NORTH MELBOURNE 6.4 10.8 13.10 18.11 (119) GOLD COAST 3.4 6.10 9.13 11.15 (81)
Goals: North Melbourne: B Brown 4, S Higgins 3, D Petrie 2, J Waite 2, L Thomas 2, T Goldstein 2, J MacMillan, J Ziebell, S Gibson. Gold Coast: T Lynch 4, P Wright 3, C Ah Chee, G Ablett, J Grant, M Rischitelli.
BEST: North Melbourne: Goldstein, Waite, Higgins, Dal Santo, Ziebell, Brown.Gold Coast: Lynch, Rischitelli, Ablett, Wright, Saad, Hall.
Injuries North Melbourne: Wood replaced in selected side by Turner.
Reports: North Melbourne: Cunnington reported for rough conduct against Ablett (Suns) in the second quarter.
Umpires: Ben Ryan, Simon Meredith, Jacob Mollison.
Official Crowd: 13,351 at Metricon Stadium.
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Five-goal final term gives North Melbourne victory
North Melbourne get a 38-point win over Gold Coast to maintain their unbeaten start to the season.
Five matches, five wins. North Melbourne might not have headed too many tipsters' books heading into this season, but they're on top of the ladder, have beaten a struggling Fremantle and a hot Adelaide, and – crucially – have passed 100 points in every win. Not bad for a team that looked slow, old and somewhat dour.
This time, they convincingly dispatched Gold Coast away from home, easing away in the end after establishing an early break, then struggling to shake them off in the second and third quarters. They put the Suns away with four goals early in the last quarter, eventually prevailing by 38 points.
To be fair, the Suns started with a couple of severe handicaps. One was self-inflicted: the five-match suspension to Steven May, which left them undermanned in the back half, with Rory Thompson already absent through injury. The other was Gary Ablett, who copped an early hammering and struggled throughout.
Ablett finished with 28 disposals, but if he's still better than 95 per cent of the competition, he looked about 50 per cent of his old self. Tellingly, he played mostly off a forward flank. And this game was won out of the centre, where Todd Goldstein dictated the terms of the game. Centre clearances were 10-19, North's way.
Jarrad Waite continued his brilliant form, with four goal assists, 18 possessions and 10 marks. Shaun Higgins was even better, his skills silky as ever, his three goals all coming at critical times. Nick Dal Santo provided all the outside class he was recruited for.
Their height advantage in attack was always going to trouble the Suns without May and Thompson. Ben Brown got lucky with some of his goals, but he kept putting himself in positions to get them. At ground level, Jack Ziebell, Andrew Swallow (who had seven clearances from the centre) dominated.
It was a hard lesson for the Suns. Several usually reliable players butchered the ball, Kade Kolodjashnij setting the tone in the first quarter when he gave away one goal and hit the target just once with six possessions.Â
Up forward there were better signs. Tom Lynch continued his brilliant form with four goals, and the brightest spark was young Peter Wright, playing his first game for the Suns this year, who had 17 possessions, took eight marks and kicked three goals, two of them from beyond 50 which sailed through with ease. He looks here to stay.
But after such a bright start with three straight wins, the Suns have sunk like a stone these last two weeks. They face Geelong and Greater Western Sydney, both away, and Adelaide in the next month. With their captain struggling and their full-back out for another month, they've got problems.