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North Melbourne vs Sydney

Scoreboard | Match report | Match statistics

Round: 22   Venue: Bellerive Oval   Date: Sat, 20-08-2016 1:45 pm   Crowd: 16,495  
North Melbourne 3.4.224.8.329.13.6710.16.76 C:  Brad Scott
Sydney 5.4.346.8.4411.9.7512.13.85 C:  John Longmire
  SYD by 12SYD by 12SYD by 8SYD by 9  
Weather
min temp  6.4°C      max temp  11.8°C
rainfall  0.8mm    humidity  62%    air pressure  999.5mb
wind speed 20km/h      wind direction  NW
Brownlow Medal 3 Dan Hannebery (SYD)2 Josh Kennedy (SYD)1 Brent Harvey (NTH)

Match Report

The stakes were high at Bellerive Oval in Saturday's match between North Melbourne and Sydney. For the Kangaroos, having won eight matches in a row at the venue but just three of its last 11 games this season, a win would ensure a third successive finals series while a loss would see their place in the eight under severe threat if Melbourne were to defeat Carlton on Sunday. For the Swans the equation was simple: win and take top spot on the ladder, offered up by Hawthorn which had lost the night before to West Coast. In the end Sydney prevailed by nine points, breaking away to leads of four goals or more in both the first and third terms and twice absorbing comebacks from the 'home' side.

Both sides' defences ruled in the early stages of the match, behinds the order of the day until Jake Lloyd marked and kicked the first goal of the match at the 10-minute mark to give Sydney a five-point lead. A running goal from Todd Goldstein put North ahead by a point a couple of minutes later but George Hewett's first goal at the 14-minute mark restored the lead to the Swans and they would not relinquish it for the rest of the match. Jarrad McVeigh extended the margin to 13 points with a long goal at the 17-minute mark and when Gary Rohan marked and kicked truly not long after, Sydney looked like blowing the Roos away. Tom Papley added another for the Swans after a free kick before two late goals to Nick Dal Santo had North back within two goals and in touch at quarter time.

Taking the momentum into the second quarter, North had early chances to close the gap further but could manage only three behinds, Lindsay Thomas and Ben Brown both missing before Brown made amends with a goal at the 14-minute mark to bring the Kangaroos to within four points. Both sides the traded in behinds for the rest of the quarter until Rohan ran onto the a ball in the goal square at the 23-minute mark to kick his second goal and allow Sydney to take a two-goal buffer into the half-time break.

North had two early chances to close the gap and make an impact early in the third term but shots from Brent Harvey and Majak Daw both missed, Daw's effort unluckily hitting the base of the post. By contrast the Swans were accurate with their first shot at goal, McVeigh's second major giving them a 16-point buffer. Ben Brown responded with a mark and goal for North but Sydney again answered through Ben McGlynn.

The Roos kept coming, with a goal to Harvey cutting the margin to 10 points but Sydney broke the game open with the next three goals via Dan Hannebery, Isaac Heeney and Josh Kennedy to jump out to a 28-point lead. The time-on period saw a sharp momentum shift, however, and North peppered the goals until the three-quarter time siren sounded, 3.3 to a single behind, the majors going to Harvey, Brown and Brad McKenzie, and the margin was only eight points at the final change.

An early last-term goal to Harvey cut North's deficit to under a goal and the Kangaroos looked head for a come-from-behind victory. They had two chances soon after to take the lead but shots from Harvey and Ben Cunnington both missed as the margin was reduced to a solitary point. But Hannebery scored a crucial goal for the Swans at the 11-minute mark and Sydney's rock-solid defence held firm after that, neither side able to add a goal after that as the Roos eventually succumbed by nine points. 

Dan Hannebery stood out as one of Sydney's best players, with 33 possessions and two goals, while Brent Harvey, in his 430th AFL match, showed no signs of slowing down, gathering 32 touches and kicking three goals to be North's best player. 

Good news came North's way 24 hours after the loss, with Melbourne's loss to Carlton ensuring the Kangaroos' place in the eight is secure. However, with just three wins from its last 12 matches, North will be hoping to reverse its fortunes with a win over GWS at Docklands next Saturday night and head into the finals with a win. With top spot now theirs, the Swans can ensure they stay there with a solid win over Richmond at the SCG. They hold a break of 2.7 percentage points over second-placed Adelaide going into the final round. With the Crows playing West Coast on Friday night, Sydney will know exactly what winning margin will be required to retain top spot should the Crows record a big win.

GOALS
North Melbourne: Harvey 3; Dal Santo, Brown 2; Petrie, Goldstein, McKenzie,
Sydney: Rohan, McVeigh, Hannebery 2; Hewett, Papley, Lloyd, Heeney, Kennedy, McGlynn

BEST - AFL.COM.AU
North Melbourne: Harvey, Wells, Dal Santo, Swallow, Tarrant, Macmillan
Sydney: Hannebery, Parker, Kennedy, Mills, Mitchell, McVeigh

INJURIES
North Melbourne: Scott Thompson (groin)
Sydney: Lance Franklin (ribs)

UMPIRES: Bannister, Schmitt, Meredith

TELEVISION BROADCAST: Seven Network

COMMENTATORS: Jason Bennett, Tim Watson, Andrew Welsh, Brad Sewell

Source

Match Report by Andrew Gigacz

Footnotes

Video sourced from YouTube, courtesy of the AFL.

