North Melbourne have won their sixth game on the trot and have moved to fourth on the ladder after smashing the Blues by 51 points at Telstra Dome today winning 14.6.90 to 22.9.141.
The win was set up by an eight goal to three second term and was also the Roos sixth straight win over the Blues with Carlton’s last win coming in 2004.
A fairly even first quarter saw both teams go goal-for-goal after the opening two majors from Brendon Fevola. The attacking game style set up an 11 goal first quarter, which saw the Blues take a one goal lead into quarter time.
The momentum swung well and truly in favour of the Roos after quarter time and they slammed on six unanswered goals in 15 minutes to jump to a 32 point lead. The Roos had ten inside 50’s before the Blues had their first of the second quarter at the 16 minute mark when Fevola kicked his fourth. Carlton then managed to peg the margin back to 20 points after Fevola’s fifth goal but undisciplined play from Blues saw Simon Wiggins reported for charging and Brendon Fevola give Leigh Harding two 50m penalties. The resulting goal gave the Roos a 26 point half time lead.
North extended their lead in the third quarter after the opening goal from Matthew Kreuzer. They kicked four goals in a row, including two from Brownlow Medal favorite Brent Harvey, to jump to a 45 point lead at the final break.
After Fevola booted his sixth to once again kick the opening goal of the quarter, the Roos motored away kicking another five unanswered goals to get out to a 70 point lead just before time on in the last quarter. To the Blues credit they didn’t stop and kicked the last three goals of the game to save some potential embarressment.
Once again it was Brent Harvey who was best on ground, racking up 30 disposals, three goals and five inside 50’s. Fevola finished with 6 goals for the Blues while Murphy (29 disposals) and Judd (23) found a lot of the ball.
GOALS
Carlton: Fevola 6, Cloke 2, Fisher 2, Judd, Kreuzer, Russell, Scotland
North Melbourne: Grant 3, Hale 3, Harding 3, Harvey 3, Hansen 2, Jones 2, Thomas 2, Brown, McMahon, Petrie, Rawlings
BEST
Carlton: Judd, Fevola, Carrazzo, Murphy, Walker
North Melbourne: Harvey, Grant, Hale, Firrito, Harris, Pratt, Harding, Jones, Rawlings
INJURIES
Carlton: Nil
North Melbourne: Nil
Reports: Wiggins (Carlton) for charging Harding (North Melbourne)
Umpires: Vozzo, Meredith, Jeffrey
Official crowd: 43,406 at Telstra Dome
