North Melbourne showed some spirit in Captain Jack Ziebell’s 250th AFL game, but it wasn’t enough to prevent another heavy defeat, this time at St Kilda at Marvel Stadium on Sunday afternoon, 16.7 (103) to 7.8 (50).
The Roos held on in the first half despite being overtaken, but the wall of the dam exploded in the third quarter when the Saints accumulated six goals to two, sealing the result and moving to fourth place in percentage.
St Kilda are now facing their mid-season farewell with an 8-3 record, while North Melbourne will head to Darwin to face the Gold Coast Suns in a bid to avoid a tenth straight defeat.
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SUMMARY QUARTER BY QUARTER
There were no late changes on either side. Ryan Byrnes (St Kilda) and Jack Mahony (North Melbourne) were the medical substitutes.
Daniel McKenzie scored the first goal of the game after rejecting an entry and exploding the 50-meter arc before finishing clean for the Saints.
It was matched with great agility by Cameron Zurhaar at the other end, who made his way through the traffic and scored his 15th goal of the season.
Max King’s extraordinary range was shown when he scored with one hand against Josh Walker and converted the seven-pointer, but once again North Melbourne equalized with a big banana from the boundary line.
Seb Ross dodged Jason Horne-Francis’s free-kick and then fired home a shot from 60 yards out which he haggled over the open goal as the Saints began to gain some ascendancy on the scoreboard.
The Saints took an 18-point lead on the first change.
North Melbourne’s defense came under tremendous pressure in the second quarter, but held on admirably despite several missed chances in front of the Saints’ goal.
St Kilda finally got a reward for the effort through Cooper Sharman, who only slipped in a seven-pointer for a goal.
It would prove to be the only goal of the second quarter and led St Kilda to maintain a 26-point lead at the break.
St Kilda’s forward attack continued in the third quarter, with the locals generating many chances within the 50 and transforming three in the first 12 minutes.
North Melbourne were able to score just one goal in that period, which was a seven-pointer from Jack Ziebell in his 250th game.
The game opened after Mitch Owens scored his first AFL goal and then followed it with less than 30 seconds later before reaching the bench, after setting the score at 52 points. .
The Saints finished the third quarter with a 51-point lead.
Indeed, North Melbourne were playing proudly in the final quarter as they seemed to avoid another outburst.
The Roos were able to do so, keeping the game relatively even and hitting the scoreboard to equalize the Saints and prevent the margin from becoming too serious.
EL 3-2-1
3) THE DUO OF SANTS IS DEVASTING OURSELVES
The combination of Paddy Ryder and Rowan Marshall gets a lot of praise and rightly so, but there’s another one hiding on the radar that may not be after Sunday: Jack Sinclair and Brad Hill.
The pair have prospered by bouncing off the defense and showed up again on Sunday, with the pair helping the Saints score a lot from the loss.
“This Hill-Sinclair combination has been good for quite some time, but especially today; 29 eliminations each, 613 yards won for Sinclair and 612 for Hill, “Brad Johnson said during the fourth quarter.
“Both mediators have been incredible and they have advanced when they have had to, they have defended themselves well.”
At the end of the game, the numbers were even more staggering; Sinclair finished with 671 yards won and Hill 640.
The next best player in the statistics was Jy Simpkin of North Melbourne with 585, while the next player of the Saints was Mason Wood with 390.
Expanding his impact, Sinclair finished with a goal assist, five goal assists and seven 50s within his 32 touchdowns, while Hill had four goal assists, one goal and one behind his 33 eliminations.
They are brilliant games individually, but combined they are simply devastating to the opposition.
Rival clubs come into play preparing for Ryder and Marshall, but now there is another team they have to tackle.
2) OWENS AWESOME DRESSING THE SHOW
Even in his wildest dreams, Mitch Owens surely could not have imagined his first two AFL goals in the space of 30 seconds.
The Saints were flying in the third quarter when they separated from the Kangaroos, but it was Owens who stole the show – first with an elegant click that bounced and then second with a ground pass that went through the goal.
Teammates rightly swarmed the 18-year-old academy product and the crowd applauded him as he strangely went to the exchange bench!
“You always remember your first goal, it’s great,” Cameron Mooney told Fox Footy in the third quarter.
“It was a great moment in his second game and everyone surrounded him. He went down to the square, everyone applauded and lifted him and you think about it, 30 seconds later the ball went down and, unfortunately, something above the boys of the North, but it has been thrown to the ground, two goals in 30 seconds “.
Possibly even more impressive, however, was the pressure of the 33rd team selection: he had 10 tackles in the three quarters of a time, really threatening the record of 13 of the skipper Jack Steele in a match.
“That’s what you want to see. He’s scored a couple of goals, but the most important thing is that he’s pressing; 10 tackles in three quarters of a minute,” Mooney said.
1) SOME FIGHT, BUT THE SAME RESULT FOR ROOS
It’s not the first time this season, the Roos showed a bit of struggle in the first half, but were completely blown away in the second.
On their merits, they prevented the margin from being too severe in the fourth legislature, but now they are 1-10 and face the prospect of a tenth straight defeat when they face the Gold Coast in Darwin next week before of a much needed farewell.
At first there was some promise as the Roos came in and showed a lot of intention around the ball.
“North Melbourne can show that around the competition they can compete against quality opposition and use the ball effectively to throw. Their use of the ball was good,” Brad Johnson told Fox Footy.
The problem for the team, however, was their inability to score in the transition: they generated scores for the stoppage, but not much for the turnover.
“But North’s results came from the first-half stoppage, while the Saints split the results between stoppage and turnover,” Johnson said.
“Their pressure on the ball is good, but they are not able to get the balance directly, while St Kilda has a great combination between stopped football and balance.
“Billing football is out of midfield with Wilkie, who brings him closer to Sinclair and Hill and they go to the races.
It was a disappointment, however.
In the case of Larkey, Cameron Mooney said the young gun would improve along with the side, but that he was doing the right thing despite the stingy return.
“I think at the moment I’m talking about the gods of the foot, I think if you work hard enough, it will finally come,” he said.
“It simply came to our notice then. As a striker it’s even harder. But he works hard, he has a huge work ethic.
“As he continues to work, he will finally arrive, as this team improves, he will receive his rewards. Just keep your head up and keep working. “
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