Stage 1: The opening term
Gold Coast’s midfield jumped out of the gates to take the early advantage over North’s group. The seven goal to one first term was illustrated in two statistics – the hit-outs and inside 50 success rate.
Todd Goldstein, as he did consistently all afternoon, was giving the midfield every chance to have first use of the ball. However, the work of Dion Prestia and David Swallow in particular at ground level neutralised the gain North had in the air.
The Suns’ pair, with 22 disposals between them in the first term had much more influence and sharked three of Goldstein’s 14 hit-outs for the quarter. So in a flow-on effect, North wasn’t able to get the first possession from a stoppage which meant it couldn’t clear the ball.
Goldstein’s hit-out advantage was nullified.
| Round 7, first quarter | North Melbourne | Gold Coast |
| Hit-outs | 13 | 6 |
| First possessions | 12 | 11 |
| Clearances | 8 | 9 |
Once the Suns won the ball, their rapid movement forward of centre meant they found space inside their forward 50. In perhaps the most surprising development of the day, they kicked seven goals from 15 inside 50’s for the term, penetrating what had been a solid fortress for North in the first six rounds.
Heading into the game, the Kangaroos were ranked first in the AFL in defending inside 50’s, conceding a goal from only 16 per cent of opposition entries.
| North Melbourne | Goals conceded per inside 50 (%) |
| Round 1-6 | 16% |
| Round 7, first quarter | 46.7% |
Stage 2: The comeback
After falling behind by 40 points late in the first, North trimmed the deficit all the way back to just four nearing three quarter-time. While two late Suns’ goals made the margin 17 points at the final change, looking at the second and third quarters as a collective shows how the Roos adjusted, switched to Plan B and worked back into the game.
Firstly North kicked the ball a lot more. In the first term the Suns’ pressure around the pack forced the Roos into hurried handballs which ultimately resulted in turnovers. There was a conscious change after quarter-time to focus more on disposal by foot, as the table shows.
| North Melbourne | Total kicks | Total handballs |
| First quarter | 42 | 45 |
| Second and third quarters | 131 | 75 |
Secondly, as the midfield worked its way back into the game, North was able to dry up the Suns’ scoring from stoppages to virtually nothing.
Heading into the game, Gold Coast was proficient in the category, ranked sixth in the competition. In the first quarter it appeared headed for more of the same with 15 of its 46 points coming from stoppages. However for the next two terms it only scored three total points from that area.
| Gold Coast | Total clearances | Total points from clearances |
| First quarter | 9 | 15 |
| Second and third quarters | 16 | 3 |
The two late Suns’ goals to end the third term meant they had a handy 17-point break with a quarter to go, and ended up having a large part in how the final term played out.
Stage 3: The final term
“If it’s a five point game at three quarter-time it’s probably a different sort of a game. They (Gold Coast) don’t play seven defenders because they’re trying to protect a lead.
“We went in (the last quarter) to attack and try and win the game and we opened up our defence by doing that. But we were there to try and win and not lose by a small margin.”
Those were the words of Brad Scott in the post-match media conference lamenting how the game slipped away from his side.
North had to force the issue in the final term to try and reel in Gold Coast once again. In response the Suns had the luxury of sitting extra men behind the ball to soak up the opposition’s pressure and hit on the counter-attack.
The Roos still managed 13 inside 50’s for the term, but only retained possession on four occasions, with two stoppages and seven Gold Coast interceptions.
The Suns were able to control the tempo and take advantage of North pressing hard forward to then go into attack with plenty of space. It was much the same way the Kangaroos were able to soak up the pressure from Fremantle and Sydney in their big interstate wins.
It leaves North Melbourne at four wins and three losses heading into the first bye of the season.
