Match

North Melbourne vs Melbourne

Commentary / 04 Aug 2023

Pre Game

00:00
A loss against Melbourne will make it 18 in a row for the Kangaroos, their third-worst consecutive loss streak in the history of the club.

Quarter 1

00:00
Q1 is now underway.
00:37
SCORE BEHIND - Kangaroos (Paul Curtis)
05:02
SCORE BEHIND - Kangaroos (Bailey Scott)
06:10
SCORE BEHIND - Kangaroos (Luke Davies-Uniacke)
06:30
North Melbourne have started the game well. They've had four of the first six inside 50's of the game but have spurned chances, missing two snaps and one set shot.
07:11
SCORE GOAL - Demons (Kysaiah Pickett)
07:51
Kysaiah Pickett kicks his 30th goal of the season. He's now Melbourne's leading goal-kicker this season, surpassing Bailey Fritsch.
08:17
SCORE BEHIND - Demons (Tom Sparrow)
09:23
Melbourne has had four of the first five clearances of the match. Angus Brayshaw is relishing his time in the midfield and has had three of those clearances.
12:26
SCORE BEHIND - Kangaroos (Rushed)
12:51
SCORE GOAL - Kangaroos (Todd Goldstein)
13:07
North Melbourne has scored nine of their 10 points from forward half intercepts. They have a pressure rating of 209 in their forward 50 and lead tackles inside 50 (3-0).
15:07
Retiring veteran Jack Ziebell has already had seven first quarter disposals, including two intercept marks. North Melbourne lead intercept marks (5-1).
15:26
SCORE GOAL - Kangaroos (Eddie Ford)
16:07
North Melbourne has now scored six times from six inside 50 entries, while Melbourne has only scored twice from seven inside 50's. Of North Melbourne's 16 points, 15 have come from turnovers.
17:30
SCORE GOAL - Kangaroos (Eddie Ford)
17:57
Eddie Ford makes it back-to-back goals with a goal from a centre bounce clearance. Melbourne lead centre bounce clearances (4-1) but North Melbourne's only centre bounce clearance resulted in a goal.
20:05
The Kangaroos have come to play today. They have a pressure rating of 209 to Melbourne's 155. They lead tackles (14-5) with captain Jy Simpkin laying four of those tackles.
21:50
SCORE GOAL - Kangaroos (Bailey Scott)
22:59
The Kangaroos are making Melbourne pay on turnover. Melbourne rank 17th for kicking efficiency this season (64%). They have a kicking efficiency of just 40% in the opening term, including nine clanger kicks.
24:46
Harrison Petty kicked six goals last week, but he is yet to register a disposal in the opening term. Melbourne have three players yet to register a disposal approaching quarter-time.
26:03
SCORE BEHIND - Demons (Jacob van Rooyen)
28:28
Demons Interchange - Jack Viney off due to the blood rule.
30:44
SCORE BEHIND - Kangaroos (Nick Larkey)
31:15
SCORE GOAL - Kangaroos (Eddie Ford)
31:42
Eddie Ford had only kicked five goals in 10 games this season. He's kicked three goals in the opening term today. North Melbourne have kicked five consecutive goals.
34:15
SCORE BEHIND - Demons (Christian Petracca)
34:27
Inside 50's are locked at 14 apiece. North Melbourne have scored (5.5) from their entries, while Melbourne has only scored (1.3).
35:05
The return of Alastair Clarkson has resulted in one of North Melbourne's best quarters of football for the season. Eddie Ford is the highest ranked played on the field with three goals.

