North Melbourne tightened their grip on eighth spot on the AFL ladder with a commanding 54-point victory over Melbourne at Etihad Stadium on Saturday.

The 19.13 (127) to 11.7 (73) victory was the Kangaroos’ sixth win from their past seven games and continues North’s recent dominance of Melbourne in which they have claimed the honours in their past ten clashes.

The Kangaroos kicked the opening five goals as ruckman Todd Goldstein teamed well with his captain Andrew Swallow to control the centre square and regularly give North’s midfielders first use of the ball.

With the Demons on the back foot, coach Mark Neeld threw extra men into defence to stem the bleeding.

It worked initially, but the Kangaroos’ early dominance meant they went to halftime leading by 25 points.

In his 250th game for the Demons, former captain Brad Green was one of his side’s best in booting three goals.

Nathan Jones battled hard against the speed and ruggedness of North’s in-form midfield of Swallow, Brent Harvey, Daniel Wells, Ryan Bastinac and Sam Gibson.

The Roos just about put the result beyond doubt in the first five minutes of the third term, with goals from Leigh Adams, Lindsay Thomas, Robbie Tarrant, Leigh Adams stunning the hopeful Demons fans in the crowd of 20,816.

Despite their often congested forward line, the Roos had too many options for the Demon defenders with Drew Petrie quieter than the last two weeks but still managing to kick four goals, as did his fellow tall forward Tarrant.

Leigh Adams, the player at the centre of Carlton star Chris Judd’s controversial “chicken wing” tackle, left the field late in the third quarter appearing to have dislocated his left shoulder.