From Whitehorse Leader
Reported by Conor Ryan
Full Story Click Here
BOX Hill is a club with a long history, but it is a history lacking in premiership success.
Once the White Horses, briefly the Stranglers, memorably the Mustangs and now the Hawks, Box Hill's triumphs are made more valuable by their scarcity.
The club has just three senior premierships to show for its 75 years of existence.
The 10-year anniversary of the club's most recent premiership, the 2001 VFL grand final win against Werribee, was marked at a luncheon earlier this month attended by many of the players and coaches involved.
The premiership, Box Hill's first at VFL level, was an almost immediate by-product of the club's affiliation with AFL club Hawthorn, which began a year earlier.
It remains a shining example for supporters of the VFL/AFL alignment model.
Box Hill president Tony Pinwill said the premiership dispelled many of the doubts held by some of the Box Hill faithful.
"It meant a lot to the club; it was really important," he said.
"When we did the alignment originally in 2000, a lot of people thought it would be purely developmental for Hawthorn, and a winning culture wouldn't be a priority for Box Hill.
"When we won, it put a lot of those fears aside."
Five members of that Box Hill premiership team would go to on to celebrate premiership success together at AFL level, in 2008 with Hawthorn.
The Hawks' captain from that day is perhaps the perfect poster boy for the Box Hill-Hawthorn relationship.
Sam Mitchell, described in this paper 10 years ago as "a young Mooroolbark ball magnet deemed too stocky to get a pre-season at an AFL club", helped propel Box Hill to premiership glory and himself into the AFL, drafted by the Hawks just two months later.
Mitchell, who joined Box Hill in 2001, said he was lucky to land at a "really strong club".
"I was fortunate enough to get drafted. A lot of that comes from being in a successful team," he said.
"If we hadn't been successful, I don't think I would've been drafted. I was fortunate to be in the right place at the right time. I was taught and coached really well.
"I think Box Hill had a really good mix that year of senior players and young players, from their list and from Hawthorn. I was very fortunate to be involved in an era with a lot of talented young players that were able to go through the system together."
Mitchell starred in the 2008 AFL premiership along win with Box Hill premiership teammates Chance Bateman, Michael Osborne, Robert Campbell and Mark Williams.
He said the success of recent Box Hill players, Ed Curnow and Cam Pedersen, showed the club provided a viable pathway to the AFL.
"When I went down to Box Hill, it wasn't really seen as a pathway. I think now, if you play good local footy or come out of Ranges, you know if you play good VFL footy, the AFL recruiters are looking," Mitchell said.
"As far as alignments go, I think this one is very strong. Hopefully, Hawthorn can continue to pick up Box Hill players and strengthen that link."
