And it wouldn’t be a Sunday afternoon of footy at Bellerive Oval without local boy Brown lining up for goal off a longer run-up than Brett Lee.
With 35 goals there in 18 games for North Melbourne,he added two to that tally in his first game for Melbourne. With Tomlinson out and Tom McDonald moving into defence,Demons fans may get to see the debut of Brown and Sam Weideman in the Demons attack next week. Brown did go down the race groggy late after a head clash.
Meanwhile Jackson went into the ruck more in the third term and was able to help get the Demons back on top in the midfield,with Todd Goldstein beating Max Gawn prior to that change.
The win put Melbourne one game clear atop the AFL ladder.
NORTH IMPRESS
North Melbourne kicked the first two goals of the game through big man Tom Campbell and then Shaun Atley. Melbourne kicked the next three goals to take the lead and the feeling was that North had fired their shot,and the Demons machine had just been a little slow to warm up.
But what happened in the rest of the first half showed the engine hadn’t even been turned on,let alone got into gear.
North Melbourne kicked six goals two from stoppages in the first half. Melbourne,with the likes of Gawn,Clayton Oliver and Christian Petracca,hold stoppages as a strength but they were obliterated by the likes of Ben Cunnington,Goldstein and Kayne Turner.
The underdogs moved the ball aggressively,not recklessly,and by bringing it through the corridor so boldly they would have even surprised themselves at how fluidly they were allowed to move at times.
And if not for a series of first-quarter defensive errors,mainly around how they defended the ball when it was in the air,the Roos could have been more than 19 points ahead at half-time.
MRO TEST?
Fritsch was best on ground,but he did get Tom Powell with a nasty elbow in a tackling contest. Powell looked out for the count and came off spitting blood. But he went back on,presumably having passed a concussion test,and played out the game.
The elbow looked accidental too. But there was serious potential for injury and even though it was likely not on purpose,at best careless or reckless,it will be looked at by Michael Christian.
BEST:
North Melbourne Cunnington,Hall,Turner,Ziebell,Simpkin,Ziebell,Powell.
Melbourne Fritsch,Pickett,Jackson,Langdon,Salem,Petracca,Oliver.
VOTES:
B Fritsch (Melbourne) 8
B Cunnington (North Melbourne) 8
K Pickett (Melbourne) 8
A Hall (North Melbourne) 7
L Jackson (Melbourne) 7