The North Melbourne Tasmanian Kangaroos have fallen to a 20-point loss against Collingwood on Saturday night.
It was a match which had been hyped as a battle of the heavyweights, but the Roos were held goalless for the first time ever in the 4.4 (28) to 0.8 (8) result at Marvel Stadium.
Like most AFLW matches this season, the first term was a tussle, with both sides trading blows but struggling to make a meaningful impact on the scoreboard.
Aishling Sheridan's hot start to the season continued; the Pie pounced on a loose ball in the goalsquare to open her team's account.
It needed a moment of Chloe Molloy brilliance to clean up the scrappy first quarter, and she duly delivered, wheeling into space and snapping from 35 metres.
Collingwood sliced North Melbourne open the way the Kangaroos have done to so many teams in their short time in the competition, and the pressure caused usually sure-handed Roos to fumble.
North peppered the goals in the second quarter, but its accuracy (three behinds) was left wanting and it was made to pay when the dead-eye Jordan Membrey converted at the other end.
While the clearance count was even, the Pies had 62 more disposals, outworking the Roos on the outside.
The second half was a much tighter affair – North Melbourne held Collingwood to 1.2 in the second half – but once again inaccuracy proved to be the Roos' undoing, rushing and spraying shots on the run.
Kaitlyn Ashmore (17 disposals, 6 tackles) was busy in a new role in the back half, providing plenty of run and carry, while Jas Garner had a big second half and finished with 19 touches and 4 marks.
On a tough night for the Roos, Ash Ridell, Jenna Bruton and Jas Grierson all battled hard.
Say what?
"It was a red-hot game, it was a really contested game and both teams were going really hard at it. We made a couple of little errors, but our ability to keep at it and go to task was really important. Whether our group could have done that 12 months ago, I'm not sure." – Collingwood coach Steve Symonds
"The first quarter was a really, really tight quarter. From the coaches' box, it seemed like they just took their opportunities when they went forward a little bit better than what we did. After quarter-time, their ability to get outside of us hurt us. Their uncontested game, handball receives, uncontested marks, we weren't able to stem those." – North Melbourne coach Darren Crocker
NORTH MELBOURNE 0.0 0.3 0.5 0.8 (8)
COLLINGWOOD 2.2 3.2 3.4 4.4 (28)
GOALS
North Melbourne: Nil
Collingwood: Molloy 2, Sheridan, Membrey
BEST
North Melbourne: Garner, Ashmore, Riddell, Bruton
Collingwood: Davey, Lambert, Bonnici, Molloy, Livingstone
INJURIES
North Melbourne: Nil
Collingwood: Nil
Reports: Nil
Crowd: 2254 at Marvel Stadium
