As it happened: Curnow and Carlton crush Eagles, Dees destroy North, GWS pip Swans in thriller, Dogs overcome Hawks, Lions thrash Freo

So, the first true super Saturday of the season featuring five AFL games comes to an end.

And, boy, did it come to an end in brutal fashion with a couple of thumpings on either side of the country.

In Melbourne, the Demons crushed North by 90 points, after the margin swelled to 108 late in the game, while in Perth, Carlton destroyed West Coast by 108 points as Charlie Curnow kicked a career-high nine goals.

The highlight of the day came in Sydney when GWS captain Toby Greene inspired his team to a sensational one-point win against the Swans at the SCG.

The Giants trailed by 24 points early in the final quarter, but kicked the last four goals, including the spectacular match-winner from Greene which was one of four for him for the day.

His efforts saw him win his first Brett Kirk medal for best player on the ground.

In other results, Brisbane easily disposed of Fremantle at the Gabba by eight goals, while the Bulldogs overcame a plucky Hawthorn outfit to the tune of 29 points to celebrate captain Marcus Bontempelli’s 200th game in style.

Thank you for following all the action with us today, be sure to tune in next week for another dose of super Saturday AFL action.

Good night.

A week after sitting through Sydney’s heaviest loss in 25 years, Swans coach John Longmire said he was proud of his team’s fight against GWS but admitted they “buggered up” a game which saw Toby Greene kick a last-minute goal to sink his side by a solitary point.

Lance Franklin booted three goals in his return game from injury but it was Greene who stole the show at the SCG on Saturday afternoon as the Giants star kicked a clutch goal in stunning fashion to snap a two-game losing streak against their crosstown rivals.

The anguish of suffering a 93-point defeat against Geelong last week prompted a much-needed response from the Swans who looked all but certain to run out winners deep into the fourth quarter.

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Toby Greene celebrate his last-minute match-winning goal against the Swans at the SCG.Credit: Getty

The Western Bulldogs saluted their captain with a well-fought 29-point win over Hawthorn under the roof at Marvel Stadium on Saturday.

There was anticipation for Bulldogs skipper Marcus Bontempelli to kick a goal in his 200th game, but fans were denied the pleasure. Instead, they emptied their lungs for Arthur Jones, whose first goal in AFL sealed the win during the final minutes of the game.

The Hawks brought it right to the Bulldogs for the first half and took a three-point lead at the main break before being overrun in the second.

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Western Bulldogs celebrate a goalCredit: Getty

Charlie Curnow put on a clinic with a career-best bag of nine goals as a ruthless Carlton feasted on West Coast for their biggest victory in 12 years.

After a week when the Blues’ delivery into the forward line came under the microscope, there could be no faulting how Michael Voss’s men serviced their twin towers, who combined for 11 goals.

The 112-point thrashing was the Blues’ greatest winning margin since they crushed Gold Coast by 119 points in the expansion club’s inaugural game in 2011.

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Charlie Curnow dominated against the Eagles.Credit: AFL Photos

A catastrophic injury to North Melbourne youngster Charlie Comben compounded the Kangaroos’ dismal defeat to Melbourne at the MCG on Saturday night.

Comben clutched at his lower left leg in agony after going down 12 minutes into the first quarter, after the Demons had already inflicted five-straight painful goals to jump the visiting side.

Play was halted for seven minutes as Comben was attended to by medical staff and taken from the field on a stretcher, before the Demons opened a 44-point margin at the first change.

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Josh Schache congratulated.Credit: Getty Images

North Melbourne coach Alastair Clarkson spoke to the media after the game...

Q: How is Charlie Comben doing?
A: Yes. He has got a, from what we are led to believe...I haven’t even spoken to the doctor about it. I was told on the bench he has a fracture to his lower leg that will require some surgery. A little like big X’s (Tristan Xerri’s) injury earlier in the year. If they require surgery, they are going to need to probably put a plate in of some description I would imagine. Yes. That will mean he is out for a period of time. That’s a blow to us. Because he is a young guy trying to make his way in the game. It was his seventh game on the trot. Just getting that continuity was going to be important for him. He has shown in the games he has played to date that he is a great prospect for us. He just has to get his body right now and get him going again later in the year, if we can.

Q: Tom Powell, ankle as well?
A: Yes, he rolled his ankle. He will get that looked at earlier in the week. Sometimes they can settle pretty quickly those. Sometimes they can linger. We will just wait, see how he goes and big CJ (Callum Coleman-Jones) is out with concussion. He will have to go through the concussion protocols. He will no doubt miss next week.

