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The Hawks had to wait until last weekend's Round 5 before breaking the ice but Christensen says they are well on the way to overcoming early problems and should gradually develop into a solid combination.

Apart from the standout teams - last season's grand finalists Sandringham and Geelong - Christensen sees no reason why Box Hill can't match the rest.

The Box Hill coach is particularly excited about draftee Mitch Thorp, named to to play his first game today at home against the Northern Bullants.

The Tasmanian teenager, taken at No .6 in last year's national draft, has been a late starter, but has been training strongly for several weeks after recovering from a hip problem.

Thorp is 194cm and 86cm and Christensen has already seen his development.

"He is getting bigger and he looks like he will be a really good player," he said.

Box Hill might also be catching the Northern Bullants at the right time.

Last season's home-and-away pacesetter hasn't been nearly as impressive this year and Dylan McLaren, David Teague and Jake Edwards all suffered significant injuries in the last round.

"We haven't lost anyone from the Tassie game (Round 5 win at Bellerive) and we have Xavier Ellis available," Christensen said.

"We will come up all right, too. We are looking a lot better, even at the weekend we missed eight set shots in the first half.

"Jason Cook kicked 3.5 last week and is starting to come good . . . Josh Kennedy is just learning to play inside midfield . . . there's Matt Ball, Beau Muston . . . Sam Gibson had 33 possessions against Coburg.

"Zac Dawson is unlucky not to be the Hawthorn side. He is playing the best football of his career and he can't get a game.

"In the first game we were diabolical, we had only seven Hawthorn players but then we walked away from the Port Melbourne game disappointed we wasted our chances," Christensen said.

Box Hill had ground availability and light problems at the start of the season but the coach says they are again enjoying a solid relationship with AFL affiliate Hawthorn.

Geelong won't be unhappy that its clash with Bendigo Bombers has been shifted from Bendigo to Skilled Stadium tomorrow.

Coburg Tigers' young forward Jack Riewoldt, who looked a class mover in his last outing against Box Hill, gets another chance to press his claims for inclusion in Richmond's side when he plays against Casey Scorpions at Coburg City Oval tomorrow.'

Casey's line-up includes another promising teenager, Justin Sweeney, who is close to making his debut with AFL affiliate St Kilda.

Coburg has named Kent Kingsley at full-forward for his first game of the VFL season.

Dean Kelly, who kicked six goals in last season's TAC Cup grand final and was strangely ignored in the AFL's national, pre-season and rookie drafts, could get his chance for third-placed Port Melbourne against North Ballarat today.

He has been named among eight interchange players.