It’s not hard to see the difference in skill level, size and experience between North Melbourne and their opponents, but it was hard to understand why they persisted with Ben McKay attacking in the first half while Tom Hawkins took the control of the Cats striker. line at the other end against the gallant but unsuitable Josh Walker.
In the half, McKay had a touchdown, while Hawkins had 11 rebounds and had thrown two goals. It was hard to figure out how the move benefited North Melbourne or McKay. By the end of the game, Hawkins had scored six goals to beat North on his own.
At the time, the margin had slowly but steadily faded beyond the five goals, but North rarely lost control of the game as he made a chip on defense, making possession a priority. It was tedious and hard to understand not trying to throw the ball down the line as they had three tall forwards.
What it did mean was that the ball stayed in the front half of the Cats as they stretched the margin beyond 50 points and Hawkins and Cameron began to take control. McKay moved late to the defense in the middle of the third quarter, but that was the offer that David Dench, Mick Martyn and Glenn Archer would have struggled to contain the score.
For the Cats, the game was a fine-tuning with their work around the contest and tested, and their use of the ball was perfected as they worked the angles to run the ball from one end to the other. another from the ground repeatedly in the third quarter without her. touching the ground.
At the final break, they had scored twice 100 points and 50 within 50, while the Kangaroos were left with five goals and 21 in 50.
It was a tough watch for the Kangaroos fans, who have to watch as their team thrashed weekly and didn’t see them create a goal opportunity for most of the second half as they were outscored by 13.9 and 1.1.
How long they can continue to offer these performances without change remains a question that everyone is asking.
Geelong 3.5 8.8 15.12 21.18 (144) North Melbourne 3.1 4.1 5.1 5.2 (32)
Goals – Geelong: Hawkins 6, Cameron 4, Close 2, Narkle 2, Stengle 2, Dangerfield, Blicavs, Zach Guthrie, Menegola, Cam Guthrie. North Melbourne: Curtis, Larkey, Zurhaar, Xerri, Mahony. Best – Geelong: Hawkins, Cam Guthrie, Cameron, Blicavs, Dangerfield, Duncan, Tuohy. North Melbourne: Davies-Uniacke, Simpkin, McDonald. Injuries – Geelong: Kolodjashnij (concussion). North Melbourne: Hall (quad), Turner (concussion) Influx: 18,091