The Northern Blues have fallen by 50 points to a superior Box Hill Hawks outfit at Ikon Park this morning. 

A youthful Blues outfit showed some positive signs but were outclassed by the Hawks, Box Hill triumphing 13. 15. (93) to 6. 7. (43).

The Hawks got the early jump on the Blues and didn’t look back from there, kicking four goals to two in the opening term and were in front for the entire afternoon.

A resilient Blues outfit stuck with the Hawks for the majority of the contest, with the Hawks constantly having a 20-point ascendancy before piling on the goals late.

There were some individual efforts to savour from the young Blues, not least a superb running goal from Ciaran Byrne which will take some beating as the clubhouse leader for goal of the year.

Collecting the ball in defensive 50, Byrne received two get-and-go handballs, running 80 metres through the corridor and slamming one home from just inside his attacking 50. 

Liam Jones was also effective up forward to finish with three majors, while Charlie Curnow showed some of his potential with a towering grab on the way to a 12-disposal, one-goal performance.

Stand-in captain Glenn Strachan and Tom Wilson were two of the Blues’ most prolific, finishing with 21 and 20 disposals respectively in an inexperience Blues line-up at AFL and VFL level.

Ultimately, too large of a spread of contributing Hawks proved too much for the Blues, with Joseph Fisher, Liam Kidd and Marc Pittonet combining for six goals up forward. 

Blues swingman Kristian Jaksch said there was certain room for improvement but the Hawks providing a good test for the young Blues side.

“On the whole it was the first time the new Northern Blues boys and Carlton boys played together so it might take some time to jell, but there were definitely positives to take from it,” Jaksch said.

“It was our first match after a whole-of-club reset with the VFL boys so it’s absolutely something to build on: we were excited to get our first run and find our feet and form but we look to improve each week with a growth mindset.”

Playing in his first match of the pre-season, Jaksch played both forward and back in equal measure and is hoping the Blues can build ahead of the season opener on April 10.

“You always forget how sore you get after that first hit-out against opposition bodies but it was great to just get out there and play some footy,” Jaksch said.

“You come in buzzing at the start of pre-season and then it’s a very long three or four months, so we’re really excited to put into practice what we’ve been learning over the pre-season.

“Flexibility is such a big part of footy the way it’s going these days: the more positions you can play well the more valuable you are to your team so myself and Jayden Foster swapped at half time which was good for both of us.”

Northern’s next hit-out will be at Punt Road Oval against Richmond on Thursday, March 24, in a curtain raiser for Carlton’s AFL season opener against the Tigers at the MCG.

NORTHERN BLUES     2.0     3.2      5.6      6. 7. (43)
BOX HILL HAWKS       4.2     6.7      9.10    13. 15. (93)

GOALS
Northern Blues: Jones 3, Byrne, Smith, Curnow