VFL premiers: A Hawks legend becomes immortal

The Box Hill Hawks are the champions of the VFL for the fourth time at the highest level and claimed their sixth premiership overall after a comprehensive 23-point win over Geelong at Ikon Park on Sunday.

Here’s what happened in the 2026 VFL Grand Final.

A LEGEND BECOMES IMMORTAL

David Mirra is a Box Hill Hawks legend.

A dual club best-and-fairest winner, dual premiership player and captain, Norm Goss medallist, four-time VFL Team of the Year member and three-time VFL representative player – a career rewarded with two years and 11 AFL games for Hawthorn in his last two seasons.

And now, at the first time of asking, a premiership coach after he turned in a coaching masterclass and his players a committed display of defensive and pressure football to dismantle short-priced premiership favourite Geelong by 23 points in the VFL Grand Final at Ikon Park on Sunday.

The Cats had lost just two matches for the season and were largely unchallenged in any of the others in compiling a percentage 167.76, including a 47-point belting of the Hawks back in Round 2, but they saved their worst performance for many years for the biggest stage of all as they failed to fire a shot against a well-organised system.

After finishing third on the ladder, Box Hill rolled second-placed Werribee at Avalon Airport Oval and saw off a concerted challenge from a red-hot Essendon to qualify for the decider, and once again the brown and gold stripes returned to haunt the blue and white hoops in a big game.

Geelong kicked the first goal in front of 12,941 fans with a confident set shot from Jacob Molier after four minutes and had most of the play despite kicking against a strong and unpredictable wind, but couldn’t take advantage with its ball use being uncharacteristically poor.

Goals from Will McCabe and Jack Bowes, the latter after bursting powerfully out of a stoppage, represented the third and fourth lead change before the Hawks made the decisive move with 50m-plus bombs from Cam Nairn and Aidan Schubert to take a six-point lead at quarter-time.

And they were never seriously challenged after that.

Three goals to one against the wind extended the margin to 19 points at half-time and they held the Cats goalless in the third while adding two themselves to effectively end the contest, and although the favourites kicked the only two majors in the last term they came far too late to give themselves a chance to haul in the deficit.

Box Hill’s midfield, led by first-year player Ollie Greeves, 19, who won the Norm Goss Medal for game highs in disposals (28), contested possessions (15), clearances (nine) and inside-50s (seven) and Henry Hustwaite (26 disposals, 15 contested, six clearances, nine tackles, five entries), applied fierce pressure on Geelong’s prime movers and made the Cats panic with ball in hand, breaking down their system and forcing them to rush their kicks into attack.

There, they were picked off with ease by Noah Mraz, whose 20 disposals, seven marks and 12 intercepts saw him finish a narrow runner-up to Greeves for best-afield, the experienced Jack Scrimshaw (22, 10 marks, 12 intercepts, 10 rebounds), the cool head of club stalwart Stu Horner (17, nine marks, six intercepts), who added premiership captain to his VFL Team of the Year skipper crown awarded last Monday, and Bodie Ryan (17, six marks, six intercepts) with all four operating at better than 80 per cent disposal efficiency.

On the way out, wingmen Jack Dalton (24, six marks, six entries) and Cam Nairn (20, seven marks, one goal) were extremely impressive and swingman McCabe (20, nine marks, one goal) also provided a terrific link in the chain.

Ruckman Ned Reeves, who won 43 hitouts and positioned himself behind the ball with aplomb before even sneaking forward unsighted to kick the sealer late in the third term, was also dominant.

Geelong’s prime movers were well contained despite solid numbers – Liston medallist George Stevens’ 25 touches and eight tackles and Mitch Knevitt’s 22 and 11 were their fourth-lowest tallies for the season and Bowes’ 20 and a goal his second-lowest – while Jhye Clark had 27, eight intercepts and seven rebounds but his usually lethal left foot was well off-kilter as he almost missed his boot on several occasions when trying to find short passes.

Lennox Hofmann was the Cats’ best, running hard out of defence to contribute 22 disposals, 10 intercepts and seven rebounds and Nathan Kreuger was good in the last line of defence, holding Brodie McLaughlin to one goal, but the quality of entries and plethora of forward options including Calsher Dear (2.2) and Schubert (1.3), who both could easily have kicked four or five.

Joe Pike tried hard in the ruck but lowered his colours to Reeves and Max Ramsden, while Keighton Matofai-Forbes, Patrick Kelly and skipper Dan Capiron (when sent forward to provide a target with Jamieson Ballantyne, Jesse Mellor and Jay Polkinghorne unsighted) also had their moments.

Amazingly, Geelong’s 5.9 (39) was its lowest in 36 head-to-head matches against Box Hill, with the Hawks’ tally of 8.14 (62) being their equal lowest against the Cats.

In fact, it was the Cats’ equal seventh-lowest tally in the VFL era and third-lowest ever in a final, despite winning inside-50s 54-44. Box Hill won every other stat category (disposals 356-313, hit-outs 54-24, clearances 35-32, marks 98-57, tackles 72-68, intercepts 74-65, rebounds 46-35) to frank its dominance and add the 2026 Cup to those from 2018, 2013 and 2001, plus the Division 2 premierships in 1986 and 1984.

And as revealed by celebrated Hawks historian John Ure on Monday, in 25 seasons of the Box Hill-Hawthorn alignment, the club has now made the finals 21 times, making 12 preliminary finals and seven Grand Finals for four premierships.

What a club.

@JontyTheCaller