SANDRINGHAM has gone down to the Box Hill Hawks by seven points at North Port Oval in a thrilling preliminary final, bringing an end to the Zebras 2015 campaign.

The clear blue skies provided great conditions for finals football and a hard fought contest between the two teams who finished the VFL season in first and second place respectively.

Marco Bello's Hawks took full advantage in the first term, booting the first four goals of the match which led to a game-high 29-point margin at quarter time.

Such was the dominance of Box Hill, they led the inside 50s 20-7 at the first break.

Paul Hudson rallied his troops and sent Mitch Brown (18 disposals, 12 marks, 4 goals) forward after starting in defence, giving the Zebras a key target to kick to with immediate results.

A Josh Saunders kick to the top of the goal square set up a strong contested mark and goal to Brown, before Arryn Siposs and Ahmed Saad (8 disposals, 5 tackles, 2 goals) pounced to make it three consecutive majors to the Zebras.

The Zebras outscored the Hawks four goals to two to cut the margin to a reachable 14 points at the main break, giving Hudson's men every chance of victory in the second half.

The third term was a repeat of the second, Sandringham out scoring Box Hill four goals to two.

The Zebras kicked one after a contested mark to Brown in the goal square two minutes in, before the Hawks responded to extend their lead back out to 14 points.

Josh Saunders (15 disposals, 3 tackles, 1 goal) snapped truly to keep the Zebras in touch, before Darren Minchington (34 disposals, 7 tackles, 2 goals) received a pass from ruckman Jason Holmes to cut the margin to a single kick.

Brown kicked his third after Box Hill's Sam Grimley to bring it back to six points but the Hawks got through again before three quarter time, the margin 11 points at the last change.

The Hawks started the final term with a goal to former Gold Coast Sun Marc Lock but the 17-point deficit didn't keep the Zebras down, with the next three goals going to the team in the yellow, black and blue.

Kenny Ong was the man to put the Zebras in front by one point at the 11-minute mark, before a Box Hill behind drew scores level eight minutes later.

The big moment came at the 27-minute mark, when Hawthorn listed player Will Langford grabbed a loose ball to run into open goal and extend a one point lead to seven points with minutes left to play.

Despite the Zebras composure and willingness in the contest, the final siren beat them to the task.

St Kilda Development Coach and Sandringham Coach Paul Hudson said it was a disappointing result but was very proud of the players and their efforts.

"It's a disappointing way to bow out but the endeavour of our players can't be questioned," Hudson told SAINTS.com.au.

"It was a poor start but the ability to run out the game so well and still push Box Hill right to the end speaks volumes of the character of this playing group.

"We've just got to play full four quarters of football but nonetheless, I'm very proud of our players and what we've achieved this year."

Willamstown defeated Essendon in Sunday's preliminary final, meaning next weekend's Grand Final will be a Box Hill vs Williamstown affair. 

FEATURE: Behind the scenes at the VFL

BOX HILL HAWKS 5.6 7.7 10.12 12.17 (89)

SANDRINGHAM 1.1 5.5 9.7 12.10 (82)

GOALS: Brown 4, Saad 2, Minchington 2, Ong, Weickhardt, Siposs, Saunders.

BEST: Brown, Jones, Cook, Minchington, Saunders.