Australian Football

Match Report

Only four weeks ago, North Melbourne sat atop the AFL ladder. A month down the track and the Kangaroos have slumped to eighth' having lost four matches in a row, and five of their last six. The latest of those losses came at Subiaco on Sunday, where West Coast kept North at bay - though never by much - in the first half, before breaking away from the Kangaroos in the second half to record a solid 32-point win which enhanced the Eagles' own top four chances.

The Eagles started strongly with their usual suspects up forward - Jack Darling and Josh Kennedy - scoring early goals to give the home side a 13-0 lead after seven minutes. North worked its way into the match after that, and majors to Todd Goldstein and Mason Wood had the Roos back within a point early in time on. A mark on angle right on the 50-metre line saw Josh Kennedy kick a lovely long goal and his second gave West Coast a seven-point quarter-time lead.

Goals proved hard to cone by early in the second term, a 'poster' from Drew Petrie the only score in the first seven minutes. The Eagles threatened to blow the game open with goals to Jamie Cripps and Shannon Hurn at the seven and 10-minute marks, but a long bouncing goal from Ben Brown had North back within 13 a couple of minutes later. The two sides traded majors for the next period, Cripps's second goal answered by Sam Gibson and Scott Lycett's first followed by a first for North's Jed Anderson. Ben Brown's second had the Kangaroos back within six points but crucial goals to Kennedy and Elliott Yeo restored the momentum and a three-goal lead to West Coast on the stroke of half time.

There was no score to either side for the first five minutes of the third term, but the Eagles then stamped their authority on the match with a burst of three goals in six minutes - one each to Patrick McGinnity, Andrew Gaff and Mark LeCras. That took the lead out to 36 points, and West Coast was never really threatened again. It could have put North to the sword soon after that, but Kennedy missed twice and Yeo once before majors to Trent Dumont and Brown cut the margin to 27 to give the Roos a 'sniff'. Kennedy responded with his fourth, though and the Eagles were up by a comfortable 33 at the last end-change.

Any thoughts of a last-quarter revival were dispelled early in the term, with West Coast holding the Roos scoreless for the first 10 minutes while LeCras and Chris Masten added goals to extend the margin to a game-high 46 points. North staged somewhat of a revival after that, with Ben Brown's fourth goal followed by two in a row to Lindsay Thomas but it was too little, too late, and Cripps's third at the 27-minute mark capped off an important win for the Eagles.

Matt Priddis demonstrated why he will again feature in Brownlow Medal calculations this year, with a fine 12-tackle, 25-possession game. For North, Jack Ziebell's 12 tackles and 21 touches put him amongst the best.

The Eagles have another very winnable game coming up, Carlton at the MCG next Sunday, while North will be hoping to return to the winners list against Port Adelaide at Docklands in Saturday's twilight match.

GOALS
West Coast: Kennedy 4; Cripps 3; LeCras 2; Gaff, Hurn, Lycett, Yeo, McGinnity, Darling, Masten
North Melbourne: Brown 4; Thomas 2; Gibson, Dumont, Goldstein, Wood, Anderson

BEST - AFL.COM.AU
West Coast: Shuey, Priddis, McGovern, Kennedy, Masten, LeCras
North Melbourne: Swallow, Ziebell, Brown, Gibson, Dumont

BEST - HERALD SUN
West Coast: Priddis, Kennedy, Masten, Darling, Shuey, Gaff, Cripps
North Melbourne: Brown, Goldstein, Ziebell, Gibson, Swallow, Macmillan

INJURIES
West Coast: Nil
North Melbourne: Dal Santo (illness, replaced in the selected side), Ray (hamstring), Wood (left knee)

UMPIRES: Dalgleish, Nicholls, Kamolins

TELEVISION BROADCAST: Seven Network

COMMENTATORS: Dennis Cometti, Basil Zempilas, Leigh Matthews, Brad Sewell