Quarter 2

00:00
Q2 is now underway.
01:06
SCORE GOAL - Kangaroos (Nick Larkey)
02:07
Nick Larkey gets goal 51 for the season, following a strong contested mark. North Melbourne lead contested marks (3-1) and marks inside 50 (4-0).
05:35
SCORE BEHIND - Kangaroos (Robert Hansen Jr)
06:36
Melbourne's kicking has been poor throughout this game. They've already registered 15 clanger kicks.
08:21
SCORE GOAL - Demons (Kysaiah Pickett)
08:57
Kysaiah Pickett breaks the run of six consecutive goals for North Melbourne. Pickett had already missed two shots out on the full this quarter before kicking his second.
10:26
Melbourne has had seven of the last eight clearances and eight of the last nine inside 50's of the game. North Melbourne's defence is holding up well, leading intercept marks (11-5). Luke McDonald has taken four intercept marks.
12:13
SCORE GOAL - Demons (Harrison Petty)
13:46
In each of the six games Harrison Petty has played forward this season, Melbourne has won the game.
14:38
SCORE BEHIND - Kangaroos (Jaidyn Stephenson)
15:54
SCORE GOAL - Kangaroos (Paul Curtis)
17:05
Paul Curtis kicked a career best four goals last week. He gets his first goal today with only his second disposal of the match.
17:32
SCORE GOAL - Demons (Alex Neal-Bullen)
18:13
Angus Brayshaw is averaging 22.9 disposals per game this season. He's already had 16 disposals, including four clearances, with nine eight minutes remaining in the second quarter.
20:02
SCORE GOAL - Demons (Kade Chandler)
20:48
Melbourne's kicking has improved dramatically in the second quarter. They're kicking at 73% efficiency this term, compared to 45% in the opening term.
21:49
SCORE BEHIND - Kangaroos (Nick Larkey)
25:01
SCORE GOAL - Kangaroos (Todd Goldstein)
26:06
North Melbourne average 37.2 points per game from turnovers this season. They've already amassed 48 points from turnovers in this game, 35 more than Melbourne.
26:43
SCORE GOAL - Demons (Kade Chandler)
27:08
Kade Chandler has been efficient in front of goals this season, kicking (21.11) for the year. He kicked three goals when these teams last met in Round 7 and has now kicked two in the opening half.
28:59
While North Melbourne have scored heavily from turnover, Melbourne is scoring from stoppages. Of Melbourne's 39 points, 26 have come from stoppages. Jack Viney leads the way in this area. Of his 12 disposals, seven have been clearances.
29:40
SCORE BEHIND - Demons (Rushed)
30:41
Kysaiah Pickett is involved in everything positive for Melbourne going forward. He has a game-high five score involvements, including three goals and a goal assist.
33:00
SCORE GOAL - Demons (Jacob van Rooyen)
33:05
Melbourne intercepted the ball 10 times in their defensive half in the opening quarter, only going inside 50 twice and not generating a score. In the second quarter they intercepted the ball 19 times in their defensive half and went inside 50 on 10 occasions, scoring (3.1) from those chains.

Quarter 3

00:00
Q3 is now underway.
03:28
SCORE BEHIND - Demons (Rushed)
04:26
Since Round 17, North Melbourne has lost the inside 50 count by an average of 20 per game. They only had two less inside 50's in the opening half against a Melbourne side that had their season best time in forward half numbers against Richmond last round.
06:01
SCORE BEHIND - Demons (Rushed)
08:53
Melbourne has had the first eight inside 50's of the third quarter, with 98% of the quarter played in their forward half. North Melbourne's defence is holding up well, rebounding eight times.
10:17
SCORE GOAL - Demons (Harrison Petty)
10:25
Harrison Petty is kicking for goal brilliantly. He's kicked both of his set shots from deep in the left forward pocket. Petty has been the forward 50 target on seven occasions in this match, the most for Melbourne.
12:47
SCORE GOAL - Demons (Christian Petracca)
13:00
Kysaiah Pickett appears untouchable inside forward 50 in this game, weaving and evading tackles with ease. He's now had a game-high six score involvements, including three goals and two goal assists.
14:53
Demons Interchange - Harrison Petty off due to an injury.
16:30
SCORE BEHIND - Kangaroos (Will Phillips)
16:40
It was all Melbourne for the opening 10 minutes of the quarter, but the Kangaroos have lifted their pressure in the last five minutes. They lead tackles (11-4) this quarter.
19:08
Christian Petracca has lifted the Demons this quarter. He's had six disposals, three score involvements, two clearances, two inside 50's and two goals this term.
20:25
SCORE GOAL - Demons (Alex Neal-Bullen)
21:01
Melbourne have now kicked seven consecutive goals as they threaten to run away with the game. They lead contested possessions (27-19) and inside 50's (15-5) this quarter.
22:09
Demons Interchange - Harrison Petty and is possibly out for the game.
24:32
SCORE GOAL - Kangaroos (Jy Simpkin)
24:51
Jy Simpkin breaks the run of seven consecutive Melbourne goals with a set shot from 50 metres. North Melbourne have kicked (6.2) from set shots today.
26:04
Melbourne is dominating from stoppage situations in this game. They lead points from stoppages (44-9), including 19 of those points from centre bounce clearances. Max Gawn has had 13 hit-outs to advantage, while Jack Viney has had 10 clearances.
27:57
Harrison Petty has been subbed out of the game with an ankle injury, with Michael Hibberd entering the game. Melbourne will need to find another tall target, as Petty was the most targeted forward inside 50 for the game (10 times).
28:14
SCORE GOAL - Demons (Alex Neal-Bullen)
29:36
Melbourne is out to game-high 27 point lead. They've kicked nine of the last 10 goals.
30:06
SCORE BEHIND - Demons (Jake Melksham)
30:28
Jack Ziebell has been resolute in defence for the Kangaroos. Ziebell has had 27 disposals, eight rebound 50's, four spoils and four intercept marks.

