Australian Football

Match Report

North Melbourne has caused the upset of round 15, thrashing Richmond at Docklands stadium on Saturday afternoon. While the Kangaroos' win was perhaps not a huge surprise, the magnitude of it certainly was. North led by seven points at quarter time and increased their lead over the Tigers at each subsequent change of ends, running out victors by a huge 62 points.

The Roos were particularly brutal in the second term, monstering the Tigers in all aspects of the game. They kicked 8.3 for the quarter, restricting Richmond to just five behinds. And while the Tigers showed more heart in the match's second half, North Melbourne stuck to the task at hand, outscoring Richmond marginally in the third and final terms.

Leigh Adams played a huge part in the Kangaroos' win, with 29 possessions. He received great support from the evergreen Brent Harvey (27 disposals, two goals) and and Lachie Hansen (19 touches).

While there weren't many highlights for Richmond, Trent Cotchin (25 possessions) tried hard all day, as did Shaun Grigg (24 disposals) and Steven Morris (two goals and 13 disposals).

While the loss in isolation should not be too much of a concern — Richmond remains in sixth place on the ladder, two games clear of ninth — there will be a few nerves jangling in Tigerland this week as Damien Hardwick's men travel up to Cazaly's Stadium in Cairns for a "home" game against Gold Coast. The Tigers have unexpectedly lost the corresponding game in each of the past two seasons.

Meanwhile, North's resounding win lifted the Kangaroos to 10th on the ladder. Although they remain two games outside the eight, their excellent percentage (118.60) means they retain at least some hope of participating in September action. The Roos play Brisbane, Carlton and Melbourne over the next three weeks, and would see all of those games as winnable.

GOALS
North Melbourne: Tarrant 4; Bastinac 3; Black, Mullett, Harvey, Ziebell 2; Petrie, Greenwood, Cunnington, Gibson
Richmond: Morris, White, Riewoldt 2; Ellis, Jackson

BEST - AFL.COM.AU
North Melbourne: Adams, Hansen, Greenwood, Thompson, Hine, Swallow, Ziebell, Goldstein
Richmond: Morris, Cotchin, Chaplin, Foley

BEST - SPORTAL.COM.AU
North Melbourne: Adams, Harvey, Ziebell, Hansen, Hine, Bastinac, Swallow, Tarrant
Richmond: Morris, Grigg, Foley, Cotchin

COACHES' COMMENTS
Brad Scott (NM): My overwhelming feeling as the siren went was that was certainly our most complete performance. I don't think we had a weakness today. The boys combined really well. I thought our attack on the contest was really good. The way we wanted to play, we executed it the best we've done all year. Richmond changed some things and we were able to adapt. We;ve had some pretty well documented cases this year where we haven't been able to adapt. Today we did.

Damien Hardwick (Rich): I thought we didn't come to play early. I thought they were harder than us. They worked harder than us and we weren't in the game at any stage. We just couldn't get our game up and going. Their pressure around the contest was very good. They smashed us in contested ball. We just couldn't get our hands on the ball. If you don't get your hands on the ball, the ball's only going one way.

INJURIES
North Melbourne: Nil
Richmond: Bachar Houli (hamstring) replaced in the selected side by Matt Dea; Brandon Ellis (concussion); Daniel Jackson (ankle)

SUBSTITUTES
North Melbourne: Brad McKenzie replaced Ben Cunnington in the fourth quarter
Richmond: Matt Dea replaced Brandon Ellis in the second quarter

UMPIRES: Donlon, Bannister, Margetts