North Melbourne 0.6 2.7 5.12 7.16 (58) West Coast 4.1 9.8 15.10 19.11 (125)
Goals
North Melbourne Carey 3, Archer, Blakey, Capuano, Freeborn
West Coast Ball 6, Peter Matera 2, Cousins 2, Wirrpunda 2, Kemp, Gehrig, White, Evans, McKenna, Donnelly, Phillip
Matera
West Coast convincingly defeated North, in North's worst performance this season. With Corey McKernan out suspended,
North struggled, and was beaten in nearly every position. The performance of Carey was the only thing North could look at
positively. Jason Ball played all over Ian Fairley (in his 200th game). Fairley was also reported for throwing his
mouthguard in anger while disputing an umpiring decision in the first quarter. Early injury reports at least showed that North
suffered no further losses. The "Sun" newspaper reported 11 players injured at North last week - 25% of the senior list.
Added to that was the suspension of McKernan, and North is the team most decimated by injury. This was exposed by West
Coast.
The Eagles were able to dominate the scoreboard by kicking accurately. North was goalless at quarter time, although having
more scoring shots. This was extremely costly, as West Coast then dominated the game, and North looked second rate. It
was an extremely disappointing performance, and North's disposal was ordinary. Several kicks went directly to West Coast
players or over the boundary line. Even kicking out from fullback posed a problem. The Eagles hit their best form of the
season just as North played its worst game thus far.
North has lost two games this year, both to finalists of last year. Both these losses have been interstate. Next week North
will have to improve and play like they did against Geelong and Adelaide.