North Melbourne's first win of the season offered plenty of interesting statistics.
With Scott Thompson's individual performance covered, here are the essential stats that played a big role in earning the four points.
- North had a staggering 15 scoring shots in the first quarter, clearly its highest of the season.
It equals the most shots in a quarter for North under Brad Scott, joining Round 5, 2012 against Gold Coast at Etihad Stadium.
- North kicked 7.3 in the third quarter, its best ‘premiership quarter’ of the season so far.
It was only four points off its best third quarter for all of 2012 - 8.1 kicked against Greater Western Sydney in Round 2 at Blundstone Arena.
- North led the league in disposal efficiency for the weekend, going at 77.3 per cent.
It was a half percentage point clear of Port Adelaide in second, and a full point ahead of Hawthorn in third.
- North entered the forward arc 64 times, also the best in the competition for the weekend.
The Kangaroos were ruthless with their delivery once inside the 50. From its first six entries in the third quarter North kicked 5.1, essentially killing off the contest.
- North Melbourne scored 100 of its 125 points from Brisbane turnovers.
Interestingly, North only ranked fifth for the weekend in possession gains at 75, well below Adelaide at 96.
- The Kangaroos only gave the ball up 56 times, a season low.
Since Round 1, where North turned it over 70 times, the number has been steadily trending downwards. It stayed at 70 against Geelong, dipped to 61 against Sydney and was only two higher than Collingwood's 54.
- North only conceded one goal total in the first 10 minutes of each quarter.
Comparatively it kicked 7.7 in the same time period, the 40-point difference making up for almost two-thirds of the final 63-point margin.
- North had a balanced point of attack, ranking in the middle for all three score launch zones.
The Kangaroos were ninth in scores starting from forward 50, ninth in scores from the midfield and eleventh in scores from the defensive 50. It illustrates a game plan that could potentially beat opponents in a number of different ways.
- North had possession of the ball 57.2 per cent of the time in the first quarter, by far the highest for the weekend of all teams.
The second best first quarter team for time in possession was Essendon, on 48.8. With such a big disparity, its no wonder North kicked 5.10 in the first term.
- To continue along the theme of time in possession, North spent almost 11 and a half minutes in its forward zone in the first quarter.
It was nine minutes more than Brisbane, who spent just 2 and a quarter minutes in its own forward zone.
