A North stunner: Roos shock Suns with thrilling comeback win
North Melbourne pulled off their most exciting win in years as they overcame a 43-point deficit to complete an epic comeback win over the Gold Coast Suns at Marvel Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
The Kangas looked down and out in the first half of this one, and even halfway through the fourth term they seemed cooked, staring at a 26-point margin, but an inspirational last stand from George Wardlaw and a game-winning goal to Cam Zurhaar secured the 17.9 (111) to 16.9 (105) victory.
Before I crack into the summary of this one and we dive into some lessons learned, I’d like to highlight to you just how much this game encapsulated the “tale of two halves” metaphor.
Here’s some of my direct notes written in the first half:
- Every time the Suns go forward they have an organised look and a target on offer. North go forward and their 50m arch is empty.
- A lot of empty calories for North Melbourne’s midfielders. Luke Davies-Uniacke has been atrocious with ball in hand, and a lot of Sheezel’s hard work is ultimately going nowhere.
- Where is the team that almost rolled the Swans two weeks ago?
All in all, the Suns were running riot, and it was defence and discipline that was the difference. Gold Coast had plenty of it, North had none of it.
Now, let’s look at some of my notes from the second half:
- Suns look completely gassed. Darwin trip is beginning to take its toll.
- Hats off to Clarko, some fantastic moving of the magnets here. Trembath, Zurhaar, Curtis all much more involved.
- George. Motherfuckin’. Wardlaw.
So yeah, you get the picture.
Basically, North Melbourne were struggling mightily to get the footy in their hands of their most damaging players in the first half. Sheezel and Davies-Uniacke were finding plenty of the pill, but their ball use was poor and the Suns were a well-marshalled unit behind the footy.
Come the second half, we saw Paul Curtis attending centre clearance situations, Cooper Trembath giving Jarrad Witts problems with his athleticism in the ruck, and perhaps the most crucial move was Cam Zurhaar returning to the forward line after North failed to get much from any of their forwards in the opening half.
The moves, paired together with the fact the Suns began to really feel the pinch of their fortnight in the top end, allowed North to slowly but surely inch their way back into the contest.
Still, the Suns were holding firm, with goals to Zeke Uwland, Christian Petracca and Ben Long keeping North at an arm’s length.
Until the 10-minute mark of the fourth term, that is.
Goals to Xavier Duursma and Charlie Spargo brought North within a straight kick, and Duursma was involved again as he found Davies-Uniacke all alone in the forward 50m shortly after.
The midfielder converted, and we were all tied up with 50 seconds left.
It was all North from there, as they found the footy, went down the guts, and put Oscar Adams in a no-win situation trying to defender Zurhaar.
He held, Zurhaar converted the free kick into a goal, and a tiny crowd at Marvel Stadium made a massive noise as the Roos stole the four points.
Quite honestly, this was an encapsulating comeback. North don’t show their best footy too often, but when they do, it’s bloody exciting.
In fact, it’s so exciting, I’ve turned my intro into a full bloody report.
So, without further delay, let’s get into some of the talking points for this one.
Cometh the moment, cometh George Wardlaw
I simply must start with this young superstar.
Wardlaw finished the day with 19 disposals, a modest number, you’d think. Well, yes, for most of the game his performance was quite below modest.
But not when it mattered. When the game was on the line, Wardlaw dug deep.
He collected 13 of those 19 disposals in the final quarter, as he consistently ran hard to impact contests and apply pressure to the Suns.
The way Wardlaw plays his footy gives his teammates a north star (no pun intended). They rally around him, and his effort sets the standard.
Putting it simply, you can’t be lazy when your teammate is giving effort like that.
He’s one of the most enjoyable players to watch in the competition, and I really hope he gets a clean run with injury from here onwards.
The top-end tax takes its toll
Coming into this game, the Gold Coast Suns had lost their past four matches following on from a trip to Darwin. Now, that tally sits at five.
