Fremantle Dockers flip ‘Northball’ on its head in comeback win over North Melbourne
North Melbourne started their match against Fremantle on fire under the roof at Marvel, but after the half a Luke Jackson-inspired Dockers rallied to come from behind despite plenty of green shoots for the Roos.
AFL
Don't miss out on the headlines from AFL. Followed categories will be added to My News.
The North Melbourne green shoots at Marvel Stadium were unceremoniously chopped off in a half-hour smashing.
As Justin Longmuir’s Fremantle midfielders got to work with the lawnmower, the young Roo midfield was caught in a standstill leading to Saturday’s 26-point win.
The stats sheet that was all green lights for Alastair Clarkson at half-time – North Melbourne led disposals by 50, contested ball by 19, clearances by eight and inside-50s by 13 – was plunged into the red.
Led by Caleb Serong and Andrew Brayshaw, Fremantle had 38 more disposals and 15 more contested possessions in the third term.
Fremantle booted nine goals on the trot to not only launch the comeback but end the game.
Tough North Melbourne onballer Tom Powell summed it up post-match.
“In the first half we were playing the sort of footy we wanted to play,” he said.
“We smacked them in contested possession and they obviously came out in the third quarter a lot harder and that was the difference.”
It was a premiership quarter that burned the chances of North Melbourne avoiding a 0-2 start, but those green shoots will grow back.
And they looked so good in the first half.
How could you not love George Wardlaw, all combativeness, desperation and - in a vital moment when the tide was against the Roos late in the third quarter - classy in front of goal.
Overlooked by many, but not those outside of Arden Street this summer, Powell was the best man on the ground in the first half when he had 16 touches, and four clearances.
Luke Davies-Uniacke wasn’t far behind him for impact, with 18 touches, six clearances and five inside-50s.
North Melbourne’s top disposals winners in the opening two quarters read Harry Sheezel, Davies-Uniacke, Powell, Colby McKercher and Wardlaw - a conveyer belt of future stars.
And the Roos were touching up the Dockers, at one point leading 52-20.
If Cam Zurhaar is debating his future, the Roos should sit him down in front of that first half Clockwork Orange style.
It flipped dramatically from there, with Fremantle booting nine goals and leaving North Melbourne at a standstill, through sharp kicking and uncontested marks.
There was no Clarko Cluster to limit the Dockers’ ball movement.
David Noble once famously wanted to build the Roos midfield from the inside-out and the pieces are in place, with McKercher and Zac Fisher electric at times from half-back and Sheezel typically prolific in a sign that Northball does exist.
“I know George (Wardlaw) has touched on the Northball before,” Powell said.
“It is how we want to play, we want to get speed on it. We have so many half-backers like Fish, (Bailey) Scotty, Sheezel, and Kerch and we want it in their hands.”
Sitting in the stands at half-time was Carlton coach Michael Voss, looking very relaxed as he spread his legs across one of the many empty seats.
He would have been more relaxed during the third term as Fremantle went to work, but he will know that Northball and the tough midfielders in the guts can be dangerous come next week’s Good Friday clash.
DOCKERS FLIP ‘NORTHBALL’ ON ITS HEAD IN SECOND-HALF BLITZ
— Max Hatzoglou
North Melbourne have solidified that they are a team full of potential but one that may just need more time to grow as an inconsistent performance was put on show on Saturday afternoon.
The fast-paced ‘Northball’ game style was evident in the first quarter and a half as the Roos rose to a 33-point lead but the wheels quickly fell off thereafter.
Fremantle kicked the next nine goals to rise to a 29-point lead late in the third term as the Roos were kept to 10 inside 50s in the stunning 62-point turnaround.
Similar to their round 1 win to Brisbane, the Dockers bounced back after a poor start, led by an athletic Luke Jackson who had a thrilling game in the ruck, playing like a dashing midfielder at times and a star forward with two goals.
The 22-year-old had 24 disposals, 21 hitouts and five tackles in one of his best outings for the Dockers in his 78-game career. His teammate Caleb Serong was outstanding again with 35 touches a week after breaking the Dockers record for the most disposals in a game with 46.
The Roos improved in the final term to spark a chance of a comeback-win with the margin at 19 points with eight minutes to play.
But a call at that stage not to review and overturn a boundary umpire’s incorrect decision of a back pass that clearly hit the behind post on the full ruled North out of a comeback victory.
The ball was thrown in instead after Matthew Johnson’s pass back in defence flew over James Aish’s head and hit the behind post.
McDONALD MADE TO PAY
Luke Jackson put Freo in front for the first time in the game midway through the third term after Luke McDonald ran into the protected area too early to try and smother the big Docker’s set-shot snap.
