North Melbourne has been defeated by 53 points in its opening JLT Series match against Melbourne. 

The Roos were right in the match after rallying in the second quarter, going into half-time trailing by less than two goals, but a dominant third quarter from Melbourne put the result beyond doubt.

Former Hawk Billy Hartung had a strong debut, finishing with 16 disposals and booting two goals, as well as getting the ball inside 50 on seven occasions.

Experienced heads Marley Williams (17 disposals) and Ben Cunnington (15) also tried hard for an inexperienced Roos outfit.

What we learned (AFL.com.au)

The Roos were largely competitive up until half-time with Hartung and senior Roos Cunnington and Robbie Tarrant setting the example. With such a young side, the Kangaroos will need to learn to slow the game down and maintain possession to ensure they don't regularly give up such big blow outs.

New faces (AFL.com.au)

Billy Hartung showed off his wheels in the first half with two brilliant end-to-end running goals. The ex-Hawk looked like a consistent threat whenever he had the footy in his hands. Top draftee Luke Davies-Uniacke won plenty of ball on the inside and looked right at home at AFL level, while former Bomber Alex Morgan worked hard at half-back.

NORTH MELBOURNE 3.1 6.4 7.4 11.5 (71)
MELBOURNE 6.3 8.3 15.8 19.10 (124) 

GOALS
North Melbourne: Hartung 2, Waite 2, Brown, Turner, Ziebell, Zurhaar, Larkey, Brown, Cunnington
Melbourne: Hogan 3, Fritsch 3, Harmes 2, Neal-Bullen 2, Bugg 2, T McDonald, Vince, Petracca, Hannan, Melksham, Gawn, Maynard

BEST 
North Melbourne: Hartung, Cunnington, Williams, Vickers-Willis, Ziebell
Melbourne: Melksham, Neal-Bullen, Hibberd, Harmes, Petracca, Salem, Fritsch

INJURIES
North Melbourne: Nil
Melbourne: Lewis (calf)

Reports: Nil 
Umpires: Donlan, Meredith, Foote, Fisher
Official crowd: 1957 at Kingston Twins Ovals, Tasmania