And so it was that, with the scores tied at quarter time, the Magpies came out and slammed on six goals in the second, to take a comfortable lead into half time.
I was sitting here as the teams walked off the park, prepared to write the North Melbourne obituary. After all, things had gone as expected, with North squandering a three-goal breeze in the first quarter to draw level at quarter time, only to see the Pies pull away.
It just seemed like one of those games where we’d get experts telling us that North shot themselves in the foot early, and didn’t have enough ammunition to fire another decent shot.
But something strange happened after the main break.
North showed some heart.
That shouldn’t be a surprising statement, given the heritage of the club, but after last week’s meek capitulation, you just felt that this team had to stand up and play a good, hard half of footy.
And that’s what they did.
With no stakes in this game except the pride of the individual players, coaches, and the club, North held on to record a one-point win in a thrilling, for a pre-season game, win against the Pies.
Now, before I go on, yes, Collingwood had an eye on next week, and had plenty of players out of the team. As such, their depth was always going to be tested. Nobody with any sense will dispute this. As a result, we saw some nice moments from some of the players who will start pushing for senior game time this season.
Plenty to take away from this contest. Let’s jump in with HB’s Rundown of the Roos and Pies.
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Oh… a Mongrel paywall… the worst of all paywalls. We’re on the march to the 2026 AFL season and we’re working through the Match Sims, AAMI Series, and Player-specific articles… we’re all in. Dump the mainstream lip service and dive into articles like this – you will never look back. If you don’t want to, that’s fine. I consider it your loss as we get into the grind of the season, and you’re stuck with the stuff that’s frustrated you for years.
