A massive mark in defence from ruckman Todd Goldstein has helped North Melbourne advance to their first preliminary final since 2007 after upsetting Geelong by six points in Friday night’s AFL semi-final.
The Kangaroos led by 32 points at the 14-minute mark of the final term before the Cats booted the last four goals of the match to almost force a draw.
North won 14.14 (98) to 13.14 (92) and were led in midfield by Nick Dal Santo and Sam Gibson while Drew Petrie had a big game up forward with four goals.
Key forward Tom Hawkins was almost the match-winner for the Cats with five goals, including three in the final term, while Josh Walker booted three majors.
Josh Caddy, Mitch Duncan and Joel Selwood were busy for the Cats in midfield in a tense finish in front of 65,963 fans at the MCG.
Lindsay Thomas kicked all three of his goals for North in the first term as the Kangaroos booted seven majors.
A sloppy kick-out from fullback by Geelong’s Andrew Mackie gifted Todd Goldstein a goal as the Kangaroos hopped to a 30-point lead at the 28-minute mark of the first quarter.
The Cats stopped North’s momentum however with three late goals including one after the siren to Tom Hawkins to reduce the margin to 12 points at the first break, 7.1 (43) to 5.1 (31).
The Kangaroos added only two goals in the second term but they still doubled their lead as the Cats were held goal-less.
North were ahead 9.6 (60) to 5.6 (36) at halftime and the Kangaroos booted three goals to Geelong’s three in the third term to hold their 24-point advantage at three-quarter time.
Jack Ziebell kicked two goals in three minutes to seemingly make a hero of himself for the Kangaroos. But Hawkins responded with three consecutive goals to make the margin 12 points.
Geelong’s September specialist Jimmy Bartel kicked a goal with two minutes and 26 seconds left and it was just a goal the difference.
The Cats were surging late before Goldstein took a huge pack mark in defence with less than 30 seconds on the clock to hold back the home side from one final attack.
Brent Harvey, returning from a three-game suspension, had 25 touches and was also a key player for North who will play the Swans at Sydney’s ANZ Stadium in next Friday night’s preliminary final.
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