North Melbourne’s Brent Harvey turned on a show in his 350th AFL game with four goals as the Kangaroos put two weeks of heartbreak behind them with a 68-point win over St Kilda on Sunday.
Leading by a massive 55 points at quarter-time and 59 points at three-quarter time, North managed to hold on to win comfortably 19.19 (133) to St Kilda’s 10.5 (65) after booting two goals to the Saints’ one in the final term.
Both clubs remain unlikely finals contenders with 12th-placed North improving their win-loss record to 4-6 while the 16th-placed Saints are 2-8.
North had plenty of avenues to goal with big men Aaron Black (five) and Drew Petrie (four) complemented by small forwards Harvey (four) and Lindsay Thomas (three).
St Kilda skipper Nick Riewoldt kicked three goals in a strong performance despite Scott Thompson’s early dominance in North’s backline while Jack Steven tried hard in midfield for the Saints.
Stung by two consecutive defeats by a total of three points, North began brilliantly with a nine-goal first term and were never headed, as the Kangaroos ended in grand style by chairing 35-year-old Harvey off the field in front of 25,658 cheering fans.
“We definitely tapped into that,” North coach Brad Scott said of the hype around Harvey’s milestone game, and former club champion Daniel Wells’ 200th match.
“There’s something about North Melbourne milestones that are really special.
“Brent Harvey and Daniel Wells will go down as legends of our football club.
“It was really important that we put in a good performance for them but, likewise, that they led from the front.
“They both did that really well today.”
Harvey had 23 disposals while Wells had 24 possessions and six clearances.
North have spent the past week working on being able to slow the game down when required, after their up-tempo style brought them undone in the past two final quarters against West Coast and Adelaide.
“We’ve still got a hell of a long way to go until we answer the questions that were asked of us last week,” Scott said.
“We took a step towards that today.”
St Kilda coach Scott Watters said he was pleased that his young side were at least able to stand their ground in the last three quarters after he issued a simple message to play basic, one-on-one football.
“We were blown out of the water,” Watters said after the Saints conceded nine goals to one and 20 inside-50s to five in the first term.
“We couldn’t get our hands on the footy. It was a lesson for our midfield.”
Gold Coast host North on Saturday while St Kilda play West Coast at Etihad Stadium the following day.
Some highlights of Brent Harvey’s AFL Career:
* Age: 35
* Recruited from: Preston RSL (Vic)/Northern Under-18
* Height: 167cm
* Weight: 75kg
* Matches: 350 for North Melbourne
* Goals: 418
* Debut: 1996
* Premiership sides: 1999
* Best-and-fairest awards: five (2003, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2010, equal)
* Brownlow Medal best finish: equal runner-up 2007
* All-Australian: four (2000, 2005, 2007, 2008)
* International Rules series: four (2000, 2001, 2003, 2008 as captain)
* North’s games record-holder
* Club captain 2009-11
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