Hawthorn and Box Hill Hawks AFL-VFL partnership marks 25 game-changing years

Flags galore, several AFL coaches and a stellar draftee list. Hawthorn and Box Hill swore to make their experimental alignment work and the results over 25 years have been extraordinary, writes PAUL AMY.

Paul Amy

@paulamy375

6 min read

June 19, 2024 - 6:00AM

The Box Hill Hawks celebrate after becoming VFL premiers for 2013. Picture: Michael Klein

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John Ure reckons it’s almost impossible to watch an AFL match these days without one of the teams having a connection to Box Hill Hawks.

He watches Collingwood and sees former Hawks senior coach Brendon Bolton on the Magpies’ bench.

He watches Fremantle and sees ex-Hawk Sam Switkowski swooping in the forward line.

He watches Gold Coast Suns and sees former Hawk Sam Collins defending with desperation.

He watches …

“So many of them … our tentacles are right through the AFL,’’ legendary Hawks administrator Ure says.

Of course, none extends as far as Hawthorn, whose senior coach, Sam Mitchell, was drafted from Box Hill Hawks, just as ace onballer Jai Newcombe was three years ago.

This Friday, the 25th year of the Box Hill and Hawthorn alignment to form Box Hill Hawks will be celebrated at the club’s mid-season ball.

It has produced three VFL premierships, five more flags in the now-defunct Development League, AFL coaches in Bolton, Mitchell and Adem Yze, 37 draftees and three JJ Liston Trophy winners, as well as a women’s team. Ure says he could argue a strong case for Box Hill Hawks being the most successful VFL club since the revamp of the competition in 2000.

A glorious 2001 saw Box Hill Hawks captain Matt Brewer and coach Donald McDonald lift the VFL premiership cup. Picture: Tom Campbell

In 1998, after the so-called Busse Report, the AFL announced it would be abolishing the reserves at the end of 1999 and clubs could either field their own sides in the VFL or form alignments with the old VFA teams. Talks about an easterly alliance began in 1999, with a working party established to work through it.

Ure, Tony Pinwill and Mark Lisle represented Box Hill, and Ian Dicker (president), Michael Brown (CEO) and Ivan Moore (vice-president) spoke on behalf of Hawthorn. Morning meetings were held at the “White House’’, the old weatherboard building at the top of the terraces at the City Oval.

Ure says the arrangement made a lot of sense. The clubs shared the brown and gold colours and Hawthorn was aware a lot of its members came from the 3128 and 3129 postcodes.

From Hawthorn’s end, there was also some necessity attached to the move: it had nowhere to play home games. At the same time, Box Hill was unsure if it had the financial means to operate as a stand-alone entity.

Ure, the club treasurer, had told the board that to be competitive, it would need to recruit 10 players “good enough to be on an AFL list’’. That would take about $100,000, money it neither had nor would easily raise.

Ure says the discussions between the clubs went smoothly. A composite board was formed, with equal representation from Box Hill and Hawthorn, with the Hawks to operate independently.

“I think that ensured from day one that communication was very strong and both sides had an equal voice,’’ Ure says.

“Looking back, that was pretty important.

“We signed off in the last few weeks of 1999 and I can remember shaking Ian Dicker’s hand and we both said to each other, ‘Let’s do our best to make this experiment work’. And here we are 25 years later and it’s still working a treat.’’

Picture: Scott Barbour/AFL Media/Getty Images

It is the only alignment still intact from 2000.

In fact, only the Box Hill Hawks and Frankston, defiantly standing alone, have stayed the same, other clubs having changed partners or cut ties altogether. In 2000, Port Melbourne was with Sydney, Sandringham with Melbourne, and Werribee and Williamstown shared Western Bulldogs players. North Melbourne ran the Murray Kangaroos.

“Out of all the alignments formed, ours was the one that made the most sense,’’ Ure says.

“If you had the Melbourne-based AFL clubs and the Melbourne-based VFL clubs and you started pairing them off, Box Hill and Hawthorn would be the first you’d pair off.’’

Ahead of the first season, the Hawks appointed Donald McDonald as coach and Alan McDonald as general manager. They weren’t related but they bonded in wanting to get the alignment off to a strong start.

