The last qualifying match of the NAB Cup action sees North Melbourne taking on the Western Bulldogs at Eureka Stadium. Join us for live scores and a blog of all the action from the first bounce at 3.40pm AEDT this afternoon.
This game is now a dead rubber, with the Eagles and Crows already having booked their spots in the final next weekend, but there is still plenty of interest in today’s game.
Realistically, no more than one of these two teams have a chance of breaking into the top eight this season, with most pundits viewing North Melbourne as having the better chance.
North coach Brad Scott would definitely be viewing this season as a breakthrough one for the Kangaroos, while the first time coach for the Bulldogs, Brendan McCartney, is overseeing a process change for his charges to put them back on track in catching up with the leading clubs.
In the first round of NAB Cup matches, McCartney wouldn’t have been too pleased with the Bulldogs falling in over the line against the youthful GWS and then failing against a second string Collingwood outfit.
However, last weekend, the Bulldogs were able to turn around that effort with an improved attack on the footy that saw them defeat Carlton in what was a hard, keenly contested pre-season game.
Will Minson showed a bit as the resting ruckman up forward, and much will be expected of Jordan Roughead with the move of veteran ruckman, Ben Hudson, to the Lions this season.
Brian Lake showed last weekend that he was close to returning to his best, good news for all Bulldog fans, but it remains to be seen whether Adam Cooney can follow suit.
Fantasy league pundits will also be keeping an eye on last year’s father-son selections: Tom Liberatore and Mitch Wallis, while Zeph Skinner remains a bit of a wildcard.
For North, they have a couple of big guns ready to fire. Todd Goldstein is looking to follow up a terrific season last year, while Drew Petrie made a return from injury last year and will be looking to hit top form early on in the season.
Robbie Tarrant, younger brother of Chris Tarrant, must just about be due for a break through season, having had an injury riddled career since being drafted in 2006.
Brett Harvey is in the twilight of his career, but still managed to produce the goods last season, while new captain, Andrew Swallow, is set to lead by example in the middle of the park.
The other interest in today’s game is the venue, North Ballarat, being one that has been explored by the wandering Kangaroos for future games, so the level of support they attract today will be under scrutiny.
Who goes into the AFL season proper on a high note? Find out in the final round-robin game of the NAB Cup this afternoon. We’ll be covering the action from the beginning at 3.40pm AEDT. If you’re watching, leave us your opinion in the space below.
The Cattery
Roar Guru
thanks for joining me today, hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend, and may your team win
The Cattery
Roar Guru
FT In the end, Nth brought on their big guns in the second half, and blokes like Swallow, Harvey and Wells too control of the game, but some of the dogs' younger brigade fought it out till the end, Dahlhaus in particular, plenty of dashing runs and penetrating kicks deep into fwd 50, Campbell took some strong grabs to kick 3 goals for the dogs, and Skinner did a few good things forward, but in the end, North too strong today. NM 93 WB 70
The Cattery
Roar Guru
26 min Dickson with the long left foot shot, and it's Skinner with the big leap and takes the grab deep in the fwd pocket, wrong side for the left footer, nearly steers it through - siren goes NM 93 WB 70
The Cattery
Roar Guru
25 min It's out to a 4 goal lead, last few mintues now, we've had a capacity crowd of 8,000 today in North Ballarat NM 93 WB 69
The Cattery
Roar Guru
24 min Giansircusa holds his position, cleverly lets the ball go over, but couldn't keep the ball in, ends up with Swallow, mark, 35m out, should be bread and butter for him, and that will just about seal it, straight through NM 93 WB 69
The Cattery
Roar Guru
22 min clearing kick for dogs out of def 50, on wing now, throw in, near side, Goldstein with tap out, Harvey goes for a run, hands, long kick, Tarrant cna't get to it, wood under pressure, finally ends up with veszpremi, dogs can't clear, Swallow, back into fwd 50, Wood back with the flight of the ball, double somersault backwards!! NM 87 WB 69
The Cattery
Roar Guru
21 min both teams battling for the ball at ground level, ball up, centre wing, near side, finally hands to Swallow, player runs by, into Nth 50, ball up NM 87 WB 69
The Cattery
Roar Guru
18 min strong mark by Markovic on kick out, Nth get it back, dogs recover through Libba and Wallis, Grant spots up Libba at centre-wing, Wallis drops it, Nth inside 50, strong punch from Lake, thomas earns the free, easily too high, definitely a free, Thomas misses badly NM 87 WB 69
The Cattery
Roar Guru
17 min thomas with the mark for Nth, inside 50, bit of an angle, just this side of the big stick NM 86 WB 69
The Cattery
Roar Guru
16 min Campbell has a 50 m, and he has decided to go for the 9 pts!! no, breeze will take that across, 1 pt, gave up a certain goal NM 85 WB 69
The Cattery
Roar Guru
15 min Two quick goals to dogs keep them in touch, out of the centre again, LIbba to Wallis to Dahlhuas, to Giansiracusa, quick snap a pt NM 85 WB 69
The Cattery
Roar Guru
13 min It was a good take by Campbell to bring them back within 22 pts, and from the bounce, dogs straight to Skinner, who'll line up from 48m, very nice kick, margin back to 17 pts NM 85 WB 68
The Cattery
Roar Guru
11 min Great goal saving tackle then by Markovic on Swallow, dogs go coast to coast on kick out, ends up with Campbell, strong mark, about 25m out, pass came from Skinner, Campbell kicks his 3rd NM 85 WB 62
The Cattery
Roar Guru
9 min Dogs starting to run out of time here, trailing by 28 pts NM 84 WB 56
The Cattery
Roar Guru
7 min Nth have maintained their lead, and have just built on it, having scored the goal, through Atley NM 84 WB 55
The Cattery
Roar Guru
3QT NM 1.9.12 (75) WB 0.6.13 (49) North had advantage of slight breeze but more importantly brought on some senior players that quarter and they made an immediate impact. Harvey got a bit of it, Wells scored a super goal from 60m on the run, Harper followed up with two quick ones, and all of a sudden, Nth were out to a 25 pt lead before the dogs knew what was happening
The Cattery
Roar Guru
27 min one thing about the NAB cup, the extra scoring option with the 9 pointers messes with my head the other thing messing with my head is the fact that the audio is about 15 seconds behind the vision, siren goes NM 1.9.12 (75) WB 0.6.13 (49)
The Cattery
Roar Guru
25 min set shot from boundary, another pt for nth NM 1.9.12 WB 0.6.13
The Cattery
Roar Guru
23 min Wells with the footy, they can't touch him, into 50 and Black takes a strong mark, 45m out, just misses he's a good prospect, 192 cm NM 1.9.11 WB 0.6.13
The Cattery
Roar Guru
22 min It's Panos with the strong mark, but horrible kick from 45m, scrapes home for a pt NM 1.9.10 WB 0.6.13