The fact that thirty-seven Box Hill players were selected for the AFL draft shows how strong the longest-running VFL-AFL alignment is.
On December 23, 1999, Hawthorn Football Club and Box Hill Football Club joined together to form the Box Hill Hawks.
The leaders of the talks were Tony Pinwell, Mark Lisle, and John Ure from Box Hill, President Ian Dicker, Vice-President Ivan Moore, and CEO Michael Brown of Hawthorn.
Due to the association, Hawthorn players who do not make the team every week play for the Box Hill Hawks in the VFL.
Box Hill Hawks Season memberships were given to Hawthorn members, granting them admission to all home games held at Box Hill City Oval.
Box Hill won its first-ever VFL premiership a year after Donald McDonald was named the team’s first coach and Brian Coleman as chairman of selectors. Two more titles would follow in 2013 and 2018.
The longest-running VFL-AFL alignment is Box Hill/Hawthorn, which has produced a number of good results, including premierships and a number of players and coaches from the program making it to the AFL level.
Five members of the 2001 VFL Premiership—Chance Bateman, Robert Campbell, Mark Osborne, Mark Williams, and current Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell—went on to play key roles in Hawthorn’s 10th Premiership.
One of the league’s most fruitful VFL/AFL alliances is still the one with Hawthorn.
Thirty-seven Box Hill players were selected for the AFL, demonstrating the VFL pathway’s continued success.
