succumbed to defeat by 65 points. In 2018 they enjoyed a marvellous season culminating in their third VFL premiership, obtained by means of a hard fought 10.12 (72) to 8.14 (62) grand final defeat of Casey Demons. The Hawks actually trailed at every interval, by margins of 21, 17 and 9 points before registering the only three goals of the final term to prove themselves worthy premiers.