2026 VFL Season Preliminary Final 2: Box Hill v Essendon Reserves

This is the match report for the match played on 12 September 2026 between Box Hill and the Essendon Reserves in the second preliminary final of the 2026 season of the Victorian Football League. Box Hill hosted the Essendon Reserves at Box Hill City Oval. Stuart Horner captained the hosts. Xavier O'Neill captained the visitors with Jackson Hately as vice-captain. The hosts were coached by David Mirra and the visitors were coached by Cameron Joyce.

Box Hill (13.17.95) defeated the Essendon Reserves (13.10.88).

Match Details

Season: 2026 VFL Season
Round: Second Preliminary Final
Teams: Box Hill v Essendon Reserves
Date: Saturday 12 September 2026
Time: 11:05 AM
Venue: Box Hill City Oval

Match Results

Outcome: Box Hill def. Essendon Reserves
Score: 13.17.95 - 13.10.88

Quarter Breakdown

	Q1			Q2			Q3			Q4			Final
Box Hill	5	.	3	9	.	8	12	.	11	13	.	17	13	.	17	(95)
Essendon Reserves	6	.	1	9	.	3	11	.	8	13	.	10	13	.	10	(88)
Margin	ESSR by 4			BOXH by 5			BOXH by 9			BOXH by 7			BOXH by 7
Duration	33:16			30:37			30:22			27:28			2:01:43

Score Worm

This chart is oriented such that the margin is positive when the hosts (Box Hill) are in the lead and is negative when the visitors (Essendon Reserves) are in the lead.

Honour Roll

Box Hill

Captain: Stuart Horner
Coach: David Mirra

Essendon Reserves

Captain: Xavier O'Neill
Vice-Captain: Jackson Hately
Coach: Cameron Joyce

Player Statistics

Box Hill

#	Player	Pos.	ToG%	GL	BH	DI	KI	HB	MK	HO	TA	CL	CR	FF	FA	RF	IF
58	Bianco, Trent	INT	?	0	0	22	13	9	9	0	1	1	?	0	1	2	1
36	Blanck, James	FB	?	0	0	10	6	4	4	0	0	0	?	0	0	1	0
30	Butler, Sam	FPR	?	0	0	7	3	4	1	0	1	0	?	0	1	1	3
34	Dalton, Jack	WL	?	0	2	20	10	10	9	0	1	2	?	0	0	2	2
13	Dear, Calsher	CHF	?	3	2	15	11	4	8	1	4	1	?	1	4	0	4
76	Farrer, Tom	INT	?	2	1	16	9	7	1	0	2	2	?	2	1	0	4
35	Greeves, Ollie	RO	?	0	1	22	14	8	4	0	4	6	?	1	1	1	6
41	Hill, Matt	RR	?	1	1	9	5	4	0	0	0	1	?	0	3	0	3
62	Horner, Stuart (c)	HBFR	?	0	0	11	7	4	5	0	1	0	?	0	0	3	0
44	Hustwaite, Henry	C	?	0	2	26	14	12	2	0	10	7	?	3	1	1	3
31	LeRay, Matthew	HBFL	?	0	0	19	14	5	4	0	2	2	?	0	3	4	1
20	Maginness, Finn	FPL	?	0	0	22	14	8	7	0	0	4	?	0	0	3	2
27	McCabe, Will	HFFR	?	1	0	9	8	1	3	0	2	0	?	2	0	1	3
50	McLaughlin, Brodie	INT	?	2	2	15	8	7	7	0	2	0	?	0	0	0	2
21	Mraz, Noah	CHB	?	0	0	24	15	9	12	0	1	1	?	0	1	7	3
22	Nairn, Cam	HFFL	?	0	2	23	19	4	13	0	1	1	?	1	0	2	4
39	Perez, Flynn	WR	?	0	0	19	15	4	5	0	2	1	?	1	0	4	3
79	Pewtress, Will	INT	?	0	0	5	2	3	2	0	1	0	?	0	2	0	0
73	Preston, Corey	INT	?	0	0	8	5	3	2	0	0	0	?	0	0	0	1
38	Ramsden, Max	RU	?	0	0	9	8	1	2	13	0	8	?	0	0	1	2
26	Ryan, Bodie	BPL	?	0	0	22	18	4	9	0	5	1	?	2	2	7	0
29	Schubert, Aidan	FF	?	3	2	12	10	2	4	2	1	1	?	1	0	0	3
14	Scrimshaw, Jack	BPR	?	1	0	23	17	6	7	0	3	0	?	2	0	4	1
Rushed					2
Total (23 players)				13	17	368	245	123	120	16	44	39	0+	16	20	44	51

