There was more expectation in the lead up to this fixture than at any time in the last ten years with North Melbourne’s early season form giving them a legitimate confidence heading down the highway to Corio.
With both teams coming off disappointing losses, the home town Cats bullied by JHF and friends, while the improving Roos outlasted by the Giants, despite probably being the better side.
With a tough run of matches upcoming for North, this game was critically important for their plans of legitimacy, while Geelong, in an unaccustomed ladder position, needed to rebound or risk losing touch with the top of the ladder.
History was certainly against the Kangas with Geelong holding a 14-game unbeaten streak against their hapless opponents, the last time we all joined in the chorus was way back in Round Four, 2015!
North, in attempting perhaps to change their fortunes at the Cattery, donned their all-dark strip and for those wondering about its origin, this is from the NMFC website: “Our 2026 Gather Round Guernsey speaks to stepping forward with clarity, direction, and an unmistakable presence. The guernsey brings North Melbourne into sharp focus with swaying blue lines and a Bounding Roo moving into the light. It’s a moment of emergence, of being seen, and showcasing our identity at Gather Round.”
The Cats suffered a late change with Jack Henry withdrawn from the selected side, and replaced by Jack Bowes, while the versatile Mark Blicavs would also be missed particularly with the spectre of Tristan Xerri-baby looming. The return of the experienced defensive duo of Sam De Koning and Jake Kolodjashnij was very welcome, with the Roos also befitting from their key-defensive pillar Charlie Comben suiting up after illness, but losing the important George Wardlaw.
Let’s deep-dive into five key areas where the game was won and lost:
The Ruck Duel:
Tristan Xerri has been a very good AFL player for a number of years now, and arguably unlucky not to be named All-Australian last season. After missing three games through a brain fade suspension he was still earning back the respect of his team, and boy did he go a long way towards achieving that in this game. Finishing with an extraordinary stat line comprising 30 disposals (including a ruck-record 26 contested possessions, 14 more than the next highest on the ground), 14 clearances, 23 hit outs with six to advantage, seven tackles and 17 pressure acts, he was a literal monster all game.
While his hit out numbers were down, particularly from 76 contests, he used a careful strategy of becoming a bombastic ground ball player once the tap was wo;, his 14 clearances attest to this. It’s worth noting also that he does receive some favourable consideration from the whistle blowers that is sometimes hard to justify, but should not detract from an outstanding individual performance.
His primary opponent, seven-gamer Mitch Edwards (note: only played 55% game time) was again impressive, with 20 hit outs and five to advantage from just 48 ruck contests.
However, with no marks and only two clearances, he was overwhelmed by a very good player at the peak of his powers. Sam De Koning also threw his hat in the ring at centre throw ups and fared ok with 14 hit outs and 3 clearances. A pretty clear advantage to the Kangas which leads into…
The Midfield Battle:
Sheezel / LDU vs Smith / Holmes were the main eventers and it was an entertaining contest. Both coaches deployed heavy tags from the first bounce, Jye Simpkin going to work on the prolific Bailey Smith, and Tom Atkins taking on the role on Harry Sheezel. Both defenders performed admirably at their task, with Simpkin holding Smith to only 15 touches in three quarters before the shackles were released, while Atkins limited Sheezel to a lowly 20 touches.
The other named heavyweights, however, managed to get off the leash more effectively. Max Homes started slowly but worked into his game and finished with a team-high 29 touches and game-high 802m gained. Coupled with two goals through hard running, he will compete with Xerri-baby for the three Brownlow votes.
Davies-Uniacke continued his strong season, with six clearances, 24 disposals and five tackles which illustrated a very consistent, well-rounded game. His hands in close, best exemplified by a withering passage in the third term where he evaded 5-6 would-be tacklers before handing off to Simpkin for a goal, was a momentum changer.
Quarterback Influence:
The highly credentialled duo of Luke Parker and Tom Stewart lined up in their now familiar half back roles, endeavouring to best their opponent, set up attacking thrusts and organise the defensive structures. No clear winner emerged from this match up, with Parker more involved through the first three terms with 16 touches and six marks, however, his disposal let him down at times and halted potential offensive moves.
Meanwhile Stewart was more quiet early before surging to life in the final term, collecting eight of his 19 disposals in this term to drive home the advantage as the Cats ran over the top of a tiring Kangas outfit.
Sliding Wingers:
The mercurial Ollie Dempsey and consistent Dylan Stephens played on opposing wings, but have become extremely important cogs in the way each team likes to play. Dempsey with his ability to hit the scoreboard, as seen in the third term with a towering contested mark and goal, and his more underrated skills in pressuring the opposition defence, on at least two occasions he was able to block a handpass through superior anticipation, win possession and lead to a scoring chain.
Stephens is an accumulator and link between the defence and forwards, plying his trade effectively but without fanfare. While Stephens bested Dempsey in disposals 16 to 14 in this one, the knock out blow was applied by Dempsey with a record of nine score involvements to just four.
See the Big Men Fly:
On paper this looked like a pretty mouth watering line up of in-form power forwards, skipper Nick Larkey and the precocious Cooper Trembath in black & royal blue vs the statuesque Shannon Neale and combative Jeremy Cameron in hoops.
