NORTH Melbourne ran all over Collingwood in the second half at Telstra Dome last night to win by 18 points and keep its finals chances well and truly alive.
After being 13 points down at half-time, the Kangaroos kicked seven goals to three in the third term then had more run at every critical stage of the last to thwart any chance of a Pies revival.
It had still been a possibility when John Anthony got his fourth and Collingwood's 14th goal with just under three minutes of playing time left in the last quarter. The gap was then 12 points.
A 50-metre penalty against Shane O'Bree when the Magpie midfielder was penalised for shovelling the ball to a teammate and argued about being called for throwing led to an easy goal for Brent Harvey — and that was that.
Drew Petrie was outstanding for the Roos, as were Harvey and Daniel Wells. Through Scott Pendlebury, Scott Burns, Alan Didak and Dane Swan, Collingwood was competitive around the ball, but it was badly beaten in the ruck and with Travis Cloke well held by Michael Firrito, lacked a winning tall anywhere on the ground.
North's little men backed themselves to run with the ball, too, taking on the defence and creating problems further up the ground. Matt Campbell was particularly effective. His three-bounce run and handball to Shannon Grant for a goal midway through the final term gave North a four-goal break and pretty much sealed the win.
North had led by 10 points at three-quarter-time. After they had battled to keep up through a ferocious first half, the Roos found their run.
The momentum swung either way throughout the quarter, but North had the first and last surges, kicking four unanswered goals to start the quarter and three to finish it. Collingwood got three on the trot in between.
Petrie was driving North at this stage, winning in the ruck and covering lots of ground. Harvey and Wells were effective at ground level. Collingwood also had plenty of ground-level grunt, but its big men were struggling.
To the great indignation of Collingwood fans, three of North's goals came from free kicks. Chris Bryan gave one away to Petrie, Ben Johnson conceded one to Campbell and Heath Shaw was unfortunate to run into Scott McMahon's back as both had eyes on a high ball coming in to full-forward.
The Roos created plenty for themselves, too, notably when Campbell raced around the boundary with four bounces then centred cleverly for Todd Goldstein to snap a goal. And they had turned the game around with a quarter to go.
Collingwood had led narrowly at half-time, having twice got out to a three-goal lead only for North to claw one back. The game had been played at break-neck pace, each quarter building to an early peak before inevitably slowing down in its latter stages. The Magpies, in particular, opened the game at the sort of intensity they displayed in crunching Geelong by 86 points in round nine.
For all the pinball-like speed of the first 15 minutes, however, at the end of it each side had scored a solitary goal. Anthony got the Pies' first when he ran down Josh Gibson in possession and kicked accurately from the resulting free. Grant, who started off as a deep forward, got North's first after a free kick, his coming when Dale Thomas chopped his arms in a marking contest.
Those two goals aside, each team seemed intent on squandering chances. Maybe adrenalin was pumping so hard it was hard to shoot straight. Lindsay Thomas, Daniel Pratt and Ben Ross all missed chances for North; Rhyce Shaw and Sharrod Wellingham were Collingwood's gift-horse dentists.
Collingwood came out of the high-pressure period in better shape than North, with Tarkyn Lockyer and Didak adding goals late in the first term to push it 11 points clear at quarter-time. But North hit back as soon as the second term started, Thomas making amends for his earlier miss with the first goal of the term. Then Corey Jones goaled after a wonderful Harvey run and the scores were level. Harvey took the ball outside 50, ran away from Marty Clarke, then cut inside, outside and inside three other defenders before popping the ball across to Jones, who knew better than to dare waste such a build-up.
Now Collingwood took over. Anthony got his second, O'Bree got one and Wellingham, a late inclusion for Leon Davis, kicked its sixth. The lead was now 18 points. Big Goldstein marked inside 50 and got one back for North, his first AFL goal in his second AFL game.
Pendlebury booted the Pies three goals clear again, but Petrie replied for North. Collingwood now added behinds late in the second term where it had got goals in the first, Didak and Cameron Wood both missing. Pratt had a snap late for North, but his shot missed.
NORTH MELBOURNE 1.4 5.6 12.8 17.12 (114)
COLLINGWOOD 3.3 7.7 10.10 14.12 (96)
GOALS: North Melbourne: Jones 3, Petrie 2, Goldstein 2, Grant 2, Campbell, Firrito, Thomas, Ross, Harvey, Pratt, Hale, McMahon. Collingwood: Anthony 4, Wellingham 2, Medhurst 2, Pendlebury, Swan, Didak, O'Bree, Lockyer, Maxwell.
BEST: North Melbourne: Petrie, Harvey, Wells, Pratt, Firrito, Campbell. Collingwood: Pendlebury, Didak, Burns, R Shaw.
UMPIRES: McBurney, James, Jeffery.
CROWD: 46,610 at Telstra Dome.
VOTES
(Len Johnson)
D Petrie (NM)
B Harvey (NM)
D Wells (NM)
S Pendlebury (Coll)
D Pratt (NM)
THE UPSHOT
The win means that the Roos have pushed ahead of Adelaide, Brisbane Lions and St Kilda — at least overnight.
THE TALKING POINT
The warm-up generated more chat than usual after the North Melbourne players ran out in their traditional strips rather than the clash jumper the club agreed to wear, but played in the away strip.
HOT AND COLD
Scott Pendlebury and Shane O'Bree were prolific in the first half, and both in fine touch, accruing 15 and 14 possessions respectively. It was no coincidence that, when North got its run on in the third quarter, both were held.
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