North Melbourne skipper Andrew Swallow has suffered a potential season-ending injury as his AFL side swatted aside an embarrassing Melbourne by 122 points at Etihad Stadium on Saturday.
Swallow suffered a suspected torn achilles tendon in the third term in innocuous circumstances.
He was immediately helped from the field, and within a minute substituted out of the game before he was aided down the players’ race.
Swallow returned to the three-quarter-time huddle on crutches with ice strapped to his lower left leg.
But by then, North were well on the way to a comfortable 22.18 (150) to 4.4 (28) victory and the awful Dees to their 15th defeat in 17 matches this year.
Ryan Bastinac and Aaron Black booted four goals each, with veteran Brent Harvey and ruckman Todd Goldstein also outstanding for the Kangaroos.
After several competitive weeks and a win under interim coach Neil Craig, the Demons took a marked step backwards with a dire performance.
The Demons kicked the opening goal of the match, then proceeded to trek inside the opposition 50-metre arc just once more for the quarter.
North increased their lead to 25 points by halftime, before they flattened the pedal in the third – booting eight goals to one for a 68-point three-quarter-time advantage.
The Dees were held scoreless entirely in the final term.
North piled on 16 goals to one for the second half.
It was Melbourne’s 10th defeat this season by more than 10 goals.
North now have a 7-10 win-loss record.