NORTH MELBOURNE 2.3 6.6 13.7 16.11 (107) ADELAIDE 3.5 9.6 13.8 14.13 (97)
Goals: North Melbourne: B Harvey 3, J Waite 3, B Brown 2, D Petrie 2, T Garner 2, L Thomas, N Dal Santo, S Higgins, T Goldstein. Adelaide: J Jenkins 5, T Walker 2, D Mackay, E Betts, M Crouch, P Seedsman, R Douglas, S Jacobs, T Lynch.
BEST North Melbourne: Cunnington, Tarrant, Waite, Ziebell, Gibson, Dal Santo. Adelaide: Thompson, Jenkins, Laird, Smith, M Crouch, Walker.
Umpires: Brett Rosebury, Luke Farmer, Nicholas Foot.
Official Crowd: 25,485 at Etihad Stadium.
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Goldstein stars as Roos defeat Adelaide
Star ruckman Todd Goldstein leads North Melbourne to their first round-one AFL win since 2009.
In his seventh year as North Melbourne coach, Brad Scott prior to Saturday night was still to see his Kangaroos win an opening game of the season.
Finally, however, the drought has been broken, the Roos victors by 10 points in a thriller against Adelaide at Etihad Stadium, a new-season buzz the club hasn't known since 2009, when Dean Laidley was in charge.
Not that it didn't look for significant periods like history would repeat itself, North trailing from early in the first quarter until early in the last.
What the Roos managed to do, however, was cling on even when Adelaide held sway.Â
North Melbourne had managed to get off to a good start, Lindsay Thomas busy early and cleverly screwing one over his shoulder to find Nick Dal Santo close to goal.
But Adelaide ended up having more early scoring opportunities, skipper Taylor Walker dangerous, tall forward  Josh Jenkins booting the Crows' first, and at ground level Matt Crouch and Paul Seedsman adding a couple more, the former Magpie letting one go from well outside 50 metres.Â
The Roos had some big names conspicuous by their relative absence in the first half. That wasn't the case for Adelaide, Eddie Betts in particular playing a ripper, working a lot further up the ground that  saw him goalless come half-time but close to leading the possession count, touches that were all used to maximum effect.
Adelaide were resolute and creative out of defence, too, Rory Laird and Brodie Smith both busy, and only Jarrad Waite a threat on the scoreboard for North, Â with three goals to half-time.
It was the opposite at the other end, where the Crows' talls  Jenkins, Walker, Tom Lynch and even resting ruckman Sam Jacobs gave  an at times undersized-looking North backline grief.
The result was a six-goal quarter that gave Adelaide a handy 20-point lead at the long break. North, meanwhile, had some injury issues to ponder, with first-game recruit Jed Anderson appearing to strain a hamstring midway through the second term.Â
Valuable forward Lindsay Thomas hurt his shoulder around the same time, though he did return before half-time.
Daniel Wells, meanwhile, in his first premiership season game since round two last year, was brilliant early, having seven first-term possessions. But a knock to the leg slowed him down, and he disappeared during the second quarter.Â
The margin had crept out to 24 points when Walker kicked the first goal of the second half. But all of a sudden, North, even with Anderson out of the game and Wells quietened, found the zip that had eluded them most of the first half.
Some Adelaide ill-discipline certainly helped, Lindsay Thomas bowled over off the ball by Jake Lever, the Roos gifted a goal, then another thanks to a 50-metre penalty to Ben Brown.
But the Roos' runners came right into the fray, none more conspicuously than Brent Harvey.
He'd had only seven disposals to half-time, but Harvey exploded into life in the third term, with three goals in under seven minutes, North going from 19 points down after Jenkins booted his fifth goal of the game, to just two points in arrears.
Two of "Boomer's" specials saw him burst into space, the one in between was a superb effort from hard up against the boundary line.
With four of the last five goals of the quarter, the Roos had the momentum. When Todd Goldstein, bounced one through on his left foot three minutes into the final quarter, they also had the lead again for the first time since early in the first quarter.
Betts answered soon enough, but a strong mark and conversion from Drew Petrie outside 50 gave North the lead again, the decisive break only achieved with a couple of minutes left once Taylor Garner, who'd already put through an important goal at the end of the third term, soccered one off the ground with only about three minutes remaining.
Scott would have been a relieved man up in the coach's box. But he'll also have to revise his usual formula leading up to round two. This time he will just have to encourage his side to maintain its form instead of pleading with it to find some.