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Match Result: North Melbourne have booked a place in the preliminary final for the 2nd straight season after defeating the Sydney Swans by 26 points at ANZ Stadium.
NORTH 11 11 77
SWANS 7 9 51
In what would be Adam Goodes’ final match in the AFL, the Swans struggled to cover the loss of some of their stars, as North ran away with the game in the final quarter.
The signs were there early as North had plenty of inside 50’s in the first quarter, but struggled to put it on the scoreboard.
They would have a two point lead at quarter time, as Sydney took its chances, and nullified the output of Todd Goldstein in the ruck.
North responded in the 2nd quarter, and started to kick away, as they kicked three goals in a row.
After Sydney kicked the first goal, North responded, to lead by 15 points at half time as the tall forwards started to dominate.
They took 7 inside 50 marks to 1 as Drew Petrie and Jarrad Waite caused plenty of problems to the Swans defence.
Sydney responded, with the opening two goals of the third term, as they fought to keep their season alive.
They reduced the margin to three points.
That would be the closest Sydney got as North ran away with the contest.
Two goals to Jarrad Waite made the margin 13 at 3/4 time as the effort of the Swans was nullified by the tall forward.
The Kangaroos would then add four goals in the final quarter to run over the Swans and gain redemption for their loss at ANZ Stadium last year.
Now they face West Coast in Perth and are a genuine chance of making their first grand final since 1999.
For Sydney it ended the careers of Adam Goodes and Rhyce Shaw.
Goodes would kick the final goal of the match and refused to be carried off at the end.
Instead that honour went to Shaw.
Now they look to 2016 and an attack on the trade period in the next few weeks.
North will face West Coast in the preliminary final on Saturday night.
Match Preview: The Sydney Swans and North Melbourne Kangaroos continue their finals rivalry at ANZ Stadium in the first semi-final. Join The Roar for all the action from 7:20pm (AEST).
For the fourth time in 20 years, and the third time in seven years, these two teams meet in a final. Amazingly, in the clubs’ first 70 years as South and North Melbourne, they never faced each other in a final.
In 1996, with South Melbourne now the Sydney Swans, this changed, as they met in the grand final, with North winning by 43 points.
Since then it has all been the Swans, with Sydney winning the 2008 elimination final by 35 points, and smashing the Kangaroos by 71 points in last year’s preliminary final.
North will be out for revenge tonight, and have been talking about that all week.
Last week the Roos ended the Tigers’ season with a 17-point win.
Sydney, on the other hand, suffered an admirable loss to Fremantle, with an injury list that keeps on building.
Lance Franklin has been ruled out for the rest of the year as he deals with personal issues, while Luke Parker and Kieran Jack are also out with knee injuries suffered before the finals.
Then during the loss to the Dockers, the Swans lost Sam Reid for the rest of the season to a hamstring injury.
Despite that though, they almost knocked off Freo in Perth. Josh Kennedy played well, in the absence of his fellow stars, with 39 disposals. Had the Swans kicked straighter, the match would have been completely different.
The battle tonight will be in the midfield, with both teams looking to deliver the ball to their tall forwards.
The ruck battle also promises to be huge with Mike Pike and Kurt Tippett up against the best ruckman in the game, Todd Goldstein. If Sydney can nullify his impact, they can win this game.
They have made one change to the match with Sam Reid out and Nick Smith in.
The Kangaroos are unchanged from the win against the Tigers.
Prediction
While plenty think North will win, I disagree.
They may be hampered by injury, but the Swans are still a formidable outfit. And the Swans played well last week, while North were in trouble at times against the Tigers.
Furthermore, the loss of Franklin has seen others step up, and Kurt Tippett, Isaac Heeney, and Adam Goodes will kick enough goals tonight to see the Swans win.
Swans by 18 points.
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