Fremantle Too Polished For North Melbourne | Thebigtip

Sunday, 17th of April
Patersons Stadium
Fremantle vs. North Melbourne
Dockers by 29 points

Fremantle
5.6.36
9.9.63
14.12.96
18.19.127

North Melbourne
4.3.27
8.6.54
9.10.64
14.14.98
 
Goals
Fremantle: Ballantyne (4), Mayne (3), Bradley (2), Fyfe (2), Hill (2), Palmer, McPhee, Crowley, Ibbotson, Mundy
North Melbourne: Edwards (2), Harvey (2), Wells (2), Ziebell (2), Swallow (2), Petrie, Atley, Wright, Hansen
 
Bests
Fremantle: Pavlich, Fyfe, Ballantyne, Sandilands, Mundy, Pitt, Broughton
North Melbourne: Swallow, Adams, Anthony, Wells, Harvey
 
Injuries
Fremantle: Suban (broken leg)
North Melbourne: Nil
 
Crowd: 34,779


North Melbourne travelled across the Nullarbor in search of their first win for season 2011 against the Fremantle Dockers. After an entertaining first half in which the Kangaroos competed strongly, the Dockers proved far too fit and polished, eventually running out 29 point victors. They were well led by Matthew Pavlich who stared through the midfield with 34 disposals and Hayden Ballantyne who kicked 4 exciting goals.

I watched North Melbourne with much interest this week. They had the bye in round three and I was interested to see whether this would affect their performance in any way. Adelaide was extremely flat last week following their bye. To North Melbourne’s credit, they came out with good intensity and hung with the Dockers in the first half. However, Fremantle proved far fitter as the game wore on. This means that so far in 2011, all three sides that have had a bye have lost in the following week.

The only souring note for Fremantle was a serious looking injury to Nick Suban who has been in good form to start off the year. His right ankle got caught under his opponent in a tackle and looks to have been broken rather seriously. Early reports suggest he will miss at least six weeks which is somewhat positive news after such an ugly looking incident.

The most decisive difference in the game was clearly skill level. Both sides have a lot of young players in their team, however it is Fremantle who proved far cleaner with their disposal. To be honest, North Melbourne’s skill level was at times atrocious. I was unimpressed with key forwards Drew Petrie, Lachlan Hansen and Aaron Edwards, however the delivery to them was horrible and they had little chance to get into the game. Fremantle, on the other hand, moved the ball a lot cleaner and looked a lot quicker across the park.

North Melbourne’s other massive concern has been their inability to clear the ball from kick-ins. This was again an issue against Fremantle. The Dockers were able to generate a lot of scoring opportunities directly from North Melbourne kick-ins. If anything, the Kangaroos were let off the hook by inaccurate kicking by the Dockers. It must be a definite concern for coach Brad Scott who needs to come up with immediate solutions to this problem.

As I have mentioned, the North Melbourne forward line looked dysfunctional. Petrie can be excused as it was only his only his second game of the year following a totally injury-interrupted 2010. He is such an important player for the Kangaroos and needs to find form fast. However, Hansen and Edwards are not providing enough input either. Lindsay Thomas has been North Melbourne’s best performed forward this year but let himself down today with only five behinds to his name. His inaccuracy cost the Kangaroos any chance of mounting a comeback.

Full credit must go to Fremantle however. They have a big injury list, yet have still managed to win three of their first 4 games. Sandilands’ dominance in the ruckwork is really telling around the stoppages and he was also able to take a number of strong contested marks. The Dockers also kicked nine goals directly from stoppages which is a credit to the on-ball division.

Nat Fyfe is clearly a young player with a big future as well. He had 32 disposals and two goals and was pretty much everywhere. He is so assured with the ball and his efforts are fantastic. I was also very impressed with another rookie in Jayden Pitt who had 24 disposals. Fremantle’s depth is really good considering the injuries. Kepler Bradley is also impressing and was very good in the first quarter with two goals to get the Dockers going. Mayne was a good target forward all game and finished with three goals.

Matthew Pavlich really imposed himself on the game at the beginning of the third quarter and begun winning every clearance. Richardson was eventually moved onto Pavlich in a tagging role but had few answers. The 'Roos also had no answers for Ballantyne who was simply too quick for any opponent.

Andrew Swallow was North Melbourne’s hardest worker and finished with 31 disposals. Liam Anthony was good for three quarters but faded in the last and Brent Harvey had moments in the game where he looked dangerous.

Overall, I thought the game was quite entertaining and I have no doubt the Kangaroos had a real dip. However, the class difference was telling and Fremantle are again proving to be a team on the improve in 2011.