Sunday afternoon football takes us to Etihad Stadium for a clash between North Melbourne and Adelaide that could easily be seen as an early season elimination final. Live scores and commentary coming up from 3.20pm AEST.
North Melbourne is coming off a heartbreaking loss to West Coast in Perth last Friday night, while the Adelaide Crows will be looking for three wins in a row following their win against the Saints last Sunday.
The Kangaroos will still be stinging from their final quarter fade out and now find themselves in a precarious position for the season.
The chances of making the finals rest now on these 50-50 games that have to go their way.
It’s no doubt North Melbourne has had a tough draw so far, but if they want to get back into the finals, they have to start beating some of last year’s fellow finalists.
So far this season, they are yet to beat a top eight team from last year in five matches.
There’s no doubt the team is potent up forward, with the team with a percentage of 108 in the first eight rounds.
Coach Brad Scott will know his team’s recent record against the Crows is solid winning all three games since he took over (before that, it was an eight-game losing streak).
If they can bring the same pressure as they did against West Coast last week, they should be right in this game up until the final siren.
Adelaide on the other hand is starting to find a little bit of form, following their win against St Kilda last week.
Despite a tense and close opening half, Adelaide broke away halfway through the third quarter and bounded away with a lot of run and carry through the midfield.
There were concerns on Josh Jenkins being fit for today’s game, but he seems to have recovered from his hyper-extended knee, an injury that looked frightfully similar to the injury that sees Taylor Walker out for the season.
Despite two wins on the trot, the opposition has not been flash, so this match on the road is the perfect litmus test for the Crows and we’ll finally be able to gauge their real potential for 2013.
Even though the Crows defence has stood up strong (they have the third-fewest points scored against them), that needs to be tempered with the fact they’ve beaten the Giants and the Bulldogs, who are both near the foot of the ladder.
A win here for the Crows is so very important, with their road ahead in the next two months very rocky as they take on sides like Collingwood, Geelong, Sydney and Fremantle.
Nathan of Perth
Guest
Haha
Bruce Lee
Guest
In a word "BLISS"
Bruce Lee
Guest
What a win for the crows!!! Probably a game they wouldn't win if Kangas had a better coach. Arguably the weakest mental link in the Roos team would have to be Brad Scott himself. One of the poorest sports of all time for sure
Jason Cave
Guest
Interestingly enough, Channel 7 earlier in the day showed a replay of the incredible 2001 Round 16 game between Essendon and North Melbourne, where the Bombers came from 69 points to pull off a unbelievable victory, which was, in my opinion, Kevin Sheedy's greatest triumph outside of his 4 premierships. A bad omen for the Kangaroos, perhaps?
Paul
Guest
Go crows
Nathan
Guest
You wouldn't think so given their limited supporter base. Maybe they've cost some people their multis. It's annoying me anyway, my team managed to win for once and I want to talk about it.
Nathan of Perth
Roar Rookie
For the second time running, North Melbourne get a defensive mark with under a minute to go and still can't run out the game. For the second time it comes right back at them for a goal. In a not unrelated observation, the BigFooty forum servers have melted down again after a North Melbourne game........
Nathan of Perth
Roar Rookie
Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, three times is enemy action. But what the hell is four times?
TheSportsFreak
Roar Guru
Right now, they look like they're being coached by a lad by the name of G. Norman. That seemed like a choke out there in that final quarter...
Nathan of Perth
Guest
No way! Two points, then one point... Will North draw next week?
TheSportsFreak
Roar Guru
FINAL | Adelaide 18.17 (125) def. North Melbourne 19.10 (124) Quarter by Quarter North Melbourne 4.4 10.6 16.6 19.10 (124) Adelaide 1.2 8.8 12.12 18.17 (125) Goalscorers NM (11) – Lindsay Thomas 5, Ben Cunnington 3, Jack Ziebell 2, Sam Gibson 2, Drew Petrie 2, Jamie Macmillan 1, Brent Harvey 1, Andrew Swallow 1, Todd Goldstein 1, Aaron Black 1, Daniel Wells 1 ADEL (8) – Sam Kerridge 6, Josh Jenkins 3, Bernie Vince 2, Richard Douglas 2, Jared Petrenko 2, Rory Sloane 1, Shaun McKernan 1, Jason Porplyzia 1 Team Stats Disposals: ADEL 351-342; Disposal Efficiency: NM 74%-72%; Kicking Efficiency: NM 70%-65%; Contested Possessions: ADEL 137-132; Marks: NM 100-84 | Clearances: NM 39-29; Tackles: NM 67-47; Inside 50’s: ADEL 53-51; Hitouts: NM 46-25 Player Stats Sam Gibson (NM) 30 disposals, 10 marks, 3 marks inside 50, 2 goals, 1 goal assist Patrick Dangerfield (ADEL) 30 disposals, 16 contested possessions, 6 marks, 7 clearances, 6 tackles, 7 inside 50’s, 1 goal assist Richard Douglas (ADEL) 28 disposals, 11 contested possessions, 9 marks, 4 tackles, 5 bounces, 10 inside 50’s, 2 goal, 2 goal assists Sam Kerridge (ADEL) 24 disposals, 8 contested possessions, 8 marks, 3 marks inside 50, 4 inside 50’s, 6 goals, 1 goal assist Scott Thompson (ADEL) 24 disposals, 13 contested possessions, 6 marks, 4 clearances, 6 tackles, 5 inside 50’s
Tristan Rayner
Editor
Wow. What a finish.
TheSportsFreak
Roar Guru
FINAL | Adelaide 18.17 (125) def. North Melbourne 19.10 (124) North Melbourne still yet to beat one of the teams that were ahead of them in 2012... Adelaide's season is revived, thanks to that last 10 minutes.
TheSportsFreak
Roar Guru
FINAL | Adelaide 18.17 (125) def. North Melbourne 19.10 (124) Adelaide go into the top eight for the first time this season. While North Melbourne slump to 3-6 and will find it very hard to make the finals from here... surely!
TheSportsFreak
Roar Guru
FINAL | Adelaide 18.17 (125) def. North Melbourne 19.10 (124) Find the ladder that Brad Scott walked under at the start of the season and destroy it NOW! What a fight back from Adelaide - 6 goals to 3 in the last quarter. Great run from Patrick Dangerfield. Sam Kerridge was brilliant up forward and Jared Petrenko stepped up late!
TheSportsFreak
Roar Guru
FINAL | Adelaide 18.17 (125) def. North Melbourne 19.10 (124) Adelaide win the clearance - GAME OVER!!! ADELAIDE WIN! How the hell did they do that?
TheSportsFreak
Roar Guru
Q4 0:16 left | NM 19.10 (124) | ADEL 18.17 (125) Mass celebration from Brenton Sanderson in the coaches box!
TheSportsFreak
Roar Guru
Q4 0:16 left | NM 19.10 (124) | ADEL 18.17 (125) Petrie long to the wing. Kerridge boots long - to the back - PETRENKO GOAL!!!!! ADELAIDE IN FRONT!!!
TheSportsFreak
Roar Guru
Q4 0:38 left | NM 19.10 (124) | ADEL 17.17 (119) Free kick to Petrie. Goes to the wing for a ball in. Crowd at fever pitch. Douglas at the back wins the ball. Kicks long... but marked by Atley in defence for NM!
TheSportsFreak
Roar Guru
Q4 1:31 left | NM 19.10 (124) | ADEL 17.17 (119) Bounce in the middle - Dangerfield the clearance. Long to the forward line... falls to Petrenko - BEHIND!!