The Southern Saints have recorded their first blemish of the season, going down to a dominant Box Hill by 29 points at RSEA Park on Sunday.
The Hawks broke even with two goals apiece in the first and third quarters when the Saints enjoyed a wind advantage and monopolised the footy when it was their turn, keeping the home team scoreless in the second and fourth terms while adding two goals in each.
Box Hill enjoyed significant advantages in disposals (240-213), marks (60-26), inside-50s (46-19) and hitouts (54-33) and despite winning so comfortably the Hawks also laid 83 tackles to 69.
They now remain the only undefeated team in the competition after just three rounds following wins over
VFLW MATCH CENTRE: View all news, stats and videos from Round 3
The Saints had the top two possession winners in Tessa Boyd (27, five clearances) and Winnie Laing (20, eight tackles), but the Hawks provided the next five in Grace McRae (18, five marks, eight tackles, five clearances), Maddie Boyd (17, nine marks, 20 hitouts), Nadia von Bertouch (17, nine marks), Caitlin Thorne (17, five entries) and Matilda van Berkel (16, six tackles), while Grace Matser (10, 31 hitouts) was also good.
Sarah Black had 21 hitouts for the Saints, for who Jemma Webster and Ilena Gentle (15 touches each) had their moments.
The Southern Saints will return to Wilson Storage Trevor Barker Beach Oval to tackle Geelong on Sunday morning.
SOUTHERN SAINTS 2.1 2.1 4.1 4.1 (25)
BOX HILL 2.1 4.4 6.5 8.6 (54)
GOALS
Southern Saints: Phillips, Kaukino, Ebb, De Angelis
Box Hill: Perkins 2, Locke 2, McRae, Matser, Kendall, Everist
BEST
Southern Saints: Boyd, Moore, Black, Webster
Box Hill: McRae, Boyd, von Bertouch, Locke, Matser, Baird
