Aaron Edwards led the way among 15 goalkickers for North Melbourne in an unsurprising 129-point thrashing of Greater Western Sydney in Sunday’s AFL clash at Bellerive.
The Kangaroos ran riot in the first half to lead by 76 points at the long break and kicked 6.2 in the final quarter to run out winners 28.15 (183) to 8.6 (54).
The hopelessly outclassed Giants managed just three behinds in the first quarter and a single point in the second before rallying in the third to kick six goals, including three straight at one stage.
But the fourth term resembled the first two quarters as the Kangaroos came storming home and GWS’s promising start against cross-town rivals Sydney became a distant memory.
As well as Edwards (five goals), Hamish McIntosh (three), Ryan Bastinac, Liam Anthony, Ben Cunnington, Drew Petrie, Todd Goldstein, Brent Harvey and Aaron Mullett (all two) were among the plethora of goalkickers for North in the first AFL game to be played at Bellerive.
For the Giants, Jeremy Cameron impressed with four goals, while Phil Davis, Callan Ward, Jonathan Giles and Devon Smith bagged majors.
Kevin Sheedy’s side showed some fight to briefly pull themselves off the canvas but the young side’s execution was woeful against a Kangaroos outfit whose non-stop workrate had them full of running.
North led 7.4 (46) to 0.3 (3) at the first break and 12.8 (80) to 0.4 (4) at halftime, with Edwards booting his first three before quarter-time.
It took GWS nearly 25 minutes to post their first point, with North already leading by 40, a behind to Curtly Hampton.
The 11,127-strong Hobart crowd would have been wondering if they were going to see a Giants goal when they could only manage a point in the second quarter but, led by Cameron, they rebounded with six in the third.
They allowed the Kangaroos eight, though, and then couldn’t maintain a burst of aggression that had resulted in several flare-ups with Kangaroos players.
The Giants will only have a week this time to get over their loss before a clash at Blacktown with West Coast next Sunday.
North will be considering the merits of the hit-out before they play premiers Geelong.
