GREATER WESTERN SYDNEY3.4 6.11 9.15 15.19 (109)
NORTH MELBOURNE 3.2 5.4 8.6 10.7 (67)
GOALS
​Greater Western Sydney: Cameron 3, Greene 3, Lobb 2, Reid 2, Ward, Hopper, Kelly, Wilson, Johnson.
North Melbourne: Preuss 2, Swallow, Brown, Ziebell, Turner, Clarke, Dumont, Garner, Goldstein.
UMPIRES Schmitt, Kamolins, Deboy.
CROWD 8758 at Blundstone Arena.
For the third week in a row, North Melbourne tested one of the 2016 finalists. But just as in the opening two rounds against West Coast and Geelong, the Kangaroos ended Saturday on the wrong side of the ledger, held at arm's length by a wasteful but ultimately superior Greater Western Sydney, who claimed their first ever win on Tasmanian soil.
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GWS too strong for North Melbourne
The Giants overcame a slow start to account for a spirited North Melbourne in Tasmania.
The Giants' workmanlike victory was soured however by injuries to Ryan Griffen, who sat out the second half with a suspected ankle injury, and captain Phil Davis, who left the field in the final quarter after having his shoulder crunched in a collision with opposing skipper Jack Ziebell.
Giants coach Leon Cameron didn't sound confident about Griffen's prognosis.
"He looks like he's got a pretty nasty ankle injury which is disappointing," Cameron said.
"We'll have to deal with that and see where that ends up in the next two or three days."
Cameron was more upbeat however about Davis.
"It was a good hard hit from Ziebell," Cameron said.
"Phil was just in the road. He's hurt his shoulder, but hopefully it's not that significant. We're obviously a lot more confident on Phil than we are on Ryan. The next day or two will tell us the story about Phil."
Cameron also explained that Matt Buntine missed the match following knee soreness during the week.
GWS led at every change but were still only 15 points ahead at three-quarter time before kicking away late to win by 42 points. While this was not the most polished Giants effort you'll see this year, their weight of numbers in the midfield proved decisive as they improved their record to 2-1 ahead of a meeting with in-form Port Adelaide next Saturday.
After days of discussion about North Melbourne's nine-year offer for his services, Josh Kelly showed that he is not only a star of the future, but also a very good player in the present. With Callan Ward, Jacob Hopper, Tom Scully and Dylan Shiel also influential, the likes of Andrew Swallow, Ben Cunnington and Sam Gibson couldn't provide enough support for Ziebell, who was manful in his 150th game, even after his name was misspelt on the banner by the North Melbourne cheer squad.
In a compelling ruck battle against Todd Goldstein and Braydon Preuss, Shane Mumford issued a reminder that he remains among the best big men in the AFL, time and time again using his strength to send the Giants into attack. While Goldstein – coming back from an ankle complaint that forced him out of last week's loss to the Cats – was relatively quiet, third-gamer Preuss was his side's most commanding forward when rotated into the Roos' forward 50, even if a miss early in the final quarter all but put paid to North's chances.
Kangaroos coach Brad Scott said it was a "frustrating" day.
"We did some things pretty well against a really good team, but we just made too many really simple, fundamental errors," Scott said.
After a relatively even start the Giants could muster just 3.7 in the second term despite dominating territorially in windswept Hobart, with their inside 50 total of 29 the most in an individual quarter since Champion Data began recording that statistic in 1999.
Jeremy Cameron again imposed himself but looked overly goal hungry at times, along with Shiel missing two for the quarter. Steve Johnson – searching to become the 55th man to kick 500 career goals – was an early offender too before eventually reaching his milestone from close range early in the third quarter.
Toby Greene finished well though, and overall the Giants had too much poise, with the inexperience of North typified by the struggles of debutant Sam Durdin, who looked overawed. But the Roos will doubtless commit further games to players such has Durdin, Preuss and Ryan Clarke, who looked serviceable after coming into the side as a late inclusion for Majak Daw – who Scott said missed the match because of a concussion suffered at training.
Scott said he was hopeful Daw would be available for next Friday's clash against the Western Bulldogs.
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