North Melbourne Kangaroos vs Port Adelaide Power: AFL match result, highlights

Match result:

North Melbourne have returned to form in devastating style, pummeling Port Adelaide by 86 points on Saturday night in a match where key forward Ben Brown kicked ten goals.

Final score
North Melbourne 22.12 (144)
Port Adelaide 8.10 (58)

Match preview:

With finals hopes on the line, Port Adelaide visits North Melbourne at Marvel Stadium for a Saturday night clash. Join The Roar for live scores and commentary from 7:25pm AEST.

North’s final hopes are technically still alive, albeit so far into mathematical-chance territory that they’re practically non-existent, unfortunately for Rhyce Shaw’s men.

And whatever finals hopes they did have evaporated with last weekend’s horror loss to Geelong, with the club falling to their lowest score in history – 14 measly points.

But, while their finals hopes are out the window, they’ve still got a lot to play for – no doubt they’ll will be wanting a couple of wins to close off what’s been a trying season for the club.

Port Adelaide, though, are back in the eight – tenuously. They’ve above their South Australia rivals – who play earlier on Saturday – on percentage alone, so this win is almost a non-negotiable for the club to strive to secure a finals place.

The Power has been notoriously inconsistent of late, but have garnered strong wins in the past fortnight. Still, the upcoming final two weeks – North today, Freo next week – appear prime for upsets, so they’ll have to be at their best.

Remarkably, after such a hefty loss, the Kangaroos have only made one selection change. Mason Wood has been omitted, with Sam Durdin coming into the side.

Two changes, however, for the Power. Zak Butters and Ryan Burton return to the side, with the duo replacing an injured Xavier Duursma and omitted Cam Sutcliffe.

Prediction
Port’s the easy tip here, and I’m not (usually) one to pass off on tipping the easy way. North’s playing for pride – which can make teams dangerous – but Port simply need to win this one. Surely they won’t drop this one. I’m going to tip them, assuming they will not.

Port Adelaide by 37 points

When: 7:25pm AEST
Where: Marvel Stadium, Melbourne
TV: Channel 7, Fox Footy, Kayo
Betting: North Melbourne $2.10, Port Adelaide $1.74

North Melbourne Kangaroos
B Marley Williams, Scott D. Thompson, Jasper Pittard
HB Jamie Macmillan, Robbie Tarrant, Paul Ahern
C Jy Simpkin, Shaun Higgins, Jared Polec
HF Jed Anderson, Nick Larkey, Taylor Garner
F Jack Ziebell, Ben Brown, Cameron Zurhaar
FOL Todd Goldstein, Tarryn Thomas, Ben Cunnington
I/C Trent Dumont, Shaun Atley, Sam Durdin, Kayne Turner

Port Adelaide Power
B Dan Houston, Tom Clurey, Riley Bonner
HB Hamish Hartlett, Tom Jonas, Darcy Byrne-Jones
C Justin Westhoff, Tom Rockliff, Karl Amon
HF Robbie Gray, Charlie Dixon, Sam Gray
F Todd Marshall, Peter Ladhams, Connor Rozee
FOL Paddy Ryder, Ollie Wines, Travis Boak
I/C Matthew Broadbent, Zak Butters, Sam Powell-Pepper, Ryan Burton