ROUND 4 – NORTH MELBOURNE VS GOLD COAST

I arrived at Etihad Stadium full of confidence in the Kangas. With the absence of Gary Ablett, Michael Rischitelli and Jarrod Harbrow, Gold Coast were looking inexperienced and out of their depth. North Melbourne had most of their guns available with the omission of Todd Goldstein and Scott McMahon.

Once the ball was bounced, the boys went hard at it. Unfortunately, North Melbourne’s skill levels were, at times, dreadful. The kicking for goal for North was truly awful, with North finishing the first quarter with 4.9 (33). One of the young blokes in front of me said he would go home if North missed their next shot. Luckily for him, Ben Cunnington slotted it through the big sticks.

If the first quarter was bad, the second quarter was the worst quarter I have ever seen from North. The Suns were able to score their highest score for a quarter thanks to North inadequate skill levels. Sloppy handballs and shocking kicks to no one allowed the Suns to get their hands on the ball and points on the board. It was so bad Gold Coast went into the break with a 1 point lead.

Brad Scott clearly gave the boys a serve, as the Kangas ripped into the Suns in the third quarter. They piled on 6 goals and 9 behinds to the Suns 1 goal, 4 behinds. Jack Zieball, Shaun Atley and Brent Harvey picked up their work rate along the way.

The fourth quarter saw North continue their pressure on the younger bodies of the Suns players. The outscored them again with Petrie and Edwards adding to their tallies. The Kangas played the game out with short kick to kicks and got the job done.

North Melbourne may have ended up with a 34 point win but their effort was ordinary to say the least. For a team that wants to be top four, the Kangas must be beating the bottom teams a lot more convincingly.

North Melbourne— 4.9—8.13—14.22—17.25—(127)

Gold Coast—2.5—9.8—10.12—13.15—(93)

GOALKICKERS

North Melbourne: Thomas 3, Edwards 3, Petrie 3, Harper 2, Adams 2, McIntosh, Harvey. Cunnington, Macmillian

Gold Coast: Brown 2, Day 2, Bennell 2, Dixon 2, Illes, Lynch, Swallow, Russell

BEST

North Melbourne: Thomas, Swallow, Bastinac, Atley, Edwards

Gold Coast: Bennell, Swallow, Hunt, Horsley

CROWD

17,680 at Etihad Stadium

 

 

About Matthew Naqvi

Matthew Naqvi is a writer, editor, and writing group facilitator. He is the Web Editor of The Footy Almanac. He has written for numerous sports organisations and teams including Melbourne Victory, AFC (Australian Fighting Championship) and Football Federation Victoria. He loves North Melbourne.

Comments

  1. Fair enough Matt, it was not the Roos most impressive display.
    The drop in output sice the Geelong match only two weeks ago
    has been disturbing. It’s almost like the victory of the Cats was
    their grand final, and they have sufferred a let-down since.

    However, I reckon the Suns are creeping closer to a victory. They
    will catch someone off their game, and notch up a big scalp. And
    sooner rather than later.

  2. Also, another cheque payable to the “Ian Collins Benevolent Fund” ?

  3. Richard Naco says

    Watching the replay, it struck me that the Suns are playing with fire and determination. They still make the sort of mistakes you’d expect from a team mainly made up of kids with less than 50 games, but any team not dotting their I’s & crossing the T’s of their fundamental skills could be in for a torrid afternoon against the Coast.

    And while that’s happening, those kids are bulking up physically & step by painful step gaining the experience that will see them making some fair degree of impact within a couple of years time.

    (Hmmm, what other team does this sound like?)

  4. Phil Dimitriadis says

    Hey Matt, good to read your stuff on the almanac. Are you still at VU? Maybe the Roos backed themselves to win by under 39.5 points. Looks a bit suss to me.

  5. For my part, I was kind of embarrassed that they even played the song at the final siren.

    Positives? We got good seats. 2nd row of the top deck between wing and half forward is a pretty decent vantage point for general admission members. I suppose 42 scoring shots is something, even though too many of them weren’t quality shots. I liked Ben Cunnington’s game; it’s good to see him starting to come into his own as we had hoped. And the kids got through the whole game without bonking any nearby punters on the head with their flags.

    And yeah, even without Ablett &c, I was pretty impressed with GC’s willingness at the contests. They are clearly on their way to becoming a competent team. Not sure I buy into the hyperbole about their first couple of drafts’ worth of kids being the nucleus of a top-4 side, but they’re moving steadily in the right direction.

  6. Matthew Naqvi says

    Smokie, the let-down from the Geelong game is spot on. That was the best win I’ve seen from the Kangas in at least 10 years.

    Richard, I was so disappointed in the Kangas poor form I failed to mention the determination of the Suns. They kept fighting and look to be a side very much on the rise.

    Phil! I’m glad you read my piece. I don’t know what we were doing in the first half, was baffling to say the least. I finished at VU in 2010 and have been writing and editing since. Are you still at VU? And doing your PhD? I hope you’re well.

    RobC, I felt exactly the same. I couldn’t clap or sing along to the anthem. Hopefully, we can pull our heads out for West Coast this week; we’ll need it and then some.

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