Essendon Reserves

#	Player	Pos.	ToG%	GL	BH	DI	KI	HB	MK	HO	TA	CL	CR	FF	FA	RF	IF
34	Artemis, Jaxon	BPL	?	0	0	15	10	5	3	0	0	0	?	0	0	4	0
39	Bourke, Cillian	C	?	0	0	10	5	5	6	0	0	0	?	0	1	3	0
36	Clarke, Angus	HBFL	?	0	0	13	10	3	7	0	1	0	?	1	2	1	3
13	Cox, Nik	FPL	?	3	0	11	10	1	6	3	5	1	?	2	1	0	6
73	Dowling, Boston	INT	?	2	0	7	4	3	4	10	0	0	?	1	0	0	1
33	El Achkar, Hussien	HFFL	?	0	1	4	1	3	0	0	4	0	?	1	0	0	1
41	El-Hawli, Saad	HBFR	?	0	0	20	15	5	4	0	1	0	?	1	2	2	3
11	Gresham, Jade	CHF	?	3	2	14	11	3	4	0	2	4	?	1	0	0	4
35	Guelfi, Matt	WR	?	1	1	7	5	2	3	0	4	0	?	1	0	0	4
50	Hately, Jackson (vc)	INT	?	0	0	21	12	9	5	0	2	3	?	1	1	0	0
40	Johnson, Zak	CHB	?	1	0	22	17	5	4	0	1	1	?	1	1	3	2
23	Jones, Harry	FB	?	0	0	11	9	2	2	0	3	0	?	1	1	5	0
52	Kalpakis, Deacon	INT	?	0	0	21	14	7	12	0	0	0	?	1	0	4	0
67	Kitchell, Ty	INT	?	0	0	15	8	7	6	0	0	1	?	0	0	2	2
29	Kondogiannis, Max	BPR	?	0	0	14	10	4	6	0	1	0	?	1	1	1	2
48	McMahon, Liam	FF	?	2	0	7	4	3	3	0	0	0	?	0	2	0	1
42	Nguyen, Jayden	HFFR	?	0	0	11	7	4	2	0	1	2	?	3	1	0	4
65	Nyko, Cam	RR	?	0	1	11	8	3	0	0	0	1	?	1	0	3	2
55	O'Neill, Xavier (c)	INT	?	1	0	20	13	7	6	0	2	1	?	0	1	1	6
75	Sellers, Tyler	FPR	?	0	0	27	19	8	12	0	2	0	?	1	0	8	3
5	Tsatas, Elijah	RO	?	0	0	30	20	10	7	0	1	8	?	1	1	1	9
38	Unwin, Rhys	WL	?	0	1	5	2	3	1	0	2	0	?	0	1	0	1
17	Visentini, Vigo	RU	?	0	0	6	4	2	1	26	2	1	?	1	0	0	3
Rushed					4
Total (23 players)				13	10	322	218	104	104	39	34	23	0+	20	16	38	57

Legend

ToG%: Time-on-Ground Percentage, GL: Goals, BH: Behinds, DI: Disposals, KI: Kicks, HB: Handballs, MK: Marks, HO: Hitouts, TA: Tackles, CL: Clearances, CR: Clangers, FF: Free Kicks For, FA: Free Kicks Against, RF: Rebounds Inside 50, IF: Inside 50s

Player Line-Up

Box Hill							Coach: David Mirra
BACK							FOLLOWER		INTERCHANGE
	34	J. Artemis	23	H. Jones	29	M. Kondogiannis	38	M. Ramsden	58	T. Bianco
	30	S. Butler	29	A. Schubert	20	F. Maginness	41	M. Hill	76	T. Farrer
FORWARD							35	O. Greeves	50	B. McLaughlin
HALF-BACK									79	W. Pewtress
	36	A. Clarke	40	Z. Johnson	41	S. El-Hawli			73	C. Preston
	27	W. McCabe	13	C. Dear	22	C. Nairn
HALF-FORWARD
CENTRE
	38	R. Unwin	39	C. Bourke	35	M. Guelfi
	39	F. Perez	44	H. Hustwaite	34	J. Dalton	FOLLOWER		INTERCHANGE
CENTRE							17	V. Visentini	73	B. Dowling
HALF-FORWARD							65	C. Nyko	50	J. Hately (vc)
	33	H. El Achkar	11	J. Gresham	42	J. Nguyen	5	E. Tsatas	52	D. Kalpakis
	62	S. Horner (c)	21	N. Mraz	31	M. LeRay			67	T. Kitchell
HALF-BACK									55	X. O'Neill (c)
FORWARD
	13	N. Cox	48	L. McMahon	75	T. Sellers
	14	J. Scrimshaw	36	J. Blanck	26	B. Ryan
BACK
Essendon Reserves							Coach: Cameron Joyce