Cameron had the chance to stamp his mark on the game early but missed two regulation shots at goals, matched by Larkey who was similarly wasteful. The North full forward watched closely by young Connor O’Sullivan who kept him to only one goal while completing ten spoils of his own.
The impressive Trembath unfortunately returned one of the least productive games of his infant career to date, only nine touches and a solitary behind as his night’s statistics. He was often in position to pull down his now customary high marks, but was unable to grasp them in this game as he was harangued by a disciplined Geelong team defence.
Shannon Neale teased again, threatening to take over the game as he sent through two goals in the dying seconds of the third term turning a narrow but hard-fought North lead into a 17-point deficit at the siren. With the over-indexed love he receives in the press, I’d like to see more from him, but it’s hard to argue with three goals from only ten touches, though.
Cameron put the exclamation mark on the clinical Geelong performance gliding up and down the ground, including spoiling a certain Larkey mark in the defensive 50, before drilling the ball to his skipper for a big goal. He ended the game with three goals from six scoring shots, 12 score involvements, and four direct goal assists to be in the handful of best players on the park.
As with other Mongrel Punt match reviews, us writers are taking a close look at some young players, or those with an interesting story – here are coincidentally five player stories:
Young players:
I couldn’t quite fit Shaun Mannagh into this category, so stuck with the two young North boys.
Lachy Dovaston – in the first term he seemed a bit off the pace, unable to shut down Cats when he didn’t have the ball, and hurried when it was in his possession. Improved in the second term, and delivered a perfect outlet handball to a streaking Spargo which should have resulted in a goal. Later in the term, Dovaston had his own opportunity to score when he drew a free kick, but sprayed the ensuing shot. In previous games I’ve felt he had more pace than he demonstrated today.
Tom Blamires – mature age recruit out of the Ammos, I was impressed with Blamires’ positioning and neat disposal to progress possession chains. 17 touches with four intercepts and four score involvements was a decent return and he looks like he could become a regular senior AFL player.
Bonus watch:
None of these guys are remotely young, not even using Mannagh as the scale, but I kept an extra eye on each of them as they’ve had up and down seasons’ to date.
Patrick Dangerfield – Undoubtedly one of the modern greats, the Geelong captain is a proud player, and rightly so. The end can come very swiftly for anyone post 30 playing sport, and even more of a risk for those who have tipped past 35. Am I going to be the one to write him off and declare season 2026 to be his last? (Well I already did actually in the pre-season predictions article) Not while the memory of the Prelim Final still burns my retinas I won’t, but so far in 2026 he’s produced far more ‘25 GFs than ‘25 PFs. Kicked one goal, got a bit lucky with a holding the ball decision against Parker, but is struggling to impact at the pace and intensity we’ve grown so accustomed to.
James Worpel – the ex-Hawk has taken a while to adjust to the Geelong system, but is starting to show what he’ll provide, and that is a lot of fend offs, some breakaway clearances, occasional butchered F50 entries, and effortless goals when you least expect them. Was a good foil to Smith today who was well held until the game was over.
Led his team with eight inside 50s on the night as well as 21 pressure acts, only behind Atkins from the Cats.
Charlie Spargo – The demon premiership player moved to North to reignite his career and provide leadership to a young side. I think both player and club would be extremely disappointed with his output tonight. Only nine touches, with only one resulting in a score for his team, and just ten pressure acts and one tackle speak to a work rate that is not at the level expected of a player of his experience, or salary. A bad miss from a clear goal scoring opportunity in the second term and a misjudged spoil back in front of goals in which Holmes scored in the third were lowlights on a dismal night.
And let’s finish off with five quick ones, celebrating the number of wins in 2026 by the victorious Cats who extend their streak to 15-games against the hapless Roos.
Aiden Corr is limited as a player, and on a bad contract, but was very effective in this game. Strong in the contest and added some steel to the Kangas backline. His best moment was stopping a certain goal for Cameron with a bullocking bump and then clearing the ball from defence.
Brad Close has had a less than satisfactory season to date, but started well, with a couple of good early touches, he backed into a pack, then released a handball to Holmes that ended in a Jack Martin goal. Shortly after he also set up another goal for Neale after the ball spilled out of a contest.
Paul Curtis let himself down tonight. In the first term, he had a couple of chances by hand to set up shots but neither ended up to advantage. He was then smothered by O’Connor, when he should have kicked a goal, shortly followed by a dropped chest mark, and a missed goal just before the siren. Later he also sprayed wide from a gettable opportunity, we’ve come to expect more from Curtis, so it was a let down that he wasn’t able to lead his team to a stronger position before the inevitable Cats comeback.
Shaun Mannagh and Zane Duursma kicked seven goals between them making the most of opportunities in their roles as small forwards, Mannagh in particular grew more influential as the game progressed and his disposal by foot was sublime at times.
Colby McKercher was really good tonight. His 23 touches resulted in a team-leading ten score involvements among two goals of his own. Got caught a couple of times, but was trying to create and I’m sure the coaching panel will encourage that type of play going forward.
