You could almost feel the Carlton third-quarter avalanche coming.
In boxing parlance, North Melbourne were fighters punching out of their weight division. Missing their best two key defenders, in Ben McKay and Griffin Logue, they were left shorthanded to combat the might of the Carlton tall forwards, which was emphasised by Jack Ziebell lining up on Harry McKay.
Though North did an admirable job through the first two and a bit quarters, the looming threat of the Carlton tall timber started to become ominous.
With eight minutes expired in the third quarter, the Blues started landing some heavy blows. First, it was McKay, then Motlop and Durdin chimed in, before McKay hit the scoreboard again. The North Melbourne lead evaporated and the Blues smelled blood.
Consecutive misses to Cam Zurhaar allowed Charlie Curnow to slot two, whilst Tom de Koning kicked one as well. And at that point, it was all over, the Blues eventually running out 23-point winners.
Plenty to get through in this one. Let’s jump into The Mongrel’s Good, Bad, and Ugly.
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