Score Timeline

Quarter	Team	Scoring Event	Score			Time
Q1	BOXH	Rushed behind	0.1.1	-	0.0.0	01:02
	BOXH	Henry Hustwaite behind	0.2.2	-	0.0.0	02:13
	ESSR	Jade Gresham behind	0.2.2	-	0.1.1	03:19
	ESSR	Jade Gresham goal	0.2.2	-	1.1.7	04:04
	ESSR	Jade Gresham goal	0.2.2	-	2.1.13	06:20
	ESSR	Nik Cox goal	0.2.2	-	3.1.19	09:17
	BOXH	Jack Scrimshaw goal	1.2.8	-	3.1.19	12:40
	BOXH	Brodie McLaughlin behind	1.3.9	-	3.1.19	15:56
	BOXH	Tom Farrer goal	2.3.15	-	3.1.19	17:07
	BOXH	Aidan Schubert goal	3.3.21	-	3.1.19	18:47
	ESSR	Boston Dowling goal	3.3.21	-	4.1.25	20:18
	BOXH	Tom Farrer goal	4.3.27	-	4.1.25	22:56
	BOXH	Calsher Dear goal	5.3.33	-	4.1.25	25:42
	ESSR	Matt Guelfi goal	5.3.33	-	5.1.31	28:28
	ESSR	Jade Gresham goal	5.3.33	-	6.1.37	32:19
Q2	BOXH	Aidan Schubert goal	6.3.39	-	6.1.37	01:42
	ESSR	Rushed behind	6.3.39	-	6.2.38	03:57
	BOXH	Will McCabe goal	7.3.45	-	6.2.38	04:26
	ESSR	Liam McMahon goal	7.3.45	-	7.2.44	05:45
	ESSR	Hussien El Achkar behind	7.3.45	-	7.3.45	13:50
	ESSR	Xavier O'Neill goal	7.3.45	-	8.3.51	14:44
	BOXH	Brodie McLaughlin goal	8.3.51	-	8.3.51	18:04
	BOXH	Tom Farrer behind	8.4.52	-	8.3.51	19:54
	ESSR	Boston Dowling goal	8.4.52	-	9.3.57	20:51
	BOXH	Matt Hill behind	8.5.53	-	9.3.57	24:16
	BOXH	Cam Nairn behind	8.6.54	-	9.3.57	27:24
	BOXH	Calsher Dear behind	8.7.55	-	9.3.57	28:38
	BOXH	Calsher Dear goal	9.7.61	-	9.3.57	29:05
	BOXH	Calsher Dear behind	9.8.62	-	9.3.57	30:17
Q3	ESSR	Rushed behind	9.8.62	-	9.4.58	02:29
	ESSR	Jade Gresham behind	9.8.62	-	9.5.59	03:38
	BOXH	Aidan Schubert behind	9.9.63	-	9.5.59	06:20
	ESSR	Rhys Unwin behind	9.9.63	-	9.6.60	07:05
	ESSR	Rushed behind	9.9.63	-	9.7.61	07:58
	BOXH	Jack Dalton behind	9.10.64	-	9.7.61	12:41
	ESSR	Cam Nyko behind	9.10.64	-	9.8.62	14:37
	ESSR	Liam McMahon goal	9.10.64	-	10.8.68	15:53
	BOXH	Aidan Schubert goal	10.10.70	-	10.8.68	18:02
	BOXH	Henry Hustwaite behind	10.11.71	-	10.8.68	20:48
	BOXH	Brodie McLaughlin goal	11.11.77	-	10.8.68	23:01
	BOXH	Calsher Dear goal	12.11.83	-	10.8.68	25:20
	ESSR	Nik Cox goal	12.11.83	-	11.8.74	27:47
Q4	BOXH	Jack Dalton behind	12.12.84	-	11.8.74	02:16
	BOXH	Cam Nairn behind	12.13.85	-	11.8.74	05:23
	BOXH	Aidan Schubert behind	12.14.86	-	11.8.74	06:11
	BOXH	Brodie McLaughlin behind	12.15.87	-	11.8.74	08:10
	ESSR	Rushed behind	12.15.87	-	11.9.75	09:45
	ESSR	Zak Johnson goal	12.15.87	-	12.9.81	17:03
	ESSR	Matt Guelfi behind	12.15.87	-	12.10.82	18:53
	BOXH	Matt Hill goal	13.15.93	-	12.10.82	20:49
	ESSR	Nik Cox goal	13.15.93	-	13.10.88	23:37
	BOXH	Rushed behind	13.16.94	-	13.10.88	25:11
	BOXH	Ollie Greeves behind	13.17.95	-	13.10.88	26:27

Links

2026 VFL Season

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