There will be plenty of soul-searching at Werribee this week after a humiliating loss to Box Hill in the opening match of the year.

The Tigers were simply outclassed by the Hawks and were defeated by a surprising 83-points.

“It was a pretty disappointing way to begin the season but Box Hill was very impressive with its pressure and game-style,” North Melbourne development coach Jason Lappin said.

“The Hawks were very committed to zoning defensively and the Tigers struggled to get hands on the footy as a result.”

Lappin choosing to highlight Kangaroos’ draftee Jamie MacMillan’s game after the teen chalked up 13 disposals with seven handball receives.

“Jamie was pretty good and worked very hard in defence. He provided a great deal of run out of the backline and was more than serviceable in a game with few positives overall.”

Making matters worse for Werribee was the sickening blow to North rookie Ben Speight. The 19 year-old leaving the field early with a broken jaw after a collision with Ben Fagan.

“Ben was going okay up until that point. He has had surgery to repair the break on Sunday and should be back in four to six weeks. Ben Fagan was reported for the incident so we will see what happens there.”

Nathan O’Keefe (10 disposals, 7 marks) was the pick of the forwards with Robbie Tarrant kept quiet with just eight touches and a behind to his name.

Ben Ross (15 disposals, 1 goal, 2 behinds, 4 tackles) had a tough day at the office with plenty of attention from his opponents.

“The Hawks put a fair bit of time into Ben throughout the match and they were very aware of the impact he is capable of having. Despite the tag, he had a good match and could have finished with three goals.”

While the Werribee reserves weren’t able to produce a win either, they were much more competitive in a 3-point loss.

North’s gritty midfielder Levi Greenwood made his return to football after recovering from a broken toe and didn’t miss a beat. The 21 year-old had a team-high 28 disposals to go along with eight tackles, six clearances and three behinds.

“Levi was outstanding considering the amount of footy he’s missed due to injury,” Lappin commented.

“His three behinds were probably the only negative thing he did all day…everything else was fantastic and he will no doubt burst back onto the AFL scene in the coming weeks.”

Sudanese-born rookie Majak Daw put in another eye-catching performance playing mainly in the ruck.

“Majak had a remarkable game and recorded 32 hit-outs. We’ve been working really hard with him over the past week on his ruck work and it has paid dividends.”

The 19 year-old also had 18 disposals, kicked one goal and registered two behinds.

“Majak is certainly living up to his potential and was really impressive. He had five marks and three of those were contested so he really took another giant step forward in his development.”

Fellow North rookie Matthew Scott (16 disposals, 5 clearances) was again solid in the midfield while Alan Obst (14 disposals) is building his strength after a long stint on the side-lines over the pre-season with a quadricep injury.

Ayden Kennedy (12 disposals) and Conor Meredith (8 disposals, 3 tackles) will be looking to have more of an impact in order to earn a promotion into the senior Werribee side.

Seniors:
Box Hill: 21.18.144
Werribee: 9.7.61

Reserves:
Box Hill: 16.9.105
Werribee: 15.12.102