North Melbourne’s miserable start to the AFL season has continued with a 16-point loss to Port Adelaide.
Port’s Sam Gray kicked four goals in his side’s 12.16 (88) to 11.6 (72) win on Friday night at Adelaide Oval.
Last-placed North slumped to a fifth loss in six games, with stalwart Luke McDonald hobbled by a knee injury.
McDonald limped from the field in the second quarter but returned with his right knee strapped and in clear discomfort in the last half.
Port jumped the Roos early, booting five goals to two to take a 17-point quarter-time lead.
The Power, with Gray slotting three first-half goals, extended their advantage to 28 points at halftime before a brief Kangaroos fightback.
North booted the opening two goals of the third term to reduce the deficit to 16 points before Port again kicked away.
The Power held a 41-point lead 11 minutes into the final term before a belated charge from North, who scored the last five goals.
“We could sit here and be a little critical of our finish … but we had numerous (scoring) opportunities again in the last quarter,” Port coach Ken Hinkley said.
“And North Melbourne were going for it … they really challenged us for a period in the last quarter.”
Port’s ex-captain Travis Boak was superb in his club’s fourth win of the season, gathering a game-high 38 disposals including 11 clearances and nine inside-50s.
Boak also scored a goal and, with his midfield partners Tom Rockliff (27 possessions) and Ollie Wines (26 touches), created a decisive advantage around the packs.
By halftime, the Power had won 26 more contested possessions than the Kangaroos and, by game’s end, they were plus-23 in the key statistic.
“The fight was evident, we were doing a lot of things right but we just lacked the polish,” North coach Brad Scott said.
“Port are a very good pressure team … and we probably played into their hands a few times and tried to be to perfect with our ball movement.”
Port’s parochial 36,099-strong crowd booed Jared Polec and Jasper Pittard at every disposal – the pair joined North from the South Australian club at the end of last season.
Polec (17 possessions) kicked a stunning goal from the boundary line in the second quarter but, like Pittard (23 touches), had minimal impact.
North’s third-gamer Nick Larkey kicked three majors and captain Jack Ziebell (24 disposals) booted two, while Ben Cunnington (35 disposals) and Jed Anderson (26 possessions) were prominent.
But Kangaroo spearhead Ben Brown was held goalless by Tom Clurey, given the task in the absence of co-captain Tom Jonas who was a late withdrawal because of a calf injury.
North playmaker Shaun Higgins (illness) was also a late scratching.
Brendon the 1st
Roar Rookie
Lol, they were cheering Jaspers kicks when they inevitably went somewhere other than was intended though. Ahhh Jasper, will you ever learn? and what's with that haircut?
Brendon the 1st
Roar Rookie
Bit rough I think, remember Melbourne in the Neeld era? Now that's a shocking footy team. My own team Port stunk it up for a couple of years there as well. Freo has never won a flag, Richmond used to own ninth, there's plenty of contenders for worst side ever.
Timmuh
Roar Guru
North don't have the money to pay out a coach, nor would it make any difference. The players as a group are at fault far more than the coach. If everyone's contract was up this year, a 30+ man delisting would probably be in order. The playing group needs a clean out of all passengers, hacks and perennial underperformers. That would leave very few ... Higgins, Cunnington, probably Zeibell, maybe Brown and Tarrant have enough credits from prior years, and um, maybe some kids who haven't proven to be complete trash yet. Fitzroy 1996 had a worse list, but more who performed at something like their ability.
Timmuh
Roar Guru
Carlton might be winnable for North. Might. But not if they play like they did against Essendon. At least it didn’t seem like the plan was to let the opposition centre the ball and run unchallenged down the guts for over 100 metres as it was against Essendon. On form this year, North would probably not be favourites playing away to Subiaco or Norwood. I don’t think I have ever seen a team quite so diabolical at AFL level; not even Fitzroy. At least; unlike Carlton; it has only been a month so far, and not most years for 15 years. There is precisely zero cohesion. It seems the players are not playing for themselves or their team-mates; or even their contracts. Its not a great list, but its better than that – and a change of coach likely won’t change anything when the players seem as though they have never seen each other before.
Gee
Roar Rookie
The Demons are also in the running for the spoon, they might be on the bottom in three weeks time and stay there.
Gee
Roar Rookie
A flattering final score line. Disgraceful from the Port fans booing Polac & Pittard, hopefully Nathan Buckley issues a public statement to stop this from happening again.
Maurice
Guest
Pittard would do better chasing the ball a bit more rather than ranting at the umpires. North need to hit the reset button and get a new coach.
Brendon the 1st
Roar Rookie
Port did what they had to, then show boated at the end against a weakened North Melbourne, let's see what happens against the Pies next week. A win is a win though and we looked good for the first three quarters.
Omnitrader
Roar Rookie
they’ve got carlton and sydney in the next 3 weeks. after that we’ll see who the spoon favourite is.
RooBoy18
Roar Rookie
A better effort last night from North...definitely not worse. Adelaide has never been a happy hunting ground for North. Polec and Pittard will be glad to get that game out of the way.