AFL second semi-final match review: Geelong v. North Melbourne at Melbourne

Rumours of the death of Geelong, Mark Twain would have said if he had been a follower of o jogo australiano, have been greatly exaggerated. The men from Motor City may have become the first team since the 2007 Eagles to go out of Professor McIntyre’s famous finals format in straight sets, but they put on a stunning display of football, and came within six points of out-comebacking the comebackers.

The first sign that we were in for a good night came before the start of the match. After experimenting with having nobodies from the X-Factor sing the national anthem in the first week of the finals, the league went back to the trusty old tape-recorded Julie Anthony version. A good move by the new CEO, and hopefully he follows it up by reverting to the Ross Oakley style of Brownlow vote-reading.

North Melbourne came out of the blocks firing, scoring seven goals to Geelong’s five to lead by twelve at the first change. The score was flattering to the Cats at this stage, their first quarter having been filled with intercepted kick-outs and inside fifties aimed at no-one in particular. The second term was mostly a quiet affair, highlighted by two goals to the Shinboners, a Joel Selwood visit to the bench under the blood rule, and a bit of argy-bargy as the warring sides headed for the sheds. North, supposedly the kings of second halves (as has been noted by every so-called expert football writer on teh interwebs for the past week) carried a four-goal buffer into the long break.

The third saw more of the same; the teams traded goals three times, and Selwood was nearly impaled on the fence when Lindsay Thomas decided to continue the half-time scuffle. With three sirens now having sounded with a lead divisible by six, and neither team ever having more than two behinds than their opponents, the draw was on.

When play resumed, the Pivotonians started well. Josh Walker marked and goaled to bring the margin down to eighteen. Tom Hawkins won his physical duels with Nathan Grima the way he didn’t last week against Brian Lake. Two Jack Ziebell goals appeared to seal it for los norteños, who were now thirty-two in front. Then the Tomahawk added to his two majors from the first quarter, nailing three to put the Hoops thirteen behind.

A score review didn’t go Lincoln McCarthy’s way, and his shot on goal was deemed to have been touched. Twelve points. Then a turnover in the Kangaroos’ forward fifty was punted upfield to Hawkins, who went via Mathew Stokes to Jimmy Bartel, who marked at the goal post. His banana kick went through, and the margin was six points with two and a half minutes remaining. A tense passage of play followed. Geelong bombed the ball forward but North had numbers at the back, and only one of the latter’s many efforts to put the ball into touch was ruled deliberate. The Scott Brothers superclásico ended in victory for Brad. North’s unlikely tilt at the flag isn’t over yet, but neither is the Geelong dynasty.

Geelong 13.14.92 – North Melbourne 14.14.98

Goals: Hawkins 5, Walker 3, Bartel, Blicavs, Caddy, Duncan, Enright (Geel.); Petrie 4, Thomas 3, Ziebell 2, Black, Dal Santo, Goldstein, Harvey, Turner (N. M.)

Best: Hawkins, Selwood, Caddy (Geel.); Goldstein, Dal Santo, Gibson (N. M.)