North Melbourne 7.5 15.7 20.9 26.12 (168) Footscray 1.0 1.5 4.6 5.7 (37)
Goals
North Melbourne Carey 6, Sholl 4, McKernan 3, Blakey 3, Rock 2, Freeborn 2, Crocker 2, Scott, Allison, M Stevens,
Simpson
Footscray Johnson 2, Grant, Kellett, Hargraves
North went into the match without Ross Smith (dropped to the reserves for the first time in 3 years), Wayne Schwass
(broken left arm) and exciting young ruckman Matthew Capuano (arthroscopy). Obviously this had little impact in the
outcome of the match, with North Melbourne winning by a record-breaking margin of 131 points. This was North's greatest
winning margin against Footscray, beating the 122 point victory in 1980.
The match started with North on fire in the first quarter. From the opening bounce North dominated, and Footscray managed
only one score in the first quarter. Footscray didn't even get close to scoring a goal until just before quarter-time, and in fact
their best forward thrust was a result of a wayward kick across goal by a North defender. Twelve scoring shots to just one
summed up how insipid Footscray's performance was. It will interesting to see if Footscray coach Alan Joyce survives to
the end of the month, yet alone to next week.
I can't even describe how poorly Footscray played. Their performance was the worst I have ever seen by an AFL club.
Even in the match where North massacred Hawthorn last year was a better standard. It is difficult to gauge how good North
actually performed when the opposition was so poor. Standout players for North included Corey McKernan again, who
surely must be an early contender for this year's Brownlow Medal. Craig Sholl played centre half forward, allowing Wayne
Carey to play full-forward. Sholl was very lively up forward last week against St Kilda and continued his good form,
managing to kick 4 goals and have 20 kicks. For a former state-defender that struggled for a place in the team last year, his
form in the forward line reflects coach Denis Pagan's new philosophy of becoming more unpredictable. Wayne Carey
marked well, benefiting from good play upfield, but his fitness is probably still not 100%. However he kicked much
straighter than last week, and completely outclassed every Footscray defender. Ian Fairley was supreme in defense, taking
several marks. In fact I have never seen a backman take so many uncontested marks in defence, as a result of wayward
kicking from the opposition.
A positive note for North was the return of the injury plagued Darren Crocker. He managed 2 goals, and when fit is an
extremely difficult player for opposition teams to match up against. He has both strength and mobility, and has a habit of
creating space up forward for himself and kicking a few goals. If both himself and Sholl can each kick a few goals it would
help make up for the loss of full-forward John Longmire.
I could name just about every player for North as a good player on the day, but other notable performances included Rock,
Freeborn and Anderson. Allison was very quiet, as was Scott, and Anthony Stevens spent time off the field due to the blood
rule. It was ironic that two of Footscray's better players were former North Melbourne players: Tony Liberatore and Jose
Romero.
If a single play summed up Footscray's pathetic performance, it was perhaps the 50 metre penalty Romero conceded to Mark
Stevens. Stevens had the ball about 55 metres from goal, comtemplating whether to take a shot. Romero was called by the
Footscray runner (possibly to inform him to tag Anthony Stevens) and Romero slowly walked over to the runner, oblivious
to the fact that he was walking across the mark. A 50 metre penalty resulted, and Stevens kicked truly from 5 metres out. I
could hear laughter in the grandstands. Actually, where I was sitting, all the Footscray supporters left at half-time. North
won every quarter, and the defence restricted Footscray to just 5 goals (just 1 to half time!).
Next week North tackles Hawthorn, and should win on form. However, apart from last season, North has struggled against
Hawthorn in the past. Michael Martyn will have a tough duel with Dunstall, but North should win next week by 6-7 goals.
(which is what I predicited for the Footscray game... A 22 goal win will suffice though!).