North Melbourne has joined the Magpies as the only two teams so far to win both their NAB Cup ‘twenty-20’ games in tonights triple header at the Etihad Stadium against Melbourne and Richmond.
The Roos opened their account with a close affair in game one, beating the Demons by just two points. The Roos led by as much as three goals in the second half before the Demons clawed their way back to almost steal it. Youngster Dean Kent marked inside 50 with moments to go and chose kick the six pointer instead of handballing to a player outside the arch.
The Demons didn’t have much luck in the second game as the fresh Tigers jumped out of the blocks early, kicking the first two goals of the match. Melbourne hit back with their first goal at the 16 minute mark before Bachar Houli bombed a 9 point super goal to help his side to 20 point half time lead.
The Dees booted the first and only goal of the second half leaving the Richmond with a 15 point win and tasty affair against the Roos.
The final match started in hot fashion as both sides looked for some good early pre-season form. It would be the Roos with the opening goal, however the Tigers dominated the first part of the half but were unable to put the score on the board. North capitalised and booted four of the next five goals, including a stunning running goal from exciting youngster Majak Daw, to give them a five point lead at the half.
Early goals in the second half handed the Tigers the lead back with Ellis and Jackson booting majors from just inside 50. Both teams traded behinds before North vice captain Jack Ziebell goaled from a free kick to bring the margin back to seven points.
With just minutes to go Tiger Matthew White missed a shot to ice the game, giving the Roos a chance to counter attack with a long bomb from the kickout. Young Roo Ryan Bastinac managed to get on the end of a chain of handballs through the middle and could have run into goal, but chose to kick from 50 missing to the right hand side. It would be a late piece of brilliance from Daniel Wells to find young big man Aaron Black who goaled to snatch the win.
North Melbourne – 1.2.2, 1.4.5 (38)
Melbourne – 0.2.2, 0.5.6 (36)
Supergoals
North Melbourne: Jacobs
Melbourne: Nil
Goals
North Melbourne: Hansen, Thomas, Tarrant, Petrie
Melbourne: Howe 2, Hogan, Watts, Kent
Melbourne – 0.1.0, 0.2.3 (15)
Richmond – 1.2.5, 1.2.9 (30)
Supergoals
Melbourne: Nil
Richmond: Houli
Goals
Melbourne: Watts, Toumpas
Richmond: Riewoldt, Vickery
Richmond – 0.4.3, 0.6.8 (44)
North Melbourne – 0.5.2, 0.7.6 (48)
Supergoals
Richmond: Nil
North Melbourne: Nil
Goals
Richmond: S. Edwards 2, Riewoldt 2, Ellis, Jackson,
North Melbourne: Harvey 2, Black 2, Daw, Thomas, Ziebell