Alan McDonald had joined Box Hill as football manager in 1999, with an eye towards the “new VFL on the horizon’’. He says it was an exciting time, but testing too.

McDonald remembers a meeting with the Hawthorn players in which they were told that, going forward, they would be playing for Box Hill if they weren’t selected in the AFL. A few didn’t like the idea of going from AFL venues to suburban VFL grounds.

“Some were quite outspoken. They said, ‘Well, what if we don’t want to do that?’’’ McDonald recalls.

“So we had some resistance and some adjustments that had to be worked through.’’

Straight-talking Hawks official John Hook had the last word: he told the players they would play wherever they were picked.

Box Hill Hawks mainstays Alan McDonald and John Ure. Picture: Paul Amy

As general manager, McDonald’s tasks ranged from attending to the commercial side and building a list of players to getting a start on ground improvements and forging relationships with the local council, the Eastern Football League and the Eastern Ranges.

Both Ure and Alan McDonald say Donald McDonald – who had steered Werribee to a premiership in 1993 and also served as its GM – was an excellent choice as coach.

Ure remembers Donald McDonald being asked at a board meeting how he would manage the competing demands of Box Hill wanting to win games and Hawthorn wanting to develop its players.

Well, he replied, it was pretty simple. He would accommodate Hawthorn’s wishes for its players, but if scores were level at the 25-minute mark of the last quarter, it was all about winning.

Box Hill Hawks finished seventh on the ladder in that kick-off season of 2000.

They rose to the premiership in 2001, with Sam Mitchell and John Baird two of their best players in the grand final victory over Werribee. It led to both being drafted, Mitchell by Hawthorn and Baird by North Melbourne.

Of that premiership team, four young Hawthorn-listers went on to AFL premiership glory: Robbie Campbell, Chance Bateman, Mark Williams and Mark Osborne. Mitchell did too.

Alan McDonald says the flag set off good things for the Hawks: a reputation for having players drafted, easier recruitment, more sponsorship and an influx of volunteers.

The 2002 JJ Liston Trophy: Hawks budding champion Sam Mitchell.

McDonald stepped aside as GM to become football manager in 2001. He’s been involved in match-day roles since, working alongside 13 Box Hill Hawks coaches.

Soon he’ll be inducted to the club’s hall of fame, joining Ure and 30 others in receiving the accolade.

McDonald assisted Damian Carroll in the premiership year of 2013 and Chris Newman in the flag success of 2018. Premierships also came in the Development League, the reserves, in 2006, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2016.

McDonald says they were testament to the quality of the club’s football program.

“Our mantra was to provide an environment for aspiring players to get the best out of themselves, whether that meant they played games here (Box Hill), whether it was a stepping stone to them being drafted or whether they cycled back to local footy,’’ he says.

“If you look through the team lists in any of the four or five divisions of the Eastern league now, there’s a smattering of names who spent time here and have gone on to become really accomplished contributors.’’

At the other end, Sam Gibson played 35 Development League and 101 VFL games before being drafted. He went on to appear in 135 AFL matches.

Luke McPharlin (R), who played a combined 256 AFL games for Hawthorn and Fremantle, hunts the footy in 2000, the first season of the Box Hill Hawks. Picture: Robert Cianflone/ALLSPORT

*****

Before the Hawks at Box Hill City Oval, there was the Mustangs of the VFA.

The nickname apparently came when Box Hill coach Brian Coghlan, urging more from his players, told them to “play like wild horses – like fiery mustangs’’. The white horse logo remains on the jumper and is the feature of Box Hill Hawks’ heritage strip, which is worn against traditional opponents.

The club’s coterie group is called the Mustang Club and each week the Hawks’ best player is named “Stang of the day’’. At any home game, the cry “Carna Stangas!’’ will often come from the terraces.

“It’s part of our identity, part of our culture, and Hawthorn has been very respectful of that,’’ Ure says.

He says it’s in keeping with an amicable partnership between the clubs.

“From day one, both clubs treated it as a partnership that had to be successful for both of us,’’ he says. “We had to develop players and be a strong VFL club, and we’ve been able to do that on both counts.’’