Quarter 4

00:00
Q4 is now underway.
00:16
SCORE BEHIND - Kangaroos (Jaidyn Stephenson)
01:05
North Melbourne have missed a lot of snap shots in this game. They have kicked (2.6) from snap shots, while Melbourne has kicked (5.1) from the same source.
03:22
Lachie Hunter has had a team-high 26 disposals. Hunter has had 20 or more disposals in all six games on the road this season and is coming off a season-high 30 disposals last round.
04:15
SCORE BEHIND - Demons (Jacob van Rooyen)
05:36
SCORE BEHIND - Demons (Rushed)
06:25
Melbourne average 35.6 points per game from stoppages, ranked 5th. Today they've scored 52 points from stoppages, including 20 points from centre bounce clearances.
07:13
SCORE BEHIND - Demons (Christian Petracca)
09:11
SCORE GOAL - Kangaroos (Curtis Taylor)
10:16
Tarryn Thomas is having a big quarter for the Roos. Thomas has had seven disposals, six contested possessions and five clearances in the opening six minutes of the quarter.
12:07
Bailey Scott has been a bright spark for the Kangaroos this season. Scott is averaging 20.6 disposals per game. Today Scott has had 27 disposals and a game-high 554 metres gained.
12:23
SCORE BEHIND - Demons (Christian Petracca)
14:12
SCORE BEHIND - Demons (Alex Neal-Bullen)
14:49
Melbourne had kicked (8.2) from set shots in the opening three quarters. They've kicked (0.3) from set shots in the final term, leaving the door ajar for the Roos.
16:29
Since half-time, Melbourne has had 19 more inside 50's and 78% of the second half has been played in Melbourne's forward half.
18:10
Kangaroos Interchange - Jaidyn Stephenson off due to an injury.
19:29
Melbourne has entered a chip-mark stage of the game, as they look to close it out. They lead uncontested marks (21-8) in the final term.
20:19
SCORE BEHIND - Demons (Rushed)
22:29
SCORE GOAL - Demons (Kade Chandler)
22:43
Kade Chandler kicked three goals when these teams last met in Round 7 and he has kicked three goals once again today.
23:38
SCORE BEHIND - Kangaroos (Paul Curtis)
24:00
Melbourne have got their star players on the bench with four minutes remaining in the game. Petracca, Viney and Gawn have all been taken off the ground.
26:11
Melbourne average 103 points per game in their last five matches against North Melbourne. They've scored 103 points today.
27:23
Melbourne have only lost the contested possession count once since Round 9. They've dominated contested possessions again today, winning the count by 31.
29:35
The Kangaroos gave the Demons an early scare, with a five goal to one opening quarter. Melbourne also trailed at half-time, but North Melbourne couldn't sustain their effort, with Melbourne kicking 14 of the last 18 goals of the game.