North Melbourne have endured plenty of heartbreak this season, but after five losses, three of them heartbreaking, North Melbourne have finally opened their account in 2017 with a 14-point win over Gold Coast.
There were some nervous moments late, and the Suns never stopped trying, but the Roos simply led by too much too late to lose again.
For the first quarter and a half, the match followed a pattern: North Melbourne would win the ball, they would cough it up, and the Suns would use their pace and efficient kicking to burst forward on the rebound and score.
But as Todd Goldstein got on top of Jarrod Witts in the centre, the Roos’ midfielders began to hold their own, whereas before it was Ablett, Ablett, Ablett.
A five-goal burst for North in the third term, after the Suns had got out to a ten-point lead, was vital, while for the first time this year, the Roos had the composure to settle with the first three goals of the final term after the Suns had drawn to within six points.
And then after the Suns had kicked a couple of quick goals to make it interesting, North were able to keep things calm and organised when in the past they had dissolved.
Jack Ziebell ended up with 24 touches in a captain’s performance in midfield, while Shaun Higgins (28 touches and a goal) and Nathan Hrovat (22 and 2) were the class outside.
The two bookends in Scott Thompson and Ben Brown were fantastic, the former keeping Tom Lynch to “only” three goals and preventing him from dominating the way he has in the past, and the latter taking advantage of the absence of Steven May and Rory Thompson to boot a career-high six goals.
His accuracy was again of the highest class, and he continues to develop into a high-quality key forward. He’s not flashy, but he gets the job done, and so it was tonight.
For the Suns, well, no guesses who was their best. Gary Ablett finished with 45 touches, nine tackles, a quarter of his team’s contested possessions for the match and an uncountable number of clearances.
After having his playing future questioned in Round 2, he has played some scintillating football, but this was one of his greatest ever performances.
Jarrod Harbrow was also at his speedy best off half-back, Touk Miller had some good moments in midfield, while Alex Sexton and Michael Barlow ran out the game well with 26 and 24 touches respectively.
So the Roos leave Sydney as the only winless team in 2017, and finally, after so much agony, get the job done. You can breathe now, North fans.
Final score
North Melbourne Kangaroos 16.11.107
Gold Coast Suns 14.10.94
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