EFL Media Preview for Boronia Hawks

3 DAYS TO GO | EFL Media will be previewing each club ahead of the 2019 season with the #InFocus2019 series, all thanks to Yarra Valley Water & Choose Tap.  

By: Daniel Cencic

AFTER winning premierships across three men’s grades last September, Boronia heads into 2019 with a wary sense of confidence of the season ahead. 

As he embarks on his second year in charge at the Hawks after upsetting a previously-undefeated Ringwood outfit in the Division 3 grand final, senior coach Matt Clark says this year is set to be among the most challenging of his career in light of the competition restructure.

Boronia will form part of the third tier – Division 2 – in the five-tier competition.

“This year is going to be one of the hardest I’ve coached,” Clark said.

“In every game, you’ve got to be on and every game is super important (and) there’s no chance to take a breath like there was last year in a couple of games.

“Our group’s internal pressure helps drive that performance that we’re looking for.

“We’re fully aware how even this competition’s going to be.

“When you win a premiership you want to go up, but I think what we’ve got we’ve had to adjust our mindset really quickly to say that this is where we are and where’s our next opportunity.

“When you look at it, the top six last year were super even.

“We finished third at the end of the home and away season and we’re under no illusions that we’ve got a job to do too.

“Having the two sides, Mitcham and Mulgrave, coming down from a higher division is always going to be another challenge.”

Boronia has retained the majority of its list, while adding Wantirna South product Jack Hare, Jake Millen (East Burwood) and Jeremy Mason (East Ringwood).

21-year-old Hare played 19 senior games at the Devils across 2017-18, while Millen joins the club off the back of two seasons in the under-19s at the Rams, before appearing for the Oakleigh Chargers in the NAB League across 2015-16. Mason played 18 reserves matches for East Ringwood last season.

“He (Jake Millen) has been Box Hill-listed for the last couple of years as a midfielder, who again is a tough inside body who should be able to add strong depth and add to our already-strong midfield,” Clark said.

“I’m familiar with Jack (Hare) and he’s a really good user of the footy and we’re trying to get him to run through the midfield and for us to be cleaner as we’re around that area of the ground.

“He’s got great pace, and great skills – he’s a really good addition to the group.”

Meanwhile, the club is hoping young gun Harvey Chinn can make his name at VFL level, after signing with Port Melbourne earlier this month.

“We would love him to spend a hell of a lot of time at Port but in reality, it’s going to be a tough gig for him and I hope he has every success,” Clark said.

“I think we’ll probably see him at least 50 per cent of the time, if not more, but he’ll train with them (Port Melbourne).

“His fitness is at a really elite level now and when we get him back he’ll fit straight in.”

Clark says it was imperative that the group set the tone from the beginning this pre-season following three flags.

“It was really important on the first night of pre-season that we came with the right attitude and what we spoke about was that (2018) was one year and it was really good and we actually discussed how do we improve from there,” he said.

“The good thing is we had 15 players 21 or under on grand final day so it’s a young list, even in the reserves and under-19s, it’s all a young list.

“We’ve found the whole pre-season that we’ve got to improve our fitness, our skills and everything’s about re-establishing our brand right from the first night.

“We’ve gone straight into game drills, tackling and just being a really good working side which is what got us to where we were last year.

“I couldn’t be more impressed with the guys, everyone is doing better times, everyone is in great nick and I think they’re at that age now – they’re hungry for it now that they’ve had a taste of it.

“They’re really driven and motivated to chase it again.

“We’ve got some leaders coming through the group that if they see anything slip up or even the wrong tone of voice that they address it straight away.”

Boronia will again field a side in the Deakin University Eastern Region Women’s competition, led by co-coaches Ray Lacey and Scott Nicholas. 

“The women’s team essentially wanted to keep training as soon as the last round finished,” Nicholas said.

“By the end of the season we’d built up our numbers from only having nine at the start of the year to about 25 at the end of the year.

“We’ve had about 30 to 40 on the track most nights and we’ll be having an under-16 girls team this year so we’ve had the under-16 girls training with us as well which is great for the club because we’re starting to build that female football pathway.”

The Hawks have named a leadership group of eight ahead of the season, including Sam Mellis, Bec Allen, Amanda Cellante, Karen Little, Candyce Wright, Kat Buzinskas, Dee Caiafa, and Courtney Storen.

“It’s a great mix of different ages, experiences in sport and footy and parents of juniors – it’s a really good group we’ve got,” Nicholas said.

Nicholas highlighted Kat and Jess Buzinskas along with Sam Mellis as players to watch this season.

“They (Kat and Jess Buzinskas) played their first games in Round 4 last year and they had a huge impact on the team both on-field and off-field,” he said.

“Jess made the team of the year as a rover and Kat held down centre half back and won our best and fairest – their attack on the ball, their tackling pressure and their speed and agility sets them apart.

“We’re really excited about Sam Mellis in the ruck – Sam’s got a good basketball background and she’s taken to footy really well.”

