Australian Football

Match Report

A crushing first-quarter performance has given North Melbourne an easy win over St Kilda at Docklands stadium on Sunday afternoon. The Kangaroos, who four times already in season 2013 had given up big leads to lose by under a goal, took any chance of that happening again completely out of the equation by setting up a near 10-goal lead, which they maintained through until three-quarter time.

There was to be no last-term fadeout this week as North slowed the game down. Though they only kicked two goals of there own in this period, the Kangaroos restricted the Saints to just one to run out winners by 68 points. It was North's biggest winning margin since their crushing 129-point defeat of GWS at Bellerive Oval in round two last year. The win was a fitting celebration of veteran Brent Harvey's 350th AFL match.

The Kangaroos took charge of the match from the outset, piling on 4.4 (with goals to Lindsay Thomas, Harvey, Drew Petrie and Aaron Black) before St Kilda went anywhere near scoring. Jack Steven broke the drought with a goal for the Saints at the 14-minute mark, but served only as a catalyst for another North Melbourne onslaught, with Black kicking three more for the quarter and Thomas and Petrie another one each. By the time the siren sounded for quarter time, North had kicked 9.7 to St Kilda's solitary goal and the match was as good as over.

Though the Saints more or less halved the remaining three quarters, the sting was out of the game and the Kangaroos coasted home.

Boomer Harvey was one of the Kangaroos best in his milestone game, kicking 4.4 and having 23 touches. Aaron Mullett (31 possessions, one goal) and Drew Petrie (four goals, 22 disposals) were also excellent. Nick Riewoldt (three goals) was again amongst the best for the Saints, while Farren Ray (25 disposals) played arguably his best game of 2013. Harvey becomes just the 13th player in VFL/AFL history to reach the 350-game milestone. The 35-year-old is in fine form and may yet have another season or two left in him.

With their fourth win of the season, North Melbourne move to 12th spot, still two games out of the eight. The Kangaroos' four losses by under a goal have cost them badly, underscored by the fact that had they kicked one extra goal in each of those games, they would now be sitting in third place with eight wins, in equal top spot with Hawthorn and Geelong. A win against Gold Coast at Marrara this week will see them keep their top eight chances alive.

St Kilda's season has already moved into "rebuild" mode. The Saints have slumped to 16th on the ladder, with just two wins from 10 games. They will take on West Coast at Docklands next Sunday.

GOALS
North Melbourne: Black 5; Harvey, Petrie 4; Thomas 3; Mullett, Wright, Bastinac
St Kilda: Riewoldt 3; Stanley 2; Steven, Geary, Milne, Webster, Montagna

BEST SPORTAL.COM.AU
North Melbourne: Goldstein, Petrie, Black, Mullett, Harvey, Swallow, Bastinac
St Kilda: Riewoldt, Montagna, Ray

BEST - AFL.COM.AU
North Melbourne: Harvey, Mullett, Black, Petrie, Cunnington, Thompson, Goldstein, Adams
St Kilda: Steven, Riewoldt, Ray, Montagna, Dal Santo

COACHES' COMMENTS
Brad Scott (NM): It was really good. Really efficient ball use, the ability to win the ball was good. We always thought going into the game that it was going to be tough to score and to get away to a start like that was really pleasing.

Scott Watters (StK): We were blown out of the water [in the first quarter], couldn't get our hands on the footy. It was a lesson for our midfield. I'm loathe to give credit to them after quarter time but we were able to stabilise a little bit. But the damage was done and they were clearly too good for us. There's no excuses.

INJURIES
North Melbourne: Nil
St Kilda: Wright (back)

SUBSTITUTES
North Melbourne: Taylor Hine replaced Will Sierakowski at three-quarter time
St Kilda: Jimmy Webster replaced Jackson Ferguson at half-time

UMPIRES: Schmitt, Chamberlain, Foot