“Luke McDonald reacted to Jackson’s movement, not the umpire calling play on, that’s the critical difference,” Jonathan Brown said on commentary.
“You’re not allowed to move inside that 10 metre area until the umpire has called or signalled play on.”
It was evident on replay that McDonald went slightly early, paying a hefty price for a poor mistake as Jackson’s attempt had sailed out of bounds.
NORTHBALL ELECTRIC
North midfielder George Wardlaw labelled his side’s fast-exciting footy “Northball” a month ago after a solid practice game against Collingwood and now he is one leading the game style in front of his home fans.
The 19-year-old wearing long shorts was slick in his ground ball gets which helped push North out to an impressive 30-point lead midway through the second term. The Roos also lead the overall inside 50 count 29-14 at one stage through the second term.
Wardlaw finished the electrifying North first-half with 13 touches, where Harry Sheezel was also causing issues for Freo with 20 touches alongside Luke Davies-Uniacke with 18 possessions.
ROOS BOO FOR POSSIBLE ‘DUCKING’
The Roos were about to head into quarter time with a three-goal lead until defender Aidan Corr came charging in to make high contact with Michael Walters who was awarded a high free kick.
North fans weren’t happy with the call, however, as boos rang around the stadium on the quarter-time siren with the home crowd frustrated that Walters was ducking.
Never the less, Walters withstood the pressure to kick his 350th AFL goal.
Whether Walters was ducking which resulted in the high contact or if he was just trying to evade a tackle is up for debate but the umpire saw it as high and the Dockers made the scoreboard look a little bit better for them.
MARK OF YEAR CONTENDER
The big men were shining bright under the roof of Marvel Stadium early.
North ruck Tristan Xerri laid arguably the biggest tackle of the season on Andrew Brayshaw, before Jackson gained great altitude with a spectacular grab on the last line of defence.
“I loved that he didn’t want to punch the ball through, go for the mark,” Brown said on Fox Footy.
Jackson continued to impress with two big moments in the space of two minutes late in the second quarter.
The 22-year-old showed off his athleticism with a 50 metre pinpoint kick on the run to hit a leading Jye Amiss inside 50.
Then after taking the mark of the day, Jackson was at full stretch to take the second best grab of the game.
He finished his work with a goal 35 metres out in front to make it cut the deficit to three-goals just before halftime.
ROOS FLIP THE SCRIPT
Heading into the game, the pressure was on the Roos key defenders to stop the likes of Freo tall forwards Matt Taberner, Josh Treacy and Jye Amiss after their defence gave away the equal most marks inside 50 (25) for a game this season against GWS last week.
But it was the Roos that was causing the issue at the other end with their forwards producing nine marks inside 50 in the first half while giving up just six.
Out of North’s four goals in the second term, three of them came from strong contested marks inside 50 courtesy of Paul Curtis, Jy Simpkin and Cameron Zurhaar.
The Dockers were clearly made to pay from having key backs Brennan Cox (hamstring) and Oscar McDonald (knee) out from injuries in last week’s thrilling 23-point win over Brisbane.
MATCH DETAILS
NORTH MELBOURNE 4.1 8.4 9.5 11.10 (76)
FREMANTLE 2.1 5.5 12.10 15.12 (102)
BEST
Roos: Sheezel, Davies-Uniacke, Powell, Curtis, Fisher.
Dockers: Jackson, Serong, Clark, Brayshaw, Aish, Banfield, Ryan.
GOALS
Roos: Curtis, Powell, Zurhaar 2, Larkey, Simpkin, Scott, Stephenson, Wardlaw.
Dockers: Taberner, Frederick, Jackson 2, Amiss, Banfield, Brayshaw, Fyfe, Sharp, Switkowski, Treacy, Walters.
INJURIES Roos: Nil. Dockers: Nil.
Crowd at Marvel Stadium
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
MAX HATZOGLOU’S VOTES
3 Jackson (FRE)
2 Serong (FRE)
1 Sheezel (NTH)
More Coverage
Originally published as Fremantle Dockers flip ‘Northball’ on its head in comeback win over North Melbourne
Join the conversation
Early Mail: Grundy alarm bells, Roos ‘re-load’ injured star
Could the Swans rest Brodie Grundy? Get the latest teams whispers and SuperCoach news including updates on Colby McKercher, Max Gawn, Mattaes Phillipou and more.
Read more
Tigers premiership hero calls it quits
A dual premiership Tiger has announced his AFL retirement, effective immediately, after more than 250 games.
Read more