Game Review

Green shoots wither as Roos thump the Blues
Carlton was so bad on Sunday the story was arguably more about it than a revitalised North Melbourne belatedly posting its second win of the season, by a thumping 58 points. The Roos were dominant from the first bounce in winning 18.12 (120) to 8.14 (62), and the rot set in well before Levi Casboult in the second term decided to kick backwards into his defensive 50 – and straight to Kangaroo Mason Wood. Casboult earlier had missed a soccer attempt from the top of the goalsquare, then shortly after his defensive shocker he missed a set shot from 25m on a slight angle. This was back to the dirty days before Casboult improved his infamous inaccuracy, before the Blues had Sam Walsh, and before Walsh's last-second goal a fortnight ago ensured they registered 100 points for the first time in 60 games. Brendon Bolton's men were smacked in the contest (122-154, including 28-50 at quarter-time) – which owed plenty to North's excellent performance – and sloppy with the Sherrin in hand. Wood's major, after Casboult's gift barely 25 minutes into the second quarter, put the Kangaroos ahead by an astonishing 55 points. Carlton was 10 goals to one behind at half-time, having conceded 21 majors to six since the 18-minute mark of the second quarter in its fadeout defeat to Hawthorn last week. North's win leaving the Blues only percentage off the bottom of the ladder. But that's more than enough about Carlton. This match was considered a 'must-win' for the under-siege Roos, especially with the Blues losing Kade Simpson, Matthew Kreuzer, Mitch McGovern and Nic Newman to injury since last week.

Everyone at Arden St's been heavily scrutinised, from coach Brad Scott to the club's biggest stars in Ben Brown and Ben Cunnington, whose defensive running was highlighted as an issue. It was fitting then that Scott's moves at the selection table – bringing in Taylor Garner and Jy Simpkin among others – paid dividends, while Brown and Cunnington answered the critics wonderfully. Where Carlton struggled not only to get its hands on the ball but also to move it, the Roos produced a series of thrilling scoring chains that more often than not ended in Brown's hands, despite the Blues placing a second defender in the 200cm spearhead's way. Garner was one of the other big positives on an afternoon jam-packed with them. The oft-injured forward is one of North's greatest talents, but this was just his 35th game since being the No.15 pick in the 2012 draft. Garner's pressure on his rivals was suffocating at times, then his creativity and brilliance came to the fore in the second term. He firstly weaved out of trouble and set up a Tarryn Thomas goal with a worm-burner pass, then dished the ball out of a hard-fought contest at half-forward to Kayne Turner that led to another.

Cameron Zurhaar, in his 13th match, was the beneficiary of that second Garner effort and finished with a career-high five majors – the last of them shortly after a sickening collision with Liam Jones. Jones clutched a terrific mark running with the flight of the ball, only to accidentally clash heads with a bloodied Zurhaar, then suffer a second blow on the surface that left him motionless. The list of key Roo contributors was lengthy, but Trent Dumont, Shaun Higgins and 50-gamer Jed Anderson were among the best of them and Robbie Tarrant kept Harry McKay markless. It was tougher to find decent Carlton players, with Walsh, Zac Fisher and Jacob Weitering toiling as hard as any. Liam Jones was the major casualty, being knocked out in the third quarter while courageously running back with the flight to hang onto a mark, suffering an accidental clash of heads with Cameron Zurhaar before his head crashed into the Marvel Stadium surface. - Marc McGowan.

Best; Sam Walsh, Jacob Weitering, Zac Fisher, Patrick Cripps.

Team

B:	20 Lachie Plowman	14 Liam Jones	23 Jacob Weitering
HB:	13 Liam Stocker	31 Tom Williamson	39 Dale Thomas
C:	3 Marc Murphy	9 Patrick Cripps (c)	4 Lochie O'Brien
HF:	35 Ed Curnow	30 Charlie Curnow	1 Jack Silvagni
F:	28 David Cuningham	10 Harry McKay	40 Michael Gibbons
Ruck:	34 Andrew D Phillips	5 Sam Petrevski-Seton	25 Zac Fisher
Interchange:	2 Paddy Dow	18 Sam Walsh	22 Caleb Marchbank
	41 Levi Casboult
Coach:	Brendon Bolton
Emg:	7 Matthew Kennedy, 19 Angus Schumacher, 27 Matthew Lobbe, 43 Will Setterfield

In: Liam Stocker (debut), Charlie Curnow, Tom Williamson, Andrew Phillips
Out: Mitch McGovern (hamstring), M. Kreuzer (adductor), K. Simpson (hamstring), N.Newman (knee)

Milestones

Debut: Liam Stocker
150 Games: Ed Curnow

AFLCA Votes

8 - Ben Cunnington (NMFC)
7 - Trent Dumont (NMFC)
5 - Jack Ziebell (NMFC)
5 - Cameron Zurhaar (NMFC)
4 - Shaun Higgins (NMFC)
1 - Ben Brown (NMFC)

Brownlow Votes

3. Cameron Zurhaar (North Melbourne)
2. Trent Dumont (North Melbourne)
1. Shaun Higgins (North Melbourne)

Best & Fairest Votes

Zac Fisher 6, Jack Silvagni 4, Dale Thomas 4, Sam Walsh 4, Levi Casboult 3, Liam Jones 3, Andrew D Phillips 2, Jacob Weitering 2, Sam Petrevski-Seton 1, Lachie Plowman 1.

Footage

https://www.afl.com.au/video/39593/highlights-carlton-v-north-melbourne?videoId=39593&modal=true&type=video&publishFrom=1557038149001&pageSize=50&tagNames=ProgramCategory%3AMatch%20Highlights&references=AFL_MATCH%3A1812%2CAFL_ROUND%3A233