North Adelaide wins first game of season, beating West Adelaide by 29 points on day of premiership flag unfurling

North Adelaide celebrated the unfurling of its 2018 premiership flag and began its climb back into a positive points total with a comfortable win over West Adelaide at Prospect Oval on Saturday.

North’s Mitch Harvey climbs over the back of West’s Murray Waite. Picture: AAP/Mike Burton

North Adelaide celebrated the unfurling of its 2018 premiership flag and began its climb back into a positive points total with a comfortable win over West Adelaide at Prospect Oval on Saturday.

Starting the campaign on -4 premiership points as punishment for the “19th man” saga in last year’s preliminary final against Woodville-West Torrens and losing in round one ensured the match felt like a must-win, even in round two, and the Roosters worked hard to prevail by 29 points.

Fittingly, given the pre-game celebration, it was North’s latest premiership captain, Max Thring, who kicked the goal that sealed victory and capped a best-on-ground performance.

North coach Josh Carr said being behind other clubs because of the points deduction was “there in the background and we all know that” but that discrepancy would “look after itself” if the team strung wins together.

“I thought we were better than last week, especially our first quarter and last quarter,” Carr said.

“There’s still a fair bit of stuff to work on.

“In the second and third quarter, we were a bit indecisive with the ball in hand and our pressure probably wasn’t there either.

“I’m hoping we can keep getting better and better.”

North’s 1991 premiership captain Kim Klomp unfurled the club’s newest premiership flag before the game and the occasion seemed to spark the Roosters, who kicked the first three majors.

Chris Schmidt gets a handball away for West under pressure on Saturday. Picture: AAP/Mike Burton

But West weathered the storm, lifted its workrate and began forcing the Roosters into turnovers with increased pressure as it took a three-point lead into half-time.

John Noble helped spark the Bloods’ turnaround, notching 17 disposals and three goals to half-time before finishing with 27 touches for the match.

North reclaimed the lead at the start of the second half via a goal to Jarred Allmond then Mitch Harvey kicked his third to push the margin back out to 10 points.

From there, West butchered both goal scoring opportunities and possessions, particularly coming out of the back half.

The Bloods were still a sniff at the final break given 15 of the game’s 20 goals to that point had been scored at the Ken Farmer End to which they would be kicking.

Alex Barns takes a mark for North against Murray Waite. Picture: AAP/Mike Burton

But they struggled to get the ball into their forward half and Thring, Campbell Combe and Aidan Tropiano were dominant in midfield.

“The captain kicked captain’s goals when we needed it and I thought the three mids worked well together,” Carr said.

West Adelaide coach Gavin Colville said the result was hugely disappointing and his side “got what we deserved” after dropping its intensity in the fourth term.

“We have a game plan for a reason and you’ve got to stick to it for four quarters,” Colville said.

“It worked for us and we came in in front at half-time but under pressure we went away from it and we’ve got to learn from that.”

SCOREBOARD

NORTH ADELAIDE 5.1 7.2 12.6 14.11 (95)

WEST ADELAIDE 2.2 7.5 8.9 9.11 9.12 (66)

BEST – North: M. Thring, Tropiano, Combe, Spina, Allmond, Hender, Clisby.

West: Noble, Stevens, Snelling, Dunkin, Hill.

GOALS – North: Harvey, Thring, Hender 3; Allmond, Barns, Combe, Neade, Tropiano.

West: Noble 3; Beech 2; Middleton, B. Turner, Beech, Waite.

INJURIES – North: Nil. West: Nil.

UMPIRES – Broadbent, Sboro, Scott