Q: How tough a night was that?
A: We came up against a really good side. There were some things about our game tonight, I thought we played better tonight than what we played for the last two weeks. Ninety-point margin doesn’t suggest. We got wiped off the park early. They are a really good side. You lose a game by 15 goals you haven’t been able to get the ball inside 50 and they’ve been smashed in clearances. We competed in different areas of the game really, really well. We just came up against a team - out of a half chance, they would make a full chance, a full opportunity out of it. Out of a full opportunity for us, we would turn it into a half- or quarter-chance. That’s just ... I reckon they have got, if not eight, maybe as many as 10 blokes that are All-Australian quality. At the end of the day, that’s what you are trying to build on your list, that depth of quality. That’s across all three of their lines, forward, mid and defence. Particularly their mid and defence is the real strength of their side at the moment. Their experience, their strength in the contest and their ability to train with possession and maintain that possession of the ball from 10, 12 possessions in a row, whether by hand or foot, we were at different stages, especially early, managing two, three, four possessions in a row before we turn it over. It is just experience and composure. That will come with time. What we saw is the gap between one of the better sides in the competition and one of the not-so-good sides in the competition at the present time. I have observed Melbourne from afar. I know that they have been in the same position as what we are right now somewhere in the last decade. The dangling carrot for us is that because we know what their path has been, that there is hope and prospect for us as a football club too. But we just have to stay together, work our way through it and give some players an opportunity. We have probably gone with a little bit of an older group in the early part of year and not exposed as many of the young kids. Because we are fully of the view that bringing the young kids in en masse isn’t all that beneficial for them. They need to have some experienced guys around them. Yes, we will probably look to blood a few more kids over the next few weeks to give them the exposure. Because if you are going to lose by 90 points you might as well lose with kids. But we don’t want to throw them to the wolves either. We will probably have two or three changes out of the side next week. Hopefully there are one or two young fellows who can come into the side.

Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin spoke to the media after the game...

Q: Obviously very fast start for Melbourne tonight. What is your assessment of the match after that?
A: Yes, probably before I start, probably just want to give our best wishes and thoughts to Charlie Comben and their family. It seemed like a pretty nasty injury to start the game. For our club to Charlie, our thoughts are with him and hopefully a speedy recovery. But from the game perspective, it was exactly what we want. We understood North had a few travels and had young players in. But we really wanted to put the defensive side of the game to them. I thought we did that for the majority of the night. Off the back of that we got reward from defence.

Q: They started playing uncontested football, kicking sideways. Do you take learnings from that how sides are going to change the way they play against you and potentially try and access the football a bit?
A: Yes, I think teams will adjust. At times you see teams defend with ball in hand and that’s what took place tonight. You then look at scoreboard impact. Although those marks have been taken there wasn’t much score going on the board. So we were pretty comfortable with how the game stood. We were off a five-day break ourselves. Our ability to maintain that in the game was important. Obviously you assess all those things, scoreboard impacted. If you are taking uncontested marks and scoring you have to do something about it.

Q: I know Bayley Fritsch did brilliantly, three goals in the first quarter. You had 12 goalkickers for the night. Had contributions everywhere. Is that something you have been working on?
A: It is. Everyone likes to talk about our forward line, about who is the personnel that will be taking up the mix in our forward half of the ground. We don’t look at it like that. We are trying to find the best version of us how we operate forward of centre. All year scoring hasn’t been an issue for us. We saw tonight the spread of goalkickers. We saw Josh Schache come in the team, Jacob van Rooyen, partt of our forward line. It is the method of how we go in and connection of inside 50s is the key to us. Finding the personnel who will match that is real important for us. But it is a much talked about area for us but we are sort of looking at it from a week-to-week perspective, how we operate going inside D50. We are really happy with how it is looking.

Q: You kept going after half-time in terms of percentage in terms of getting a complete performance on the board and what you were working on?
A: As I said, it is probably more the defensive side of the game we really wanted to tighten up in the last few weeks. We felt at times earlier in the year we were probably scoring quite freely but our defensive side of the game wasn’t quite to the level that we are used to. We have really focused on that. That was a big part of the message at half-time - to keep that real focus on how we defend on the ground, how we get turnovers and how we limit opposition scoring. That was pleasing to me how we saw that throughout the game. Last couple of minutes they got those back but that was probably ne being a bit greedy.

