The third of today’s AFL Round 4 matches will be played at Etihad Stadium between North Melbourne Kangaroos and Brisbane Lions with the Kangaroos looking for their first win of the season. The opening bounce is set to commence at 4:40pm AEST time with the North Melbourne Kangaroos being the early market favourites for the game despite their winless start of the season. View our live scores and results for the game between North Melbourne Kangaroos and Brisbane Lions.
WHERE AND WHEN: Etihad Stadium, Sunday April 21, 4:40pm
Opening Odds:
North Melbourne Kangaroos $1.31 vs Brisbane Lions $3.60 at Sportsbet Australia
North Melbourne Kangaroos $1.29 vs Brisbane Lions $3.65 at Luxbet Australia
Preview:
The last game of Round 4 is between North Melbourne and Brisbane at Etihad Stadium, with this encounter kicking off at 4.40pm on Sunday. North are without a win so far in 2013, after some big expectations were placed upon them before the season. They will still be big favourites to win this battle however, with the Brisbane Lions finding goals difficult thus far in 2013. There will be a lot of expectation on Lions skipper Jonathan Brown to continue his five-goal form from last week, with just as many eyes on the debut of Majak Daw for North Melbourne, the first ever Sudanese player in the AFL.
North Melbourne Kangaroos:
B: Scott McMahon, Scott Thompson, Michael Firitto
HB: Aaron Mullett, Nathan Grima, Jamie MacMillan
C: Daniel Wells, Shaun Atley, Ryan Bastinac
HF: Ben Cunnington, Drew Petrie, Taylor Hine
F: Lindsay Thomas, Todd Goldstein, Leigh Adams
Foll: Majak Daw, Andrew Swallow, Jack Ziebell
I/C: Sam Gibson, Lachie Hansen, Sam Wright, Liam Anthony, Levi Greenwood, Will Sierakowski, Brad McKenzie
IN: Anthony, Greenwood, Sierakowski, Daw, McKenzie
OUT: Tarrant (Leg), Harper (Omitted)
Brisbane Lions:
B: Jed Adcock, Daniel Merrett, Ash McGrath
HB: Sam Docherty, Joel Patfull, Andrew Raines
C: Sam Mayes, Tom Rockliff, Pearce Hanley
HF: Dayne Zorko, Jonathan Brown, Josh Green
F: Jack Redden, Stefan Martin, Niall McKeever
Foll: Matthew Leuenberger, Daniel Rich, Brent Moloney
I/C from: Ryan Harwood, Rohan Bewick, Marco Paparone, Patrick Karnezis, James Polkinghorne, Mitchell Golby, Jack Crisp
IN: Harwood, Karnezis, Crisp, Paparone, Docherty
OUT: Polec (foot), Yeo (omitted)
Kangaroos to bounce back
North Melbourne have to look back less than a year to be reminded that their AFL club can bounce back from a tough patch with a vengeance.
Winless after three rounds this season despite matching top-class opponents Collingwood, Geelong and Sydney for long periods, the Kangaroos badly need a breakthrough win against Brisbane on Sunday.
But key defender Scott Thompson said they took encouragement from the way they recovered from a down period last season.
Between rounds six and 10 last year the Kangaroos lost four of five games, culminating in a 115-point capitulation to Hawthorn.
But seemingly in a hole on a 4-6 record, they won nine of their next 10 to set up their first finals appearance in four years.
“Getting on a good winning streak and making finals was a real positive for a reasonably young group,” Thompson told AAP.
“We’ve taken a lot out of that and we know it’s not over.
“The season has just started so there’s still plenty of time to get the wins on the board and make the finals.”
While they’ve had costly lapses over the first three rounds, particularly in third quarters, Thompson said the big positive was in each game they were well on top at times.
“Our best is good enough and even better,” he said.
“In the first half against Geelong they didn’t have many answers for us and we were running the ball through them.
“It’s a real positive to see we can do that and when we’re on we’re flying.
“But we obviously still have to work on our lapses.”
The Lions’ only win of the season so far came by two points against Gold Coast last round.
But with co-captain Jonathan Brown having hit form with five goals and eight marks in that match, Thompson said Brisbane were dangerous.
Thompson is Brown’s likely opponent and would relish the challenge.
“He’s obviously a power forward and a champion of the game,” he said.
“You can’t give him a sniff because he’ll take it and take you to the cleaners.
North’s athletic tall forward Majak Daw will make his AFL debut and become the league’s first Sudanese-born player.
The Lions have handed debuts to Sam Docherty and Marco Paparone.
