NORTH MELBOURNE 4.2 Â 8.6 Â 10.10 Â 10.14 (74)Â ESSENDON 0.2 Â 0.4 Â 5.5 Â 8.12 (60)
Goals: North Melbourne: D Petrie 2 J Waite 2 M Daw 2 B Brown B Jacobs L Thomas M Wood. Essendon: J Daniher 2 K Langford 2 O Fantasia 2 A Cooney M Redman.
Best: North Melbourne: Gibson, Tarrant, Goldstein, Swallow, Daw, Harvey. Essendon: Z Merrett, Baguley, Goddard, Cooney, Dea.
Injuries: North Melbourne: M Wood (concussion). Essendon: R Crowley (corked quad).
Umpires: Shaun Ryan, Craig Fleer, Nick Brown.
Official Crowd: 30,321 at Etihad Stadium.
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North continue perfect start
It was a first half for the Bombers to forget as North Melbourne held on for their eighth win of the season.
Two statistics said much about the first half of North Melbourne's ultimately narrow win over Essendon.
The first was that entering time-on in the second term, the inside 50 entries were 19-20 the Kangaroos' way. Proof of an even contest, right? Wrong. Very wrong. A fact underlined by the second statistic.
Which was that this was Essendon's lowest score in a first half since the opening game of 1915. That's right, 101 years ago. North Melbourne in the same period had racked up 8.6, and, 50 points to the good, already had the game seemingly shot to ribbons.
The Roos hadn't even been particularly "on". But this was an Essendon line-up not only weakened by the obvious, but carrying a forward set-up that at times borders on dysfunctional.
All of which made Essendon's eight-goals-to-two second half and eventual loss by just 14 points quite remarkable.
After a pretty turgid opening 15 minutes, it was only one goal to the Roos, Essendon having actually enjoyed more time in their attacking half than their opponents.
The Bombers had their little half-chances, but fell victim to their own sloppiness. Which meant a couple of things. One, that virtually every time the ball went inside their forward line, it came zipping out again just as quickly. Second, that when the Dons fumbled in their back half, the Roos inevitably scored.
Such as when Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti, at least trying to create something, slipped over, was nailed by Sam Gibson, and the Roos ended up with their second goal. Or when James Kelly gave away a silly goalsquare free kick to Drew Petrie for a third.
Essendon won plenty of ball. But too often it was butchered, moments such as Ryan Crowley coming through the middle and fluffing a 15-metre pass to Joe Daniher, who shouldn't have been leading that far up the ground anyway.
In the midst of all this wastefulness, North was making every half-chance count. The Roos had banged on another three goals within five minutes of the start of the second term, Ben Brown and Majak Daw both with dribbling efforts from the unlikeliest of angles and distances.
When Daw popped through his second, shortly before half-time, the margin was out to 49 points, and given the 100-year-old milestone that had been surpassed, infamy loomed for Essendon.
Which made the Bombers' third quarter a relative beacon for the home fans. First, was Orazio Fantasia who broke their goal drought just two minutes into the second half.
Then second-gamer Mason Redman, who woke loyal Bomber fans from their slumber by capping off his side's most coherent passage of play for the afternoon. Each time, Jarrad Waite, not quite as dangerous as usual, restored the status quo.
But the lazy, some would say comatose atmosphere surrounding what was going on was shaken up well into time-on, and, perhaps not coincidentally, after North Melbourne forward Mason Wood was carried from the field on a stretcher and in a neck brace after whacking his head on the ground having marked on high.
Adam Cooney dobbed one on the run, Daniher raced into an open goal after a bad turnover from Gibson, and Fantasia, lively near goal, snapped a ripper over his left shoulder. Three in six minutes. Even then, the gap remained 35 points.
By the last term, North were looking like a side more than ready to put the cue in the rack. Whether they could afford to  against a more capable team is debatable. Because a 14-point win against a side with one win to their name isn't necessarily one to savour.
In fact, the Bomber fans arguably were even more upbeat at the end of this game than their opposition counterparts.
The Dons had kept coming. Kyle Langford, one of the planks of their future, snapped a goal 16 minutes in. Two minutes later, he marked and brought the gap back to just 22 points. Redman could have made it just 16 points with still five minutes to play.
Eventually, time ticked out. But even the way it finished was a fair representation of how things had turned. In the final minute, Daw ran into an open goal for the Roos and sprayed his chance to finish with three goals. The ball went to the other end, where Daniher kicked his second.
North won't be too fussed about the tardy finish. The Roos got the job done and are still unbeaten. Essendon, though, might even be more pleased.Â
Going from the sort of low your club hasn't known for more than a century to close to your most encouraging performance of a difficult season is some sort of transformation.
North Melbourne's initial fears over Mason Wood were dispelled when the young forward responded to treatment in the rooms.