North Melbourne 6.3 9.6 15.10 23.14 (152) Adelaide 7.1 11.5 15.8 17.11 (113)
Goals
North Melbourne Carey 5, McKernan 4, Stevens 3, Sholl 3, Simpson 3, Scott, Blakey, Freeborn, Plain, Allison
Adelaide Modra 5, D Jarman 3, A Jarman, Robran, Koster, Ellen, McLeod, Bickley, Liptak, Ricciuto, Caven
Coming off a loss last week North faced its toughest battle yet - facing the AFL leader Adelaide. An early change to the
team was Roberts withdrawal due to a calf injury, with Keenan Reynold replacing him. The game began in front of 32,000
fans (and a suprising number of them Crow's supporters) with a touching tribute to Trevor barker. The North Melbourne
cheer squad should be congratulated on their effort with their banner. I can't remember the exact words but it was a fitting
tribute to a fine player.
The Crows came out firing in the first quarter, and North lucky to be only a goal behind at quarter time. Adelaide lost
Andrew Jarman and Chalmers in the first quarter due to injury. I haven't made much comment on the umpires this year, but I
can say that the umpiring standard on Saturday was the worst performance that I have ever seen. Howlett, Pfeiffer and
Vernon should count themselves lucky to officiate next week. A 50 metre penalty against Carey was fairly trivial (especially
compared with the treatment he received when marking later in the game), but the decision of David King playing on after
taking a mark at full running pace was shocking. How the hell did the umpire expect King to mark the ball without taking a
few extra paces to stop? This was one of several ridiculous decisions that gave goals to Adelaide. Rex Hunt made comment
about these 2 decisions as being two of the worst he had seen all year. However later in the game a trip by a North player
(who was 3 metres behind his opponent) cost yet another goal, and much anger in the crowd. Umpire Howlett wasn't too
bad, but the other 2 field umpires have had better days.
The second quarter saw Adelaide shoot out to a 4 goal lead. The crowd was becoming a bit hushed, as it seemed that
Adelaide would run away with the game. Adelaide was clearly the dominant team in the first half, but North hit back with 2
late goals to only trail by 2 goals at the long break. Adelaide was also on top of all the stats, including marks, handballs,
kicks and free kicks.
The third quarter was fairly even, and North emerged with a 2 point lead at three quarter time. North had managed 6 goals to
4 in this quarter, and McKernan was starting to take over. Capuano had not had much impact in the game against Pittman.
The last quarter saw North power away, kicking 8 goals to 2, to win the game by a convincing margin. However the first
three quarters were fairly even, and the final margin somewhat flattered North. It was also in this quarter that Corey
McKernan took a Warrick Capper style mark (ie pushing the opponent in the back to get a ride), and Adam Simpson kicked
3 opportune goals (a la Brett Allison style). Glenn Archer repelled everything in defence, and was one of the best on
ground.
The game was a good workout for North, managing to hang close to Adelaide for the first half, and then kicking 14 goals to
6 in the second half to win the game. North's younger brigade, including Freeborn, Anderson and in particular Simpson
(who almost took mark of the year in the last quarter) were impressive, and with the absence of Longmire, Roberts,
Schwass, and Allison (injured his knee and was escorted off by 2 trainers) it is encouraging that other players are taking the
next step up.
Stevens had a good game, as did Blakey in tagging Darren Jarman. Adelaide may have benefitted more had D. Jarman
played in the midfield. However he may well have not been completely fit. McKernan had another great game, Carey was
good without being spectacular (5 goals is still a good effort), Simpson had 16 disposals and 3 goals, Laidley 20 disposals,
and Archer 17 disposals. Sholl continued his goal kicking form with 3.
Modra may have kicked 5 goals, but Martyn was a bit unlucky and I thought held Modra fairly well. Adelaide's overuse of
the football, especially in the forward line often produced the turnover (especially the extra handball to a teammate under
pressure). This allowed Archer, King, Laidley and other defenders to clear the ball, setting up forward thrusts.
The game was perhaps North's best effort this year - quality opposition, missing a few key players, the good performance of
youngsters. Allison returned to the huddle at three quarter time, but later reports indicated he had damaged the posterior
cruciate, and will miss 6 weeks. Darren Crocker may be available next week, but I don't have any news on Mark Roberts.
North is in the middle of a testing period - facing Geelong, West Coast and Richmond - which were all finalists last year,
and cannot afford any further injuries.
This was also the best game of football I have seen this year that North participated in. Incidentally I haven't seen North lose a premiership game this year (I didn't go to Brisbane).