Saturday’s loss came down to the period of play at the start of the third quarter, Jamie Macmillan says.
North Melbourne had earned a 10-point lead at half time, but was blown away by a Geelong blitz – five unanswered goals in the first 10 minutes of the third term gave the Cats a lead they would never relinquish.
“To stop the momentum you’ve just got to get your hands on the footy, and once you’ve got your hands on the footy, control it,” Macmillan told 3AW Football following the game.
“We couldn’t control it (the ball) at all, once we got it we were kicking it long and kicking it back to the contest.
“We needed to steady the ship a little bit and unfortunately we couldn’t do that. That was the difference in the end, that 10-minute period.”
With Andrew Swallow, Ben Cunnington and Nick Dal Santo all either out of the game or noticeably struggling due to injury, North’s midfield couldn't stop the likes of Patrick Dangerfield and Joel Selwood.
The Cats had a significant edge in the inside 50’s (57-43), which meant the Roos’ defence was often under siege.
“We got pretty comprehensively beaten through the middle of the ground. To be able to hold up somewhat (in the back 50) was pleasing,” Macmillan said.
“The centre clearances are hard (to defend). It starts in the contest and we weren’t winning the contest.
“The midfielders went in with a plan and we weren’t able to execute.”
Perhaps in part due to the lack of fit bodies, North’s run and carry fell away in the second half, a trend Macmillan touched on in the post-match.
“I noticed we weren’t changing the angles and switching the footy a whole lot.
“In the first half we were able to generate a little bit of run and break open their defence, but in the second half we were pretty stagnant and played into their hands.
“They’ve got great intercept marks down there (Geelong defence) and we were basically putting it on their heads and making it a tough night for our forwards.”
Drew Petrie, Jarrad Waite and Ben Brown combined for only two goals on the night – the latter two forwards goalless.
Even though it continues a recent trend of the key position players not hitting the scoreboard heavily, Macmillan said more work has to be done further up the field.
“The delivery hasn’t helped the big guys, it makes life hard for them,” Macmillan admitted.
“They’re (our forwards) still giving us a good contest and the one thing we want from them is that if they’re not marking the ball, just to bring it to ground level so we can get some smalls involved.
Focus now turns to another blockbuster, with the reigning premiers next up on Friday night.
“We’ll prepare well (for Hawthorn), we’ve had a fair few six day breaks this year so we know what we’ve got to do and we’ll freshen up and come out firing.”
