Tough Suns dine out on Roos in blustery Barossa
Domination the stoppages and a big second half from Matt Rowell spurred the Gold Coast Suns to a win over North Melbourne in the first ever AFL contest at Barossa Park on Saturday afternoon.
The Roos gave an inspired effort for the first two-and-a-half quarters, but ultimately the Suns proved too tough and too composed, overrunning North for a 13.11 (89) to 21.15 (141) victory in windy conditions.
Rowell was sublime in the second half, putting a rather quiet start to the game in the rearview mirror, to amass 15 disposals and own the stoppage contests after the long break.
The hard nut midfielder finished his day with 26 disposals and a goal, but his impact felt larger than those numbers as he turned the tide after North’s midfield was on top early
The Roos looked on in the early goings, with Luke Davies-Uniacke, Jy Simpkin and Harry Sheezel accumulating a lop-sided clearance count. But their dominance around the ball was largely wasted by a lack of composure, as North Melbourne only converted three goals from 10 scoring shots in the first.
Composure was what proved to be the difference early, with the more accurate Suns booting six goals against the breeze in the first term. Ben King finished his day with five straight, and combined with Ben Long (three on the day) to wreak havoc on a hapless North defence early.
Charlie Comben was a bright spot in that defence, though, and helped his side regain some ground in the second term as his intercept marking sparked a four-goal quarter.
But it wasn’t until after half time that this one got interesting.
North came out of the long break with renewed vigour, booting four of the next five goals to snatch the lead and pile pressure on the Suns.
Cam Zurhaar got the party started when he snapped on the run after collecting a delightful crumb, followed by majors to Zane Duursma and Jacob Konstanty.
It was a situation that the old Gold Coast Suns might have folded under, but the maturation of the group under coach Damien Hardwick’s second season was on show, as they rallied around their superstar mid and responded with power.
Joel Jeffrey put together a fantastic game with 20 disposals off half back, and it was his clean strike from distance that sparked a run where the Suns would kick nine of the next 10 majors.
A goal from Rowell just before the final change put the Suns up by 20 points going into the fourth.
North looked like they might have one final run in them when Jack Darling converted early in the quarter, but a horror turnover from Simpkin put paid to their comeback hopes.
The skipper had been one of his side’s better contributors on the day, gathering 24 disposals and booting a couple of goals, but he produced an absolute howler when he lazily kicked the ball into the man on the mark and turned it over in the middle of the ground.
The Suns marched it down the other end and John Noble made them pay maximum price.
From there it was all pretty stock-standard as the Gold Coast Suns marched their way to a 4-0 start to the year.
They’ll have every chance to make that five straight wins when they take on Richmond at Marvel Stadium next week, while North will look to bounce back against the Blues.
Alrighty, report done, let’s get stuck into some talking points from this one.
North just aren’t tough enough, especially in defence
The Kangaroos have a plethora of defenders who don’t actually defend.
Caleb Daniel, Zac Fisher, Darcy Tucker, Luke McDonald and Colby McKercher love to be the ones with the ball in their hands, but when the opposition has it, they’re all liabilities defensively.
Then there’s Aidan Corr and Griffin Logue, who as “key defenders” leave plenty to be desired.
It felt like Charlie Comben was the only bloke capable of doing his job in that back six today.
Dimma’s Suns play tough, and if you can’t keep up with that, you’ll get found out. North were pretty soft today, and they paid the price.
Suns recruits are impressive, but don’t forget about Joel
John Noble and Dan Rioli provided plenty of run in this one, and have enjoyed pretty strong starts to the season.
But there’s another bloke roaming around at half back for the Suns that I think is just as influential as the dynamic pair, and today Joel Jeffrey impressed me plenty.
He’s tall, he uses the ball well, and he actually defends (something North’s back six should try to emulate).
He collected 13 marks in this one, and kicked a goal at a key point in the match. I think we’ll see his star continue to rise this season.
Big boy battle
It’s always a joy to see some old school big dogs going at it in the ruck, and today’s match-up was a treat.
Jarrod Witts and Tristan Xerri battered and bruised each other all day long in what was a pretty even battle, but I’m giving the points to the former.
Witts tallied 38 hitouts to Xerri’s 33, and did well to curb the influence of the North Melbourne behemoth.
Matty Rowell is my favourite player to watch
Outside of the team I support, obviously… Seriously though, how can you not enjoy watching this bloke go about his business?
He’s tough as nails, and he works his backside off when his team needs him to, just like he did in the third term of this one.
Rowell led the game with 11 clearances, and was a dominant force around the stoppages when the time called for it. He’s impossible to tackle, and while his ball use is sometimes questionable (as is the case with most inside bulls), his decision making is sound.
There’s been some debate among the Mongrel writers for a while now as to whether Rowell is a “superstar” or just a good old fashioned “regular star”. I would like to plant my flag on the superstar side.
North need to figure something out for Colby McKercher
I don’t know what the answer is, but the Kangaroos need to get more out of their second-year talent.
It’s clear that they look like a better side when McKercher has the ball in his hands. His skills open up the field for them, and he’s often involved in scoring passages.
The issue is, he goes missing for large chunks of the game and doesn’t run hard enough defensively.
The usual answer for when a young player is struggling to impact the game would be to throw him behind the ball on a half back flank. Let him get some easy touches and use his skills to drive plays out of defence.
However, as outlined above, North already has way too many undersized defenders and sending McKercher back there would make it even harder to stop opposing forwards.
So again, I’m not sure what the answer is, but if McKercher is being subbed out after a no-show third quarter, it’s an issue the Roos need to fix.