Q: Will Harrison Petty come straight back in?
A: Yes, he is a good player. He was out with concussion. He will get through all the protocols this week and be right to play. Every indication so far is that he will get through the protocols. He has important week to get through still but yes, he will be coming straight back in.

Q: Into the forward line?
A: We will have a chat about that at match committee. He is a player in our team who can play either end of the ground. We are open-minded to where that looks for us at the moment. He is doing pleasing things at both ends of the ground.

North co-captain Luke McDonald spoke to Channel Seven after the Kangaroos’ heavy defeat...

Q: Luke, a really tough night at the office. What, if any, lessons can you get out of tonight?
A: Yes. Obviously really, really disappointing tonight. But it just shows the level we have got to get to. Melbourne, they are a good side. They won the flag a couple of years ago. Yes, yes, they out played us. Used the ball better than us. Shows we have a lot to work to do. Knowing
the group, boys are hungry to do the work. Got taught a lesson tonight but it shows the level we have to get to. It shows when if you are a little off in this competition, when you play that side that’s what happens.

Q: A really horrific injury in the first term to a teammate of yours. What sort of impact does it have on your group?
AL Disappointing knowing Charlie (Comben). He has had a tough run, playing good football. Shattered for him. You know how it is. Next man comes in. Harry (Daniel Howe) came in as sub and someone else has to step up. That certainly wasn’t the reason why we lost today.

Q: As a leader, how do you pick this group up and get them ready for next week against the Saints?
A: The first four weeks of the season we set a high level of competitiveness, and where we have to play. We dropped away from that the last few weeks but we know we can play it. We are still learning the system. Tonight wasn’t acceptable but we know we have it in us. It is a pretty resilient group. Been through a lot for the last few years but time to step up.

Kade Chandler spoke to Channel Seven after the game...

Q: Congratulations. It is reward for effort.
A: Thank you. It is off the back of a fair bit of hard work. I have had to cope with a fair bit in the VFL. I have great blokes ahead of me who I have learnt the role of small forward off. Like ‘Kozzy’ is an absolute genius. I learn off him as much as I can. If I get my game to anywhere near his game is I will be pretty happy.

Q: What does Simon Goodwin expect from you? What does he say, “This is your role, this is what I want to see.“?
A: It is all about pressure. If you can hit the scoreboard that helps. It is about playing my role, getting up the ground, more the defensive stuff.

Q: You are fourth in the line for goal assists. You have nine goal assists for the year. They are outstanding numbers in the way you commit yourself to every contest. You are doing more than forward pressure, you are making impact. You must be proud.
A: Yes. It is probably off the back of what the midfielders are doing. We have had elite supply in the last few weeks. It can be easy playing forward when they are doing their thing.

Q: Where did you learn your craft?
A: Like I said before, probably off a few guys behind me.

Q: Going right back. You grew up like all of us wanting to play league football.
A: I remember my dad’s mate, I was 10 years old. He asked me what I wanted to do when I was older. I said play AFL football. I was 10.

Q: That’s big. So many players are told it won’t happen. You continued to defy everyone’s views.
A: Yes, the coaches trust you off the back of your open honesty. If you can bring that every week. It doesn’t matter now small, big or fast you are. It is off the back of what you are. It is off the back of what you bring to the team. I’m lucky that the recruiters and coaches back me in.

Kysaiah Pickett spoke to Channel Seven after the game...

Q: You must have enjoyed that.
A: Good fun. Good to get another win I guess.

Q: On the ground, what did it feel like? Was it as dominant as it looked from the sidelines?
A: Yes, we were able to play our game, just having fun with it really.

Q: It looks fun doing what you do. We saw a few party tricks late as well. You had a bit up your sleeve.
A: No, I was just having fun. Got the ball. Was able to I guess produce something.

Q: You must be enjoying playing more up the ground, get some more midfield time and then being able to complement yourself and your game up forward.
A: Yes. Just adding a bit more to my game, get involved more, get more touches. They reckon I’m pretty dangerous.

Q: I think they are right, ‘Kozzy’. I think you are pretty dangerous. Just looking at your highlights here. When you watch that tape back, what does Simon Goodwin say he wants from you week in and week out? What is the message?
A: Number one defence. Off that defence, offence. Defence first.

Q: You must be enjoying football this year and the feeling around the club.
A: Yes, definitely. We have got a good culture and we are winning as well. Good to be winning. Everyone is smiling.