North Melbourne’s slide down the ladder continues ahead of much-needed week off

NORTH Melbourne slide from the top of the ladder accelerated on Thursday night as they were dominated by Adelaide in the final quarter at Adelaide Oval.

Disappointed North Melbourne players leave the Adelaide Oval after the loss. Picture: Sam Wundke

NORTH Melbourne slide from the top of the ladder has accelerated as the Kangaroos counted their third consecutive defeat by losing to Adelaide at Adelaide Oval in a last-quarter domination.

The Crows chalked up their fifth win in a row while the Kangaroos are now looking like they might struggle to secure a top-four spot ahead of the finals after being the top team for most of the year.

It was a come-uppance for the Crows, who have improved its defensive action after losing to North Melbourne in Round 1, and the win was orchestrated by a customary blitzkrieg of goals by committee rather than stars in the final quarter.

It came down to finding room on the outside through quick ball movement for the Crows, who were happy to share the contested ball but did more with it on the outside and looked more dangerous when they found some space.

Adelaide should have won by much more: its 28 behinds was a throwback to how the Kangaroos lost the 1998 Grand Final to the Crows but this time the scattergun kicking didn’t decide the outcome.

North Melbourne, as always, was honest and dependable, but it took the Kangaroos too long to kick a goal.

Mason Wood looks to put North Melbourne into attack.

In the final quarter, it was all about the Crows and that’s how the match was decided – in the Roos’ defensive half

It means the Kangaroos have lost four of their last five matches and are quickly falling out of favour with the bookmakers for the 2016 flag.

The match couldn’t have swung much more. In the beginning of the third quarter, when the scores were still close, the Crows fired through Crouch, Eddie Betts and captain Taylor Walker.

Crouch played a peach of a game and should have been given man-of-the-match honours while brother Brad made a fine return from injury and time in the twos.

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Betts would treat the crowd to another highlight a bit later.

For the Kangaroos, there was the irrepressible and enterprising Lindsay Thomas threatening to kick a goal every time the ball came down the Roos’ end and Ben Brown acting as an old-fashioned and dependable key forward.

The Crows had looked dominant to begin with, and the scoreboard told throughout that they were wasteful. By three-quarter time, they had 8.18 on the board and led the Kangaroos by a goal by virtue of 12 more points.

It was in the second quarter that there was a sense that North Melbourne was beginning to cash in on its contested ball dominance.

Ben Brown celebrates a goal at Adelaide Oval.

It changed the complexion of the match because at once, the Kangaroos both started shifting the ball into its scoring half and loaded it up with personnel to make it a nightmare for the Crows to shift it away from its defence.

The scoring followed, and a three-goal lead was chewed up.

Thomas levelled the scores after sharking a loose ball close to goal, the Kangaroos were beginning to look sharper with their ball movement and ruckman Todd Goldstein was beginning to find his targets in the midfield.

It was a turnaround, because the Crows had looked like millionaires early, but it was also one of those low-scoring games in which a lead change could change the complexion of the game in a brief moment.

The longer it went, the sides also began to look distinctively different. North Adelaide ran in numbers and just forced to keep the ball going its way; the Crows set out to change the pattern of the match with long, piercing kicks

The Crows still had their moments and by half time there was nothing in it between ruckmen Todd Goldstein and Sam Jacobs.

But as Goldstein edged away the Kangaroos’ small and medium players had become devastating, whether it was about winning the ruck or stealing clearances.

Goldstein’s other contribution was around the ground, where he loomed as a constant scoring threat in the last quarter and helped out as much on the ground as in the air.

Then the Crows came, and they came quickly and busily in the final quarter.