Match stats

North Melbourne Match Stats Career
# Player K M H D G B HO T FF FA Age Games G
3 Anderson, Jed 2 0 6 8 0 0 0 2 0 0 22y 200d 18 6
18 Atley, Shaun 12 5 7 19 0 0 0 1 0 0 23y 342d 130 16
50 Brown, Ben 8 7 3 11 2 1 0 1 0 1 23y 274d 53 88
10 Cunnington, Ben 9 4 13 22 0 1 0 8 0 1 25y 51d 143 57
15 Dal Santo, Nick 17 7 14 31 2 0 0 2 0 0 32y 180d 320 156
38 Daw, Majak 3 1 6 9 0 2 3 0 1 0 25y 162d 23 21
14 Dumont, Trent 7 5 11 18 0 0 0 3 0 0 21y 51d 18 7
11 Firrito, Michael 7 4 5 12 0 0 0 1 0 0 32y 267d 273 29
43 Gibson, Sam 11 6 13 24 0 0 0 2 1 1 30y 85d 106 46
22 Goldstein, Todd 6 3 7 13 1 1 25 0 2 0 28y 50d 169 88
6 Hansen, Lachlan 6 3 9 15 0 1 0 6 1 0 28y 3d 136 76
29 Harvey, Brent 16 6 16 32 3 2 0 5 2 0 38y 98d 430 516
34 Macmillan, Jamie 21 11 10 31 0 0 0 2 1 0 24y 332d 102 41
2 McKenzie, Brad 12 3 6 18 1 0 0 3 2 1 23y 83d 37 6
17 Mullett, Aaron 8 4 6 14 0 0 0 4 0 0 24y 179d 65 26
20 Petrie, Drew 9 4 5 14 1 2 0 2 2 1 33y 310d 314 428
9 Swallow, Andrew 9 2 18 27 0 0 0 14 5 1 29y 79d 206 76
25 Tarrant, Robbie 10 7 8 18 0 0 0 1 3 1 27y 117d 82 41
12 Thomas, Lindsay 12 1 3 15 0 2 0 4 0 2 28y 173d 194 317
16 Thompson, Scott 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 30y 103d 179 6
8 Wells, Daniel 17 6 14 31 0 0 0 4 0 0 31y 199d 241 150
7 Ziebell, Jack 18 5 7 25 0 2 0 6 1 0 25y 174d 145 88
  Rushed   2  
  Totals 220 94 188 408 10 16 28 71 21 9 27y 276d 3384 2285
Sydney Match Stats Career
# Player K M H D G B HO T FF FA Age Games G
36 Aliir, Aliir 10 4 3 13 0 0 0 6 1 0 21y 350d 9 0
7 Cunningham, Harry 6 1 4 10 0 0 0 3 0 0 22y 258d 69 36
23 Franklin, Lance 'Buddy' 6 2 3 9 0 1 0 1 1 2 29y 203d 242 773
39 Grundy, Heath 8 5 4 12 0 0 0 2 0 0 30y 79d 208 23
4 Hannebery, Dan 14 4 19 33 2 0 0 1 0 1 25y 178d 165 81
5 Heeney, Isaac 5 2 7 12 1 1 0 0 0 0 20y 107d 33 41
29 Hewett, George 4 2 5 9 1 0 0 4 1 1 20y 235d 19 14
12 Kennedy, Josh 14 2 14 28 1 1 0 7 0 3 28y 61d 178 109
44 Lloyd, Jake 17 3 7 24 1 0 0 2 0 0 22y 335d 64 17
21 McGlynn, Ben 8 4 3 11 1 0 0 8 0 0 31y 14d 166 185
3 McVeigh, Jarrad 11 4 5 16 2 0 0 7 1 2 31y 135d 283 192
14 Mills, Callum 17 9 8 25 0 0 0 2 0 0 19y 140d 20 1
6 Mitchell, Tom 11 4 19 30 0 1 0 4 0 1 23y 81d 60 34
35 Naismith, Sam 3 1 2 5 0 0 25 3 0 3 24y 35d 8 2
41 Papley, Tom 5 1 4 9 1 0 0 2 1 1 20y 38d 15 20
26 Parker, Luke 15 3 16 31 0 2 1 3 1 2 23y 300d 122 98
24 Rampe, Dane 11 9 7 18 0 1 0 2 0 1 26y 79d 93 6
42 Richards, Xavier 8 7 6 14 0 1 0 2 0 0 23y 117d 7 9
16 Rohan, Gary 13 7 2 15 2 1 0 4 2 1 25y 74d 74 59
40 Smith, Nick 7 4 1 8 0 0 0 3 0 0 28y 69d 162 9
8 Tippett, Kurt 2 3 9 11 0 2 17 1 0 1 29y 104d 165 316
22 Towers, Dean 9 1 5 14 0 0 2 3 1 2 26y 108d 30 18
  Rushed   2  
  Totals 204 82 153 357 12 13 45 70 9 21 25y 58d 2192 2043

Match highlights

Andrew Swallow had 14 tackles for North Melbourne vs. Sydney (AFL, Premiership Season, R22)

Footnotes

* Behinds calculated from the 1965 season on.
+ Score at the end of extra time.