Sunday’s second AFL Round 10 match is between North Melbourne Kangaroos and St Kilda Saints. The opening bounce is set to commence at 4:40pm local time with the game to be played at Etihad Stadium. The home team North Melbourne Kangaroos are the favourites for the match. View our preview and teams for the game between North Melbourne Kangaroos and St Kilda Saints.

Round: Round 10 4:40 PM June 02, 2013
Stadium: Etihad Stadium
Weather: 16° Morning shower or two

Featured Bookmakers:

North Melbourne Kangaroos $1.26 vs St Kilda Saints $3.85 at Sportsbet Australia get a $500 FREE BET on this match

North Melbourne Kangaroos $1.27 vs St Kilda Saints $3.90 at Luxbet Australia get a $500 FREE BET on this match

Odds Comparison by AFL Odds:

North Melbourne Kangaroos	1.26	1.26	1.27	1.26	1.26	1.27
St Kilda Saints	3.85	3.80	3.90	3.80	3.85	3.90

Preview:

If you didn’t see it, you wouldn’t have believed North Melbourne’s loss last week!

It was the fourth time this year that the Kangaroos have been beaten less than a goal and sees their season record suffering at 3-6 and are thirteenth on the ladder and only one win in advance to this weekend’s opponent.

Last week’s lost was spectacular win given that North led well into the final term and, has attracted plenty of unwanted attention to the club and think they’ll be out this week, to put this question mark over the team at the back of matches, to bed.

However, in Saints they face a team that they’ve only been able to get the better of once in the past six matches. That was the most recent clash in round 14 last year where North won 136-103.

Saints, with only two wins to their name this season – GWS in April and in Round 7, a very good win over Carlton (77-68) however, they’ve been average at best in the past fortnight and have been beaten by 40 points against Adelaide and last week, as warm favourites, gave their Western Bulldogs their first win since the opening round, losing 110-101.

It’ll be too hard for Saints to bounce back from the past fortnight against a team that will be out to prove to the doubters and themselves that are capable of securing a finals berth at the end of the season.

Teams:

North Melbourne Kangaroos:
B: Lachlan Hansen, Scott D. Thompson, Scott McMahon
HB: Daniel Wells, Nathan Grima, Michael Firrito
C: Sam Gibson, Shaun Atley, Jamie Macmillan
HF: Ben Cunnington, Drew Petrie, Brent Harvey
F: Lindsay Thomas, Aaron Black, Leigh Adams
Foll: Todd Goldstein, Andrew Swallow, Ryan Bastinac
Int (from): Will Sierakowski, Levi Greenwood, Sam Wright, Jordan Gysberts, Aaron Mullett, Taylor Hine, Majak Daw

In: L.Greenwood, W.Sierakowski, J.Gysberts, T.Hine
Out: J.Ziebell (suspension)

St Kilda Saints:
B: James Gwilt, Rhys Stanley, Jack Newnes
HB: Sean Dempster, Sam Fisher, Jimmy Webster
C: Jarryn Geary, Nick Dal Santo, Dylan Roberton
HF: Sebastian Ross, Arryn Siposs, David Armitage
F: Ahmed Saad, Nick Riewoldt, Stephen Milne
Foll: Ben McEvoy, Leigh Montagna, Jack Steven
Int (from): Josh Saunders, Nathan Wright, Beau Maister, Tom Hickey, Jackson Ferguson, Clinton Jones, Farren Ray

In: D.Armitage, J.Ferguson, N.Wright, J.Saunders
Out: L.Hayes (calf)

Jack’s back on AFL sidelines for Kangaroos

North Melbourne suffered another massive setback on Monday when vice-captain Jack Ziebell was hit with a three-match AFL ban for rough conduct.

Sunday’s one-point loss to Adelaide at Etihad Stadium – North’s fourth defeat by less than a goal this season and second in two weeks – led coach Brad Scott to question his players’ mental strength.

The players met for more than two hours on Monday to thrash out how they had let a five-goal lead slip in the last quarter against Adelaide.

And things just got worse on Monday afternoon as the AFL’s match review panel announced 22-year-old Ziebell had been offered a three-game suspension.

Ziebell’s rough-conduct charge following his bump on Adelaide’s Jarryd Lyons drew a 225-point penalty.

But the in-form midfielder’s poor tribunal record of seven matches missed through suspension in the past two years boosted his demerit points by 50 per cent to 337.50 and a three-match sanction.

The Wodonga product also has 67.50 points carried over from his clash with Carlton’s Aaron Joseph in 2012, increasing the penalty to 405 points and a four-match ban, which can be cut by 25 per cent to 303.75 points with an early guilty plea.

North are fading fast as finals contenders with three wins from nine rounds to be in 13th spot after finishing eighth in 2012.

Scott’s men face 15th-placed St Kilda at Etihad Stadium on Sunday followed by matches against 12th-placed Gold Coast in round 11 and top-four heavyweights Fremantle in round 13 after a bye.

Kangaroos skipper Andrew Swallow believes the problems which are leading to narrow losses can be fixed.

Scott labelled Sunday’s performance diabolical.

However, Swallow said the players were confident they could solve their issues by showing cooler heads under pressure.

“Everyone was crystal clear on the things that we need to go out and work on and they’re really fixable,” Swallow said on Monday.

Asked whether the players were mentally weak, Swallow said: “I suppose, on all evidence, that’s what it seems.”

He said North were not responding when they should be at critical times in a match.

“The (opposition) teams are obviously taking some risks and some gambles and they’re paying off and we’re not standing up when they’re doing it,” he said.

“There are times when we need to be a bit more considered with our approach.

“We seem to go away from what we have done and, whether that’s blokes just switching off, it’s a hard one to explain.”

Triple club champion Swallow, 25, said the Kangaroos needed the more-experienced players to lead the way.

“There are certain key things which are letting us down — and it starts from the top down,” Swallow said.

“The older guys are the ones who’ve got to take responsibility for it.

“It (the team meeting) was longer than normal but we needed it.

“There was a lot to go through from the game and we needed to see it.”