If someone had told you before the season that Melbourne would lose to North Melbourne, you might’ve given them a funny look. In Round One, Melbourne were narrowly beaten by the Giants, who look like they are going to be a top team, while North Melbourne also lost in Round One, but to a Western Bulldogs outfit without star player Marcus Bontempelli, amongst others
Unlike the Bulldogs, Melbourne had all their star midfielders ready for the battle and started with Gawn, Petracca, Oliver, and Viney. As a sign of things to come, the Roos were able to win the first clearance which ended with Larkey kicking the first goal of the game within the first minute.
North Melbourne’s Tristan Xerri was especially dominant out of the ruck against his more fancied opponent, Gawn. Not only did he win the ruck battle, but Xerri also racked up 20 possessions of his own, while Gawn only touched the ball 11 times.
Many of the players that featured heavily for North were their new recruits, including Caleb Daniel, Jack Darling, and Luke Parker. Parker and Daniels both racked up high possession counts, while Darling kicked two goals in a handy support role for his fellow forwards Nick Larkey, Paul Curtin, and Cameron Zurhaar.
For Melbourne, Oliver had a textbook day for him, picking up 36 possessions and kicking a goal as he tried to lift his team’s performance. However, several of his fellow stars had games to forget, including Jack Viney, Ed Langdon, Tom Sparrow, and Harrison Petty.
Melbourne’s chances were undoubtedly hurt after the second game player, Tom Jefferson was subbed out of the game after suffering a hand injury just before the siren in the first quarter.
However, we still have some questions to ask.
Was Jack Darling a steal?
Some footy fans may have been scratching their head as North Melbourne recruited Jack Darling to come to the football club. North has undoubtedly found an absolute gem in Nick “Souv” Larkey, and Cam Zurhaar is turning into a decent mid-sized forward. The two combined to kick seven of North Melbourne’s 19 goals.
Darling also came to the Roos after a solid career at West Coast, but also carrying significant baggage. Darling kicked 48 goals in 41 games in his final two seasons at West Coast after dealing with a debacle following Covid-19, when Darling reportedly refused to get the Covid-19 vaccine, claiming that he was medically exempt.
However, now seeing how dynamic Darling is making North’s forward line, were fans underestimating Darling’s impact. Darling also provides North with a decent option of a second ruckman that allows Xerri to get a break after working as a solo ruck for most of his career so far.
Are alarm bells ringing for Melbourne?
Since their flag, Melbourne went out of the finals in straight sets in back-to-back seasons, before missing the finals for the first time last year. Now, with the Dees starting the season zero and two, there are plenty of problems in Melbourne.
The problem just compounds the issues that Melbourne had at the end of last season, most notably the fallout between the club and star player Christian Petracca. However, much of Melbourne’s issues in the game go past their off-field issues.
For the last few years, essentially since the retirement of Ben Brown, Melbourne has lacked a genuine key forward. The club has largely persisted with Bayley Fritsch, a talented player who kicked a single goal, coming on the quarter-time siren and was largely held by Toby Pink. Melbourne’s other key forward, Jacob Van Rooyen also struggled against North, kicking just one goal in the first quarter when the game was close.
Are Melbourne’s big names overrated or are North’s midfield on the rise?
As mentioned earlier, Melbourne’s midfield is stacked with names like Petracca, Viney, Oliver, and Gawn and they were expected to dominate North’s lesser lights. All four of those players were involved in Melbourne’s 2021 Premiership, and are still an integral part of the team.
Instead, it was North’s midfield that dominated out of the centre, especially Xerri, Davies-Uniacke, and Sheezel who all combined with new names like Daniels and Parker. While Parker and Daniels have brought some much-needed experience to the North line-up, Davies-Uniacke and Sheezel bring some excitement to North Melbourne that they haven’t had in a while.
Who were Melbourne’s Shining Lights?
Despite going down by almost ten goals to North Melbourne, there were still a few positive signs for Demons fans to hang their hats on. For Melbourne, Clayton Oliver has found his career-best form, finding the ball plenty of times during the game, and even finding himself on the scoreboard.
Oliver wasn’t alone, with Kyle Chandler also playing well while rotating through the midfield. Not only did Chandler get a fair bit of the ball, but he managed to find a lot of the ball and the scoreboard. Chandler was Melbourne’s only goal scorer in a dour game for the Demons forwards.
Is the corner now turned?
When North traded away their future first-round pick to acquire Matt Whitlock, many thought it was a grave error, but the club has backed itself to finally emerge from the depths and start making their way back into the mix for finals. It may not occur this season, but the signs are very good, early.
With LDU waiting to see how North perform before recommitting to the club, it now appears as though all the armchair experts, who predicting doom, gloom, and parting with a very high draft pick, may have been incorrect. Yet again.
North played like a team chockful of talent, and when you combine that with hard work, you get a lethal mix. Tom Powell is emerging as a gem in the middle – he is doing it on equal parts talent and toughness. Paul Curtis is becoming a reliable mid-size forward who can trouble both in the air and on the deck, and Tristan Xerri just knocked the crown off Max Gawn’s head and put it on his own. These are signs of a team coming together, and when you start to see that, you can be reasonably confident the corner has been turned. there’ll be ups and downs, of course, but the upward trajectory begins now.
They’ll develop a taste for wins like this. Let’s hope that hunger is insatiable
Summaries and Future
The reality is that it’s still too early to tell what ramifications this game will have on the two clubs’ respective seasons. For North Melbourne, can this spur a charge further up the ladder, or was this jump a temporary spot in a steady rebuild? For Melbourne, are we seeing the beginning of the end of Goodwin’s time at Melbourne?
Next week, Melbourne will face off against the Gold Coast at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. The bigger ground is a much happier hunting ground for Melbourne and Gold Coast hasn’t traditionally travelled well, which should give Melbourne another chance to jump-start their season after back-to-back losses.
Meanwhile, North Melbourne will face off against a huge challenge, playing the Adelaide Crows on the road. The Crows won a game at the MCG for the first time since 2017, albeit against Essendon. So far this season, the Crows have been incredibly potent, scoring over 190 points in their first two games. This means that North Melbourne’s defenders will be required to take another step up if they want to stop the likes of Keays, Rachele, Thilthorpe, and Fogarty.
