North Melbourne begins Rhyce Shaw era with come from behind win over Hawthorn

Rhyce Shaw’s official tenure as North Melbourne coach got off to a shaky start before the Kangaroos fought back to defeat Hawthorn and keep themselves in the finals race.

North prime mover Ben Cunnington was among the Roos best in the win over the Hawks. Picture: AFL Photos/Getty Images

There is certainly no feeling of buyer’s remorse at Arden St.

In the pre-game, North Melbourne legend Wayne Carey said the work now really began for new senior coach Rhyce Shaw.

“It starts tonight. He’s no longer a relief teacher,” Carey said on Channel 7.

In other words, and with apologies to Chris Judd and David Teague, the training wheels were officially off.

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On Friday night he will be fine, albeit after a shaky start.

The Kangas were jumped early with Hawthorn kicking four of the first five goals to dominate the opening term.

The Kangaroos then rallied, with Shaun Higgins in everything.

They trailed by just five points at the main change, and then outhunted the Hawks to take the lead and then held on to it when Hawthorn came late.

The 12.14 (86) to 9.10 (64) victory was their eighth win of the season.

As for the Hawks, to borrow a line from Alastair Clarkson, they weren’t hard enough or tough enough for long enough.

Shaun Higgins runs away from Hawthorn’s Ricky Henderson. Picture: Michael Klein

North Melbourne coach Rhyce Shaw paid tribute to his players for their comeback, and admitted it felt different being in the seat as the senior coach rather than the caretaker.

“It felt a little bit different actually, that first quarter felt different,” he said.

“We just didn’t have out sea legs there for a little bit and to Hawthorn’s credit they came out firing and made us look prettysilly for a little bit.

“But to the boys’ credit they fought back pretty hard, and we played our brand of footy again which was really pleasing.”

Hawks coach Alastair Clarkson said the Kangaroos scored a “comfortable and deserving” win, lamenting his side’s ability to convert their inside-50 numbers into scores after quarter-time.

“The game started to slip away, and towards the end of the third quarter we tried a couple of things, and none of them workedtoo well for us, unfortunately,” Clarkson said.

50 FOR BROWN

The race for the Coleman Medal is well and truly heating up.

Giant Jeremy Cameron has 57 goals and Kangaroo Ben Brown became the second player this season to bring up the half century.

He should have reached the milestone right on halftime when he received a free kick after the siren.

A goal would have tied the scores, but it drifted wide.

He was able to reach it in the third term with a beautiful snap goal on the run that bounced its way through.

Brown would finish with four goals to take his season tally to 52.

He’s coming.

THIS TEAM DOESN’T BOTTOM OUT

The song says they’re a happy team at Hawthorn.

Maybe a line should be added that they also don’t bottom out at Hawthorn.

Or, at the least, they don’t under Clarkson.

Many thought this could be the year where the Hawks might finally vanish from sight before reloading next year or the year after.

Instead, it has proven again and again its ability under Clarkson to rebuild on the run.

When there is a slight suspicion they may be about to fall off the cliff, the Hawks rally.

The loss makes its quest for a September berth that much harder, but you get the feeling they will be back in strong contention in little time.

And just quietly, they’ve found one in James Worpel, who finished with a career-high 37 disposals.

“That is pleasing,” Clarkson said.

“He has been really consistent for us in that part of the ground, he is only a second-year player. And he has just flown under the radar a little bit but has been really important for us over the course of the year.”

James Worpel was Hawthorn’s best player. Picture: Michael Klein

BLOW FOR BIRCHALL

Could we have seen the last of four-time premiership player Grant Birchall?

Hopefully that’s not the case, but Hawks fans had their hearts in their mouths when Birchall came from the ground in the third term.

He went down to the rooms and soon returned to the bench, before ice was applied to his hamstring not long later.

The 248-gamer only recently returned to the AFL after a horror run of injuries the past two years.

BIG NIGHT FOR BURGOYNE

It was not the result he was after, but it was still a night to remember for four-time premiership Hawk Shaun Burgoyne.

The man known as “Silk” set a new mark for games by an indigenous player when he ran out for game 373 passing previous record-holder Adam Goodes.

The question now is just where will he be next year?

The 36-year-old has yet to sort out his future for next season after being on a series of one-year contracts in recent seasons, but all signs point towards him returning in 2020.

The Hawks are set to make a call on his future shortly, with Gold Coast reportedly hovering if that fails to eventuate.

Surely he will stay a Hawk, based on recent form, but it still remains to be seen.

Shaun Burgoyne is chaired off Marvel Stadium through a guard of honour. Picture: Michael Klein

SCOREBOARD

NORTH MELBOURNE 1.2 5.6 9.11 12.14 (86)

HAWTHORN 4.4 6.5 8.7 9.10 (64)

GOALS

Kangaroos: Brown 4, Ziebell 3, Wood 2, Higgins 2, Zurhaar

Hawks: Lewis 3, Gunston 2, Birchall, O’Brien, Puopolo, Breust

BEST

Kangaroos: Higgins, Brown, Ahern, Polec, Cunnington, Goldstein

Hawks: Worpel, Wingard, McEvoy, Lewis, O’Meara

NICK SMART’S VOTES

3 — Shaun Higgins (NM)

2 — Ben Brown (NM)

1 — James Worpel (Haw)

INJURIES

Kangaroos: Nil

Hawks: Birchall (hamstring)

Reports: Nil

Umpires: Deboy, Hosking, Ryan

Official crowd: 33,226 at Marvel Stadium