I wasn’t overly familiar with this issue coming into the game, so I was bemused when the commentators kept mentioning it on the broadcast. I mean, they were 43 points up, surely any matter of fatigue following the games at TIO Stadium was one of the past?
Well, shows what I know.
As the fourth quarter unfolded, it became more and more evident that the Suns were simply out on their feet.
They went into save-the-game mode with 10 minutes remaining on the clock, simply because they didn’t have it in them to score any more goals.
Noah Anderson and Christian Petracca did all they could to muster a challenge, but ultimately, the team was cooked.
No wonder Dimma hates the Darwin games.
Finally, a fun game to review!
It’s been a rough fortnight for me. Somehow, I stitched myself up by putting my hand up to review both of the Suns’ Darwin games. It was bloody hard to get through.
So, you can understand my trepidation when I landed another Suns game this weekend.
But hey, they finally gave me a good one! Perhaps not in the way they imagined, but I’ll take it.
Okay Suns fans, here are some positives
Alright, I’m 1000 words into the review and have hardly said anything nice about a team that led for almost the entire game, so let’s chat about some of the good things the Suns did today.
It starts with defence. This was the main discrepancy between the two teams in the first half.
One outfit had a defence led by Sam Collins with the likes of Mac Andrew, Bodhi Uwland and Dan Rioli in support.
The Suns were well disciplined and structured, and they all but erased North’s forward half in the early stages.
On top of that, Matt Rowell was at his dominant, clearance-winning best finishing the match with a whopping 14, and Christian Petracca fought through a hard tag to still have plenty of impact on the game.
Okay, that’s enough, now back to North.
Clarko moves the magnets
At half time, Clarko made a comment that the game was “on a knife’s edge”.
At that point, the Suns had more than doubled his side’s score, and I’ll be honest, I did my share of guffawing at his words.
But hey, what the hell do I know?
I’ve gotta tip the cap to the veteran coach in this one. At half time, he diagnosed the issues, and he found solutions.
I’ve already mentioned his moves to get Trembath, Zurhaar and Curtis more involved. All worked well, but I want to zero in on the Trembath one.
Putting a more athletic ruck in front of Jarrad Witts was a great piece of tactics. His leap gave the old-school ruck real headaches and helped open the door for the North mids to get more bang for buck from their possessions.
Much has been made of whether Clarko is the man to coach this young group. I don’t think that question has been answered for good, but today was a big tick in his favour.
Nick Larkey needs to find form
The North skipper will enjoy the win, but he’s well out of form and needs to rectify that immediately.
The superstar forward didn’t touch the footy in the first quarter, and did little more in the second too.
He ended up with two goals for the day, but he’s far from his usual damaging self.
I’m not sure if it’s a scheme thing, or simply a bloke being out of form, but whatever the issue the Roos must correct it soon if they are to keep touch with the top 10.
Let’s finish off with some quick hands
- Epic game from Harry Sheezel with 32 disposals, six marks, six tackles, six clearances. Deserved a mention earlier than this, but them’s the breaks.
- Finn O’Sullivan is growing before our eyes. Collected 26 disposals, six tackles and four clearances while applying a tag that kept Christian Petracca quiet for the second and third quarters. When the whips started cracking, this bloke came alive.
- Sam Collins will be sweating on an MRO decision following a collision with Curtis in the second term.
- The Suns need to sort out their ruck situation. Jarrad Witts is miles off what he has been in the past and is clearly suffering from these new rules. The combination with Ned Moyle sounds good in theory, but it’s been underwhelming at times.
- One of the better games Jacob Konstanty has played. Couple goals, but more importantly his pressure was fantastic.
- Dan Rioli copped a nasty elbow to the ribs from Charlie Spargo. He played on, but he’ll be thankful for the bye next week.
- Speaking of Gold Coast half backs, their run and dash wasn’t the same this week. A down game for John Noble didn’t help.
Loved watching this comeback. Well done North, let’s see you back it up next week!
