v's
Sunday, April 27 (MCG)
v's
North Melbourne 5.6 11.8 17.10 21.15 (141) Richmond 2.0 4.0 4.3 7.4 (46)
Goals
Nth Melb: Mellington 5, Longmire 4, Sholl 3, Rock 2, Schwass, Scott, Chandler, A Stevens, Harvey, Allison, King
Richmond: Bowden 3, Harrison 2, Daffy, Richardson
North Melbourne destroyed Richmond in an awesome display. In perfect weather conditions North celebrated its second win of the season, with Mellington kicking 5 and Longmire 4. Archer eclipsed Richardson, restricting him to just one goal. North's taggers stopped any midfield drive Richmond hoped for. Daffy, Campbell and Broderick were all held - resulting in Richmond having just 4 players kicking goals.
Mark Roberts was a late withdrawal, and Harvey the replacement. North started with McKernan in the ruck, in an attempt to exploit Richmond's lack of height. Predictably Archer lined up on Richardson. Longmire had an excellent match in the forward line - kicking the first goal of the game and also showing suprising mobility. His confidence in his reconstructed knee allowed him to play his best game yet - and move to 499 career goals. Late in the game he left with a hamstring spasm. Denis Pagan was quick to report that he will play next week. McKernan was rested in the last quarter, as the result was a foregone conclusion. He had a good game, but it is still clear that McKernan's knee is still not at full strength. North is left with the dilemma of risking playing McKernan to cover for Carey's absence. It is likely that if Carey was fit McKernan would be given the time off to gain full fitness. Nevertheless McKernan has shown the courage to overcome pain - he played in the Grand Final with a torn cartilage in his knee.
Quite simply North was too talented for Richmond. It was apparent that North had the hardness for the ball that they did when they defeated Carlton. Richmond struggled to bring the ball into their 50 metre zone - both of their first quarter goals were kicked from general play from outside 50 metres. North was clearly dominating and had a 4 goal lead at quarter time. More accurate kicking could have sealed the game at this stage.
An explosive second term, where North kicked 6 straight goals in a 12 minute burst ended any hopes for a Tiger victory. It was the North Melbourne of old - winning the ball out of the centre quickly, and kicking long. Richmond could do nothing to stop the onslaught - Blakey and Stevens were superb in negating their opponents, but Archer was clearly the best. A shell-shocked Richardson had no answer for Archer, and failed to have any presence on the game.
Mellington was moved to full forward and kicked 4 goals in the third quarter. He showed that he has a good lead and accurate kick. He also can mark overhead strongly. His five goals and one behind (hitting the post) was exactly what North was looking for with so many forwards injured (Carey, Daniltchenko, Crocker, Groom).
It was a day that Richmond would rather forget - they suffered badly due to their long injury list. The 95 point margin was North's second highest winning margin against Richmond. North had so many good players that selecting best on ground was difficult. Indeed, Archer's efforts probably saw him as the best, just ahead of Longmire, Mellington, Blakey, Pike and Stevens. North's four ex-Fitzroy players - Blakey, Pike, Chandler and Mellington were all fantastic on the day. Chandler and Pike have been particularly impressive in making themselves regular selections to the 1996 premiership team. And in Mellington's performance plus Longmire's regained confidence in his knee North has found options to cover until Carey returns in about 6 weeks.
First Quarter Goals (including time elapsed):
2:00 N - Longmire
5:00 N - Sholl
10:30 R - Daffy
15:00 N - Longmire
24:00 R - Bowden
25:00 N - Scott
28:00 N - King
Second Quarter Goals (including time elapsed):
8:40 R - Bowden
14:30 N - Harvey
16:00 N - Mellington
18:40 N - Sholl
20:40 N - Stevens
22:00 N - Rock
26:40 N - Rock
28:00 R - Richardson
Third Quarter Goals (including time elapsed):
3:30 N - Mellington
14:00 N - Schwass
17:40 N - Mellington
21:00 N - Longmire
26:50 N - Mellington
28:30 N - Mellington
Fourth Quarter Goals (including time elapsed):
1:20 R - Harrison
2:40 N - Sholl
4:00 R - Bowden
5:10 R - Harrison
13:40 N - Longmire
20:00 N - Chandler
24:00 N - Allison