Boronia will unfurl its premiership flags at home against Mulgrave on Saturday, April 6, while the women’s fixture is to be released at a later date. 

A Message for Boronia Hawks Auskickers!

Hi All, hope you have all had a great summer and are settling back into the school year.

We would like to invite you to register again for Boronia Auskick  (if you have not already done so). For those of you that are looking at going to Under 8’s or 9’s please get in touch. We are offering all Auskick kids free junior membership if they are doing both Auskick and Under 8 or 9’s!

2019 Boronia Auskick Rego Flyer
2019 Boronia Auskick Rego Flyer

Our first night is Friday 26 April! Each week we will be having an award from our local sponsors and certificates. In addition, we have been really lucky to have a grid game on Saturday June 29 Hawthorn v West Eagles.

Please click on this link to register for Boronia Auskick!

Samantha Dunkinson
2019 Auskick Coordinator
0419 502 633


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Boronia Auskick is proudly supported our Community Partners:

Boronia McDonalds in Dorset Road, Boronia and

Lipari Pizza Pasta in Dorset Road, Boronia.

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BORONIA HAWKS NETBALL TEAMS FOR 2019!

Boronia Hawks Netball Manager, Sherridan Leeson, is pleased to announce our two EFL Netball teams for 2019!!

Boronia Hawks (Requesting Division 1)
Carla Alexander; Madison Barrie; Rhiannon Crompton; Mandy Bell; Ally Forrest; Mel Hutton; Ellie Ingwersen; Georgia Himmelreich; Leanne Fredericks & Kellie Newton. A BIG welcome to new player Georgia who is joining the Hawks from Blackburn.

Boronia Brown (Requesting Division 4)
Rylee Krenn; Chloe Timms; Alex McKaige; Courtney Krenn; Breanna Martin; Dani Kemp; Lauren Bevan; Sherridan Leeson; Mollie McMahon & Lizzie Akesson.  A BIG welcome to new players Chloe (one of our footballers), Rylee and Lizzie!

Lets have a huge, successful 2019 season – on and off the court!! GO HAWKA

 

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Thank you to the Hawks Nest Coterie Group.

Boronia Hawks is extremely fortunate to have enjoyed outstanding support over recent years from our independent coterie, the Hawks Nest Coterie Group.   The Club is delighted to announce that the executive committee of the Hawks Nest has just agreed to generously sponsor the Club once again in 2019.

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Some very proud members of the Hawks Nest Coterie Group celebrating after the historic Triple Premiership in 2018.

The Hawks Nest has three main objectives:

  1. Fund the recruitment and retention of players;
  2. Fund Club improvements;
  3. Support Junior development.

Sponsorship from the Coterie is a privilege, not a right for the Club and we work together to ensure that these objectives are met.

We thank the entire membership of the Hawks Nest Coterie Group once again for supporting the Club in a way that contributes to development of our young playing group.  The Coterie’s contribution sends a powerful message to all members of our Club that the Coterie stands firm in keeping our best young talent wearing the ‘Hawka’ jumper!

Particular thanks to Robert “Bomma” Kimmitt, Chair of the Hawks Nest and a Life Member of the Club; and to Leanne Rech, the Group’s Secretary.  We are most grateful for your on-going support and fund raising initiatives and we hope to be able to continue to support your efforts in growing the Coterie Group in the years ahead.

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Robert Kimmitt (on the right) addressing the Hawka faithful at the Season Launch in 2016.

 

 

 

Boronia appoints High Performance Manager

As part Boronia Hawks commitment to talent development, we are very excited to announce the appointment of Mitchell Wright as our High Performance Manager.

Mitch is a practicing Exercise Physiologist at Inspiro in Lilydale and will have the key responsibility of implementing the Club’s investment in the Playertek GPS Player Tracking System.

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Club Chairman, Scott Nicholas, and Club Football Director, Ash Johnston, welcome former team mate Mitchell Wright back to Boronia as our High Performance Manager.

Boronia’s Football Director, Ash Johnston, said that Mitch is a perfect fit to manage this program that will take the Club to the leading edge of performance analysis in local football.  The use of this software will allow the Club’s Football Department to better analyse and manage our young playing group and shows the Club’s strong commitment to developing the in-house talent coming through our junior pathways.

Mitch played over 200 games with Boronia Hawks through juniors and seniors, starting at Boronia Auskick many years ago with current players Luke Leeson, Nathan Allen and Scott Nicholas.  He was a fast and clever wingman, with terrific skills and a great leap.  Mitch recently played in Olinda-Ferny Creek’s 2017 premiership.

The Club is absolutely delighted to welcome Mitch and his family back to Boronia.

Mitch Wright dominating the member's wing in 2010.
Mitch Wright dominating the member’s wing in 2010.

 

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Mitch Wright with Senior Coach, Matt Clark, and Club trainer / physiotherapist Gabriel Qi.
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Mitch Wright with former team mates Ryan Henderson and Matt Buzinskas and rising stars Tyler Steele and Josh Hannon.