v's
Sunday, September 7 (MCG, Night)
v's
North Melbourne 2.2 5.4 10.6 15.8 (98) West Coast 5.1 8.6 11.8 12.13 (85)
Goals
Nth Melb: McKernan 4, Sholl 3, Carey 2, Allison 2, Anderson, Freeborn, Bell, Crocker
West Coast: Philip Matera 3, Banfield 2, Cousins 2, Fewster 2, Kemp, Evans, Lewis
It took just 15 minutes before Pagan conceded the Carey v Jakovich duel. Carey was moved to the backline after Jakovich completely outplayed him. Jakovich was superb in both clearing the ball from defence and keeping Carey quiet. In fact Jakovich looked impassable at centre half back - and assisted by runners such as Kemp, Peter Matera and Banfield - West Coast was able to run the ball at will out of defence. North looked slow and beaten as Dean Kemp proved too elusive for Anthony Stevens. Peter Matera was breaking free of Robert Scott, and late inclusion Fewster was proving a solid forward target.
Gardiner was beating McKernan in the ruck, giving the Eagles first use of the ball. The solid half back line of the Eagles was providing all the drive, and North could do little to stop West Coast breaking to a 20 point lead. North struggled to find a match for Philip Matera. He could have kicked at least 6 goals but finished with 3. John Blakey was used on him first, then Brett Chandler. Philip Matera was too quick for both opponents, which forced North to think about moving King back on to him. But to do so would rob North of a running half-back, and North left the matchups as they were. It was a frustrating first half, with the 55,000 crowd stunned at the Eagles dominance. They should have been further ahead at halftime - a 20 point margin flattered North.
After a spray from Denis Pagan North set about the task of overturning the deficit. But West Coast continued to power away, kicking the first 2 goals of the quarter to move to a 32 point lead. With 10 minutes remaining in the quarter it looked that like North was destined to an early finals exit. Carey was still in the backline, and the only real winner for North was Peter Bell. With Jakovich leading an in penetrable defence scoring options looked limited.
The turning point came when David King tackled Schofield - and the Eagle left on a stretcher with a broken leg. In the 2 minutes it took to remove the player, Carey was switched to centre half forward. McKernan then drifted deeper in to the forward line, after Carey played outside the 50m arc. Pagan was attempting to lead Jakovich up the ground, and away from the play. In effect Carey was the "dummy lead" and Sholl became the true centre half forward. The move worked - Sholl dragging down 3 contested marks for the quarter - which was much better than Carey could do. McKernan kicked two lifting goals for the quarter - one a snap over the shoulder, and the other a huge 55 metre kick. Suddenly North was just 8 points down, having kicked four goals in nine minutes. A steadying goal by West Coast was quickly answered and North trailed by just 8 points at the last change. Importantly Carey had kicked a 35 metre goal after a pass by Longmire, which seemed to lift the team even higher. A most important factor was McKernan starting to dominate the centre bounces, and North winning the centre breaks.
In the final term West Coast had a chance to increase their lead when Philip Matera had a set shot from 30m. He sprayed the kick, and then later missed a snap shot from 20m. Those two chances went begging, and North goaled the first time they took the ball forward. The play of the day came when Longmire desperately threw himself to spoil an Eagle mark 40m from goal. The ball rebounded to Pike, who ran the ball 80m, took on Glen Jakovich, beat him, and then cleverly passed to Stuart Anderson. Anderson, who looked like taking no further part in the game at halftime due to stiffness, goaled to put North back in front for the first time since the first quarter. With the momentum now firmly in North's favour Freeborn found himself with the ball in front of goal, and North was 12 points up. Bell had a chance to seal the game after marking 30m from goal, but missed - the margin was now a handy 13 points. When the Eagles goaled it was just 7 points the difference, and North was in danger of running out of puff. Twice in recent weeks North had been beaten in the last minutes of the game - to Richmond and Collingwood. Ironically it was Carey who broke free from Jakovich and kicked the final goal of the game. Jakovich was clearly the best on ground, and Carey admitted that Jakovich had "slaughtered him". But North survived for another week, after a truly amazing comeback. It was North best comeback in a game since the Grand Final. In that game North was 4 goals down, but fought back. With every final an elimination match for North the ability to turn the game around was a pleasing result.
Best players in the game were Jakovich and Kemp. They were superb all day, despite playing on the losing team. Bell was the best player over four quarters for North, but it was McKernan and Sholl that turned the game around in the third quarter. After halftime Rock and Stevens fared much better. Pike was outstanding, stepping up to cover for the losses of Archer and Schwass. It was his best game of the season. North was lucky that West Coast suffered badly from injuries. Schofield left the game during the third quarter, Peter Matera, after an excellent first half, was pegged back by Scott, and eventually left at three quarter time with an injury. Fewster jarred his knee, and Lewis spent most of the game on the bench, or way up forward due to injury. Most pleasing for North was the performance of McKernan - his best game since injuring his leg. His four goals were very timely, considering Carey was shut down. Although Carey was disappointing, North has seen the best in McKernan and Carey over the past two weeks. If both players can fire simultaneously North will be hard to beat.