Round 3 – North Given Free Reign At Casey

Liam Chambers

Roos have the early advantage, but Dees’ late surge balances the scoresheet

The last time these two sides met was in the first qualifying round of the 2023 finals series. We were soundly beaten on that occasion. Players and fans alike would be hoping for a different outcome this time.

North was on the board early with Kate Shierlaw kicking the opener after receiving a hand pass and running into the open goal. It was back to back for Shierlaw a minute later when she launched from 40m, landing the ball in the square where it bounced fortuitously across the line.

With nine minutes played, the Roos were still dictating terms, then Eliza McNamara saw a half chance and snapped from 15m in front to put the Dees on the board.

Alyssia Pisano had a chance to kick Melbourne’s second but choose to kick from just inside the 50m arc. The ball was shepherded by Eden Zanker as it bounced towards the goal line, then an unfortunately high flip meant the key forward had to grab the ball to prevent her pursuer from knocking it away. Zanker was unable to get boot to ball before she crossed the line. Despite the failure to score, Pisano showed again that she’s becoming a great asset to Melbourne.

The latter half of the game was definitely favouring the Dees, and it seemed only a matter of time before another scoring opportunity presented itself. Blaithin Mackin’s kick after a stoppage was mark by Megan Fitzsimon who went back to score the 30m set shot.

North take control

Though there was a couple of missed opportunities late on, Melbourne would have been please with their first term effort.

North again opened the scoring when Jenna Bruton took advantage of a favorable bounce to chip it in from 20m. They had another when Alice O’Loughlin was awarded a free kick 30m out.

By now, the Roos were dominating territory and putting a lot of pressure on Melbourne’s defence. They got their reward when Ash Riddell took an uncontested mark 25m in front and slotted the set shot. It was all North Melbourne with the Dees struggling to get the ball out of their half.

Then it was four for the quarter when Ash Riddell collected the ground ball and tapped through her second.

No let up from the Roos

Having been soundly beaten in term two, Melbourne desperately needed to score early in the second half and win back some momentum. Unfortunately North continued to dictate the terms, preventing the Dees from creating any scoring opportunities.

Then an error in defence allowed Kate Shierlaw a relatively easy 15m set shot to claim her hat trick and push the margin out to twenty nine points.

It had been another dominant quarter for the Roos, with Melbourne only able to add one point to their score. Then when Demon fans thought it couldn’t get any worse, Kate Shierlaw took another inside 50 mark. The set shot was from a similar position to her previous effort and the key forward kicked her fourth.

No quarter given by North

Trailing by thirty six points at the start of the final term, Melbourne would have to dig deep and produce something special if they were to pull this game out of the fire. As the quarter wore on though, it became apparent that a comeback of any significance was rapidly fading away, with few scoring opportunities presenting themselves.

When Jenna Bruton received the ball via a hand pass just outside the square, she snapped it home, giving her side a forty three point advantage. Two minutes later Kate Shierlaw ran out to meet the kick and marked in the pocket. She made sure of the set shot to notch up her fifth goal of the afternoon.

It looked like Melbourne was going to held goalless again in the fourth quarter, but then Grace Beasley got hold of the ball 30m from home and snapped an around the corner shot to score her first AFLW goal.

North still remained focused on the game though, still piling on the pressure and eventually they reaped the reward when Alice O’Loughlin took the advantage, after a free kick, to collect the ground ball and launch from 30m to claim her second of the game.

The Dees had some slip ups, but overall they didn’t play badly. It was just that North Melbourne played extremely well as a team and made the most of their opportunities, especially after the first quarter.

Our next three games are against teams sitting just outside the top eight, which we will need to win if we have any chance of making the finals this year. After that we face three sides that are current occupying the top three spots on the ladder; so no rocket science degree required.

Travelling to Perth is never easy but we have to win against Fremantle and we definitely have the talent to do it.

Go the Mighty Dees!!!