Australian Football

Match Report

North Melbourne's coach Brad Scott must be tearing his hair out after the Kangaroos lost yet another match that they were expected to win against Brisbane on Saturday night. The Roos have shown they can mix it with the best, having beaten the second, third and fourth-placed teams on the ladder (Port Adelaide, Sydney and Geelong) but when off their game, can lose to the sides at the lower end of the ladder.

Saturday night's game started well for North. They had 3.4 on the board before Brisbane even scored, but the Lions, who were saying goodbye to legend Jonathan Brown after he announced his retirement last week, gradually worked their way back into the game and were within 16 points at quarter time. Brisbane then turned it on in the second quarter, kicking seven goals to one, leaving a stunned North outfit 21 points behind at the long break. The Lions then kicked the first two of the third quarter, and held what looked like it might be a match-winning 33 point break. Amazingly, despite the Lions not scoring another major for the match, it proved to be so.

North kicked the final two goals of the third term to cut the difference to 20 points at the last change, and then attacked heavily throughout the final term. But Brisbane defended stoutly, and the Lions 0.5 was enough to hold out the Kangaroos, who kicked 3.3 for the term, by just four points, giving Brown the send-off he had hoped for.

Best for the winners included Pearce Hanley (34 disposals and six marks), James Aish (nine tackles, nine marks) and Jack Redden (28 touches and nine tackles), while North was well served by Sam Gibson (28 possessions, six tackles), Nick Dal Santo (30 disposals, six tackles) and skipper Andrew Swallow (nine tackles 23 touches).

The win keeps Brisbane a game clear of bottom-placed St Kilda, with the Lions to take on Richmond next Saturday at the MCG. North, a game inside the eight, face top team Hawthorn at Docklands on Friday night.

GOALS
Brisbane: Green 3; Aish, Beams 2; Close, Zorko, Merrett
North Melbourne: Petrie 4; Swallow 2; Thomas, Gibson, Harvey

BEST - SPORTAL.COM.AU
Brisbane: Hanley, Aish, Martin, Zorko, Rockliff, Green, Taylor, Redden
North Melbourne: Gibson, Dal Santo, Swallow, Petrie

BEST - AFL.COM.AU
Brisbane: Hanley, Aish, Bewick, Taylor, Green, Martin
North Melbourne: Gibson, Cunnington, Petrie, Dal Santo, Swallow

INJURIES
Brisbane: Ryan Lester (quad)
North Melbourne: Lachlan Hansen (soreness) replaced in selected side by Ben Jacobs

SUBSTITUTES
Brisbane: Ash McGrath replaced Ryan Lester in third quarter.
North Melbourne: Ben Jacobs replaced Ben Brown in the third quarter.

UMPIRES: Donlon, Fleer, Stephens

TELEVISION BROADCAST: Seven Network

COMMENTATORS: Matthew Campbell, Jason Dunstall, Tony Shaw