In the minutes leading up to North’s clash against Richmond, interim coach Darren Crocker was clear on what he expected from his side when defending.
“We've got to make sure we're right up on Richmond and taking away their uncontested marks,” he told Fox Footy’s pre-game show.
It meant North’s pressure had to be on point, right from the outset. And the Roos delivered emphatically.
The home side was able to win the majority of the ball – up 93-71 in disposals for the first term – and still apply more tackles – 18-14.
Daniel Wells’ goal less than 45 seconds in was the spark, and North had a well-earned 23-point lead at quarter time.
Richmond coach Damien Hardwick singled out the first term as the reason the game turned out as it did.
“The reality is they were very good early,” Hardwick said post-match.
“The fact of the matter is I felt the game was over at quarter-time. We were probably lucky to be in it at that stage.”
Last year’s Elimination Final victory had arguably given North the blueprint on how to take it up to the Tigers, and it turned in its best four quarter performance of the year so far.
The contested ball was always going to be a key in dewy conditions, and the midfield stepped up in the absence of Todd Goldstein’s ruck-work.
Nick Dal Santo (33 disposals), Jack Ziebell (30), Daniel Wells (29), Andrew Swallow (28) and Ben Cunnington (25) all led the way inside and outside – each player had at least 10 contested disposals.
It was the skipper who was immense inside – 19 contested disposals, 11 tackles and 10 clearances, all game-highs. With 98 tackles for the season already, Swallow is on pace to shatter the all-time record for a year.
On the defensive side of the midfield, Sam Gibson turned in another excellent job on Brandon Ellis.
Gibson was matched up on Ellis for 87 minutes and kept the Tiger to just seven possessions in that time span. It backed up the job from last year’s final, where it was 88 minutes and 10 disposals.
Meanwhile the tall forwards were well held on the scoreboard at least – Drew Petrie, Ben Brown and Jarrad Waite with two goals between them – but the work they did bringing the ball to ground allowed the smaller types to feast.
Only five of North’s 18 goals were from set shots. Coming into the match more than half of the side’s goals this season had been scored that way.
Brent Harvey’s four goals took him past 500 for his career and continued his high-scoring ways at Blundstone Arena. He’s kicked at least one goal in each of his eight matches in Hobart, with an incredibly accurate total of 22.2.
