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Sunday twilight football takes us to Etihad Stadium as North Melbourne and St Kilda do battle to keep their season’s afloat. Live scores and commentary coming up from 4.40pm AEST.
Undoubtedly, North Melbourne was a massive story of Round 9 following their capitulation at the hands of the Adelaide Crows in the final quarter.
Collingwood are not the only team whose endurance and durability has been questioned during the week.
The season has now just about slipped out of their grasp, with many asking the question whether the season has been a waste after four matches where they held the lead, but let it go in the closing stages.
The Kangaroos are probably the most competitive 3-6 team in the history of the AFL with the side holding a percentage of 106.9 despite being in 13th spot.
They have played some very good football with a very potent forward line that is kicking plenty of goals (they’re the fifth highest-scoring team in 2013).
But they’ve defence has more holes in it than Swiss cheese, giving up goals on the fast-break consistently, which also suggests the defensive pressure of their midfield is not up to scratch.
North Melbourne will more than likely sprint out of the blocks again (winning eight of nine first quarters this season), but it’s their second half performance that will need to be strong to hold off the Saints.
No Jack Ziebell in the line up is disappointing, but they should be able to cover him through the midfield with someone like Levi Greenwood or Liam Anthony.
St Kilda hasn’t been that bad a team this season. Many of the pundits didn’t have St Kilda playing in the finals and many believed the end of the era was already at an end.
So the debate surrounding the regeneration or rebirth of this team is a strange one – a bit like how there’s immense discussion surrounding the failures of the Bulldogs (which was also expected).
No doubt the Saints should have been able to shut their game down against the Western Bulldogs last weekend, but were over-run in the final stages.
Lenny Hayes was a key out in the final quarter after copping a corked calf. Should he pass his fitness test, he will be a massive plus for the Saints.
Also expect to see Nick Riewoldt continue his incredible start to the season, despite the negativity surrounding the team.
He has been described as being back to his influential best, despite being at the very back end of his career at the age of 31.
These games that North Melbourne are expected to win are the ones that probably don’t worry the fans too much.
But based on recent form, if they don’t hold a decent lead in the final quarter, St Kilda will be fancying their chances of an upset tonight.
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