North Melbourne defender Scott Thompson stars in Kangaroos’ big win over Gold Coast
FORGET the final margin. Gold Coast was largely embarrassed against North Melbourne on Sunday, giving the Blues hope they may avoid yet another wooden spoon. SAM LANDSBERGER looks at the winners and losers out of the game.
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SCOTT Thompson’s manager might be tempted to pick up the phone.
The North Melbourne defender is the second-oldest player at Arden St, but on Sunday Thompson played with a level of energy his youthful Gold Coast opponents should have been overflowing with.
Sadly, the Suns weren’t, and they were largely embarrassed at Etihad Stadium. In the end, they lost by a flattering margin of 37 points.
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It was a Gold Coast which would’ve given Carlton fans hope that they can still dodge this year’s wooden spoon.
But the standout was the repelling Thompson, 32, who patrolled the back half with freedom. Thompson finished with a game-high 31 disposals and 456m gained.
To put that in perspective, only twice before had Thompson recorded 30 disposals from his previous 214 AFL games.
Thompson racked up 13 intercept possessions, took nine marks and his disposal was as sharp as any player.
And so when Thompson’s manager next speaks to North Melbourne list boss Michael McMahon, the conversation should be short and to the point.
“Where does he sign?”
While question marks now surround the future of Jarrad Waite, who is battling calf injuries, there is no reason a new one-year deal shouldn’t be drawn up for Thompson.
It will be a busy few months for North’s list team, with about 20 players still out of contract including Ben Jacobs and Luke McDonald.
Jacobs has made his name at North as a tagger. On Sunday, he was the one inflicting the damage. Jacobs curled through a checkside goal in the second quarter and amassed 26 disposals.
Roos coach Brad Scott decided to send 189cm rookie Cameron Zurhaar into the ruck to relieve Todd Goldstein.
It appeared the Kangas wanted to keep Ben Brown at full-forward to maintain their structure and didn’t want to interrupt Majak Daw’s sharp improvement as a defender.
But Daw couldn’t help getting up the ground in a performance set to feature prominently on the highlights tape.
Daw floated across a pack to take a contested mark in front of goal in the third quarter and then opened the final term by thumping through his second goal on the run from outside 50m.
Daw hadn’t kicked a goal since last year’s Round 15 clash against the Suns. Suddenly he had two on a day where no Sun kicked multiple goals.
Coleman Medal favourite Ben Brown added another four goals, including three in the first quarter. The Suns did their best to negate Brown after that, although his work-rate remained enormous.
No player covered more ground than Brown, who clocked 15.2km on his GPS.
Gold Coast’s only score in the first quarter came against yet another bizarre 50m penalty for encroaching the protected area. This time it was Paul Ahern who fringed, and Peter Wright flushed the set-shot from 55m.
It deserved to be a scoreless quarter. The Kangas amassed 126 disposals and few came with physical pressure, as the Suns laid just five tackles.
Mature-looking teenager Brayden Crossley clunked two contested grabs in the second quarter and Jack Martin nailed a nice set-shot.
They were fleeting moments in what was yet another relatively easy and dull eclipse of the Suns.
NORTH MELBOURNE 4.2 7.4 12.6 14.11 (95)
GOLD COAST 1.0 5.5 6.7 8.10 (58)
LANDSBERGER’S BEST
Kangaroos: Thompson, Cunnington, Tarrant, Higgins, Goldstein, Brown, Daw, Ahern.
Suns: Lyons, Weller, Miller, May, Brodie, Harbrow.
GOALS
Kangaroos: Brown 4, Ahern 2, Daw 2, Jacobs, Ziebell, Turner, Clarke, Higgins, Goldstein.
Suns: Sexton, Young, Witts, Crossley, Martin, Holman, Wright, Miller.
INJURIES
Kangaroos: Zurhaar (foot)
Suns: Nil
UMPIRES
Hosking, Deboy, Gavine
CROWD
14,389 at Etihad Stadium
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