Roos still in the hunt after downing Eagles
HOBART: The home and away season clock is ticking towards midnight and 2018’s Cinderella side is still in there and fighting.
A loss to the Eagles on Sunday would have just about drawn the curtains on North Melbourne’s finals chances, but they headed to Hobart and continued their hot streak in the chilly Tasmanian capital, where they have now won five games in a row, and 14 from 18 since making Bellerive their home away from home.
They also became just the fourth side this year to beat West Coast, after Essendon, Adelaide and Sydney (twice). North’s fairy godmother came to the party before the game, with the Eagles losing spearhead Josh Kennedy and dynamic midfielder Luke Shuey on match eve. But even given the weakened state of the opposition this was a mighty effortfrom the Roos, who showed they will not go quietly into the night. They are 10-8, with an accommodating fixture in the final four rounds, during which they do not face a top eight side.
Having wasted chances in the first half, North broke free in the back half of the third quarter, ultimately strangling the Eagles for the bulk of the second half. Counter-intuitively, West Coast got the ball forward much more consistently after half-time, but for considerably less gain. Kennedy’s absence, combined with that of Nic Naitanui, looked telling. Tom Barrass spent time forward, but the Eagles couldn’t find a winning big man inside 50, with Jack Darling and Nathan Vardy both subdued and North's Majak Daw bobbing up with regular intercept marks.
It was in the middle though where the Roos' dominance was most pronounced. Playing his 200th game, Shaun Higgins was relatively well-held by Mark Hutchings before getting off the leash with a couple of second half goals. Instead it was Ben Cunnington (39 disposals) and Paul Ahern (37 disposals) who led the charge at the coalface, as North won centre clearances 14-5. The Roos keep missing big fish from other clubs, but they look to have done exceptionally well by procuring former No.7 draft pick Ahern from Greater Western Sydney for pick 69.
Ahern wasn't the only member of North's next generation who impressed. Trent Dumont and Ryan Clarke were also busy, while Jy Simpkin's pressure was important inside 50.
West Coast were close to as flat as they've been all season, blowing a chance to solidify their top-two spot. Elliott Yeo was excellent in the midfield, while Jeremy McGovern and Shannon Hurn both absorbed pressure in defence, but there were too few winners across the board. Andrew Gaff had just 21 diposals, his lowest haul of a brilliant season, and late inclusions Jake Waterman and Jack Petruccelle couldn't come close to filling the void left by Kennedy and Shuey.
The first bounce was at 1.10pm, but the lights were on from the outset. It was typically cold but unusually still at Blundstone Arena, so the margin was less likely to swing wildly from quarter to quarter. Even without a strong breeze, the ball was down North’s end for most of the first 10 minutes, yet the Roos couldn’t make it count. Rather than sailing through from beyond the arc, North’s kicks for goal were too often short or off-line, if not both.
Ben Brown arrived late to spoil Mark LeCras on the wing, collecting the Eagles veteran high and conceding a 50-metre penalty and in turn West Coast’s first goal. The Eagles had managed to gain a foothold in the game, and led after Willie Rioli drilled a low 40 metre drop punt from close to the boundary. They maintained a slender advantage at quarter-time, even though North led inside 50s by eight and contested possessions by 19.
West Coast were efficient going forward, and kicked three of the first four goals in the second term, including one following a juggling mark from 50-gamer Vardy. Yet North kept winning the lion’s share of hard ball, and finally started to get due reward for their territorial dominance when Jy Simpkin, Brown and Todd Goldstein all goaled within the first six minutes of time-on, meaning the Roos held a narrow lead at the long break.
NORTH MELBOURNE 1.4 5.4 9.7 12.9 (81)
WEST COAST 2.0 5.1 6.2 6.5 (41)
Goals: North Melbourne: J Ziebell 2 M Wood 2 S Higgins 2 B Brown B Cunnington J Anderson J Simpkin N Hrovat T Goldstein. West Coast: W Rioli 2 E Yeo J Cripps M LeCras N Vardy.
Best: North Melbourne: Cunnington, Ahern, Daw, Simpkin, Goldstein, Clarke, Higgins, Macmillan.
Umpires: Mathew Nicholls, Brett Rosebury, Andrew Mitchell.
Venue: Blundstone Arena.
VOTES:
B. Cunnington (NM) 8
P. Ahern (NM) 8
M. Daw (NM) 7
E. Yeo (WCE) 7
J. Simpkin (NM) 7