North Melbourne kicked six goals in the first 6:16 of final quarter game time on Sunday.
Read that again. Six goals in six minutes of game time. About halfway through the purple patch the Marvel Stadium scoreboard found two kids decked out in North gear, shaking each other by the shoulders like they couldn’t believe what they were seeing. Because they definitely couldn’t believe what they were seeing.
It was a wildly different game, in both flow and feel, to the season opener against the Bulldogs, which means a different set of topics to talk about.
Today’s post will mainly focus on stoppage positioning and the improved forward structure, before a series of odds and ends on Tom Powell, Charlie Comben, defending in space, and what’s coming next week.
—
The Patreon is up and running once again for 2025, which you can find right here. The three tiers are much the same as previous years, with refined features for the top two.
In addition to Patreon, you can find me on Twitter – and also Bluesky, where vibes are much more pleasant and there’s much less hate. It’s nice.
—
By this point in the game we don’t need a long preamble about Melbourne’s strength in their midfield, the resources invested there, and all that. Let’s skip straight to what North did at stoppages.
Last week against the Bulldogs they were frequently caught out of position, on the wrong side of stoppages, too attacking, the works. This week, thanks in part to Tristan Xerri taking the points handily against Max Gawn, those problems largely vanished.
Hand in hand with the ruck advantage was some improved positioning from the midfielders; clearly a greater focus on guarding the exits and on the defensive side of the ball where possible.
It wasn’t necessarily about the starting positions, but holding the right areas as play developed. Take the first centre bounce as an example. I’ve slowed the video down to make it easier to follow. Watch how North maintain a presence on the defensive side of the ball, almost following it down.
The benefits are two-fold: immediate protection if Melbourne win possession in tight, still an attacking threat if teammates get the ball, with the half backs pushing up behind this.
Compare this to, say, the first centre bounce of the last quarter against the Bulldogs where there wasn’t … well, there wasn’t a whole lot of anything, even allowing for the missed free kicks:
It was far from perfect against Melbourne, by any stretch of the imagination, but it was a clear improvement from Round 1.
—
The Create Your Own Depth Chart feature is now part of the List Management suite, all on the $5 tier for Patreon subscribers:
You can subscribe to the Patreon for 2025 right here. The three tiers are much the same as previous years, with refined features for the top two.
—
It was a combination of the improved work around stoppages and the more balanced forward structure that led to the final quarter burst.
This is the third week in a row I’m writing about North’s improved ability to hit the scoreboard:
v West Coast: 24 scoring shots from 43 entries
v Western Bulldogs: 27 scoring shots from 48 entries
v Melbourne: 30 scoring shots from 53 entries
This scoreboard impact is definitely not going to happen every week – as a comparison Sydney averaged 26.2 scoring shots a game in the home and away season last year – but three weeks in a row is more than a fluke.
Part of this should be credited to the forward line, looking far more balanced than 2024’s group. As tracked in the Team Structures week-by-week, genuine smalls were more of a wishful option than a realistic choice:
So far this year the forward line has been picked with a 2-2-2 format:
– Two key forwards (Nick Larkey, Jack Darling)
– Two general forwards (Cam Zurhaar, Paul Curtis)
– Two small forwards (Robert Hansen, Jacob Konstanty)
Then with midfielders rotating through as suits, the distinct roles provide surety elsewhere on the field. When North are streaming forward in transition, there’s a comfort level apparent with everyone in where they’re running and how they’re moving.
This isn’t to claim everything has been executed well so far, obviously, but role clarity manifests through a more dangerous forward line both in the air and on the ground.
For instance, although this passage only ends with a behind, everything is clear the whole way. Curtis has come up the field to provide an option for a superb Caleb Daniel kick.
Curtis has a couple of viable options ahead of him, and although the kick isn’t ideal, Hansen is there to provide the initial presence at ground level. Konstanty follows in shortly after, and with exits blocked and pressure applied – both real and perceived – the turnover comes and Zurhaar gets a chance.
It’s far from champagne football, but it’s easy to see how players understand their roles. The craft, precision, and highlight plays can come with time. Even through the final quarter burst there weren’t a huge amount of what you’d call clean and silky-smooth plays.
What we did see was players working in tandem though, which is much more important in the bigger picture. There were glimpses of it last week as the team pulled itself back defensively after the slow start, but individual errors ultimately outweighed the good.
There’s still a long way to go. Much like the Bulldogs loss didn’t warrant toys thrown out of the cot, this week doesn’t mean everything is now onwards and upwards.
But every week this year we’ve seen progress. Clear and obvious progress. On to the odds and ends.
Odds & Ends
Tom Powell v Christian Petracca in the last quarter
A handful of Powell’s centre bounce attendances were against Petracca, and two back-to-back plays stood out during the last quarter burst.
In the first, Powell wins a test of strength and uses space to pound a long one forward. At the next, Petracca’s attention is split between man and ball while Powell is in control the whole way and reaps the rewards.
Of course Petracca isn’t all the way back yet after last year’s horrific injuries, but nevertheless it took me back to when Powell played against Melbourne in his first season.
Although it’s not quite an apples-to-apples comparison, on that afternoon there were a couple of instances there where Clayton Oliver put the foot down late and Powell wasn’t able to go with him. I wrote about it at the time, illustrating the difference between Oliver in Year 6 v Powell in Year 1.
Flash forward to Sunday at Marvel Stadium, and Powell, now in Year 5, didn’t have the same struggles against Petracca. It’s what happens when games are in the system of someone with plenty of tools.
Charlie Comben turning it around
After a couple of dropped marks led directly to first half Melbourne goals, plenty of players would have gone to water for the rest of the afternoon.
Instead, Comben was imperious in the third quarter – arguably his best at AFL level. Four intercept marks and six intercept possessions played a large part in North’s ability to win the term by a goal despite 10 fewer inside 50s.
Albeit helped by Melbourne’s method and North’s work up the field, it’s impressive mental strength to stay in the game and turn what could have been a dreadful afternoon into one where he’ll surely get coaches votes:
Maybe Comben was just happy not playing against Victor Wembanyama this week.
Defending in space
The challenge Melbourne presented was different to the Bulldogs, which meant we couldn’t quite see what North learned from last week when it came to defending space in open play.
There would have been plenty of dicey moments if Melbourne wanted to use numbers across the width of Marvel Stadium, but instead they were content to largely go in straight lines and not challenge North’s defence in that way.
And that’s okay from a learning perspective, not every game is the same. So while on raw numbers it looked like North defended well after turnovers and restricted scoring from rebound 50s and the back half, part of that was down to Melbourne’s lack of tools to consistently hurt teams.
We will find out what North learned next Sunday though, because…
Adelaide next week
Adelaide’s in the unique position where they’re simultaneously a good side, albeit with a strength of schedule so far that’s been … underneath the floor. Maybe even underneath the basement, such has been the level of St Kilda at Adelaide Oval and Essendon at the MCG.
Still, it shouldn’t take away from the fact the Crows are now playing in a dangerous way that maximises their strengths. The challenge for North will be greater than each of their first two opponents. To stay in the game they’ll have to learn their lessons from Round 1 and prepare for a multi-faceted forward line who will challenge every part of the defensive structure.
And also Adelaide Oval, which apparently has some sort of hex over everyone who’s ever stepped into Arden Street. 0-11, with an average losing margin of 45 points!