North Melbourne vs. Essendon – Round 4 recap

North Melbourne – 10.9 (69)

Essendon – 7.15 (57)

North Melbourne have emerged victorious in a scrappy match at Etihad Stadium on Sunday afternoon. The game was error-ridden and both teams struggled to get any consistency, although North were clearly the better side on the day. Kick-ins after behinds were sprayed on more than one occasion ending in goals to the opposition. The rushed behind rule was implemented when Daniel Pratt couldn’t find a target from the kick-in and was sheparded over the line by Matthew Lloyd. Essendon nearly managed to snatch an undeserving victory but poor kicking in front of goals let them down. North finally getting over the line by 12 points

Turning points of the match

A free kick to North Melbourne due to an Essendon interchange error late in the third quarter took the ball out of Matthew Lloyd’s hands when he was just 20 metres out from goals. The Roos then kicked three quick goals to close out the quarter and put the 3/4 time margin out to 20 points.

Key Players for North Melbourne

Brent Harvey – The skipper finally had a great game. 33 possessions, 7 marks and 3.0 for the night led his team to a hard fought victory.

David Hale – 4.3 from 11 marks in a dominant display over Darcy Daniher. Also claimed 16 possessions.

Hamish McIntosh – 23 hit outs with 11 disposals and 5 marks. Rotating with Petrie and was able to beat Hille. Chipped in with a goal too.

Key Players for Essendon

Brent Stanton – Was moved onto Harvey in the second quarter but managed 26 disposals and 5 marks of his own. Also kicked 1.0 and had 4 tackles.

Jobe Watson – 24 disposals while playing on Simpson but also managed a huge 8 tackles.

Musings from the match

Essendon had 15 behinds, only 10 of which they kicked off the boot.
Jobe Watson kicked 0.2, and David Zaharakis, Paddy Ryder and Mark McVeigh chipped in with 0.1 each.
First gamer for the Roos, Ben Warren, kicked 0.2 as well, Lindsay Thomas and Ed Lower kicked 0.1 and the only other player to kick behinds for North was Hale who kicked 4.3
There were about three goals kicked from wayward kick-ins
Both teams were disappointing

Supercoach/Dreamteam news

David Zaharakis had another 20 possessions and is sure to go up in price. 62 and 61 in Dreamteam and Supercoach respectively. Might still be worth picking up given Essendon’s running style of play.

Jack Ziebell also had a great game. 22 touches a goal and 6 marks earned him 87 Dreamteam and 94 Supercoach points.

Hayden Skipworth pulled a hammy in the last quarter. Might be worth keeping an eye on this because he might not be as solid as he has been so far after this.

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