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WEST Coast has erased a 35-point North Melbourne lead to escape with a two-point victory in an enthralling battle at Blundstone Arena on Saturday.
The Eagles won 12.14 (86) to 13.6 (84) to soar back to the top of the ladder, equal with Collingwood.
Trailing by 15 points at the final break but with ruckman Dean Cox leading from the front, the Eagles kicked 4.6 to North's 2.1 to finish strongly.
Cox finished with three goals, along with Quinten Lynch, while Jack Darling bagged a double.
For a gallant Kangaroos outfit, Robbie Tarrant booted four goals with Brent Harvey and Lindsay Thomas kicking three each.
The Eagles drew level at 78-78 in the final term with a Josh Hill goal and took the lead for the first time since the first quarter when Matt Priddis kicked a point.
North weren't done, though, and a Tarrant goal took them ahead 84-79 as the game headed for a nailbiting finish.
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A Cox goal regained the lead for the Eagles, though, and they ended North's resurgence since their 115-point shellacking by Hawthorn in Launceston five weeks ago.
West Coast had burst out of the blocks with three of the game's first four goals, its second to 200-gamer Daniel Kerr.
The Eagles' strangling defence was pinning North to its own end but the Kangaroos snapped into gear to kick the last three goals of the first quarter, two in quick succession to Thomas, and they led 31-20 at the break.
North continued where it left off in the second, booting the first four goals on the back of some slick handballing and precision passing.
The Roos' half-time lead would have been more but for an ugly miscue from close range by Tarrant and Darling's goal as the siren sounded.
West Coast was far from done and had quick goals from Lynch and Chris Masten as the third got underway.
The Kangaroos' cause looked to have suffered a setback when Todd Goldstein was collected by Jacob Brennan, but the big man recovered to play on.
Again North blew good chances - twice through Lindsay Thomas - and Cox bagged two straight to narrow the margin to just nine.
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NORTH MELBOURNE 5.1 9.3 11.5 13.6 (84)
WEST COAST 3.2 4.6 8.8 12.14 (86)
GOALS
North Melbourne: Tarrant 4, Harvey 3, Thomas 3, Hansen, Swallow, Ziebell
West Coast: Cox 3, Lynch 3, Darling 2, Hill, Kerr, Masten, Priddis,
BEST
North Melbourne: Swallow, Harvey, Tarrant, Grima, McMahon, Atley
West Coast: Cox, Priddis, Kerr, Naitanui, Schofield, Lynch, Shuey
INJURIES
North Melbourne: Nil
West Coast: Nil
SUBSTITUTES
North Melbourne: Lachlan Hansen replaced by Kieran Harper in the fourth quarter
West Coast: Murray Newman replaced by Koby Stevens in the third quarter
Reports: Nil
Umpires: Stewart, Jeffery, Mollison
Official crowd: 14,113 at Blundstone Arena
The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the club
