THE WESTERN Bulldogs have come from nearly five goals down to edge out a brave North Melbourne by three points in a thrilling inaugural Good Friday game at Etihad Stadium. 

North jumped to a 29-point lead at the six-minute mark of the third term on the back of six consecutive goals and some steely defence that had kept the Bulldogs goalless for nearly two quarters.

But the reigning premiers found a spark when Matt Suckling broke their goal drought a minute later, sparking an unbroken five-major run that got them back into the game, and they then hung on in a desperate last quarter to emerge 12.17 (89) to 12.14 (86) victors before a crowd of 42,814.

Full match coverage and stats

Lindsay Thomas, playing his 200th game, had the chance to win the match for North in the dying seconds, but his shot from 45m out missed to the left as the siren sounded.

The Bulldogs reclaimed the lead for the first time in more than two quarters late in the third term, when Luke Dahlhaus goaled, and looked to have all the momentum.

But North, which had campaigned for about 30 years for the right to play on Good Friday, was not about to turn up its heels on the big occasion.

Regaining the lead when Kayne Turner goaled late in the third quarter, the Kangaroos fell five points behind when the Bulldogs kicked two of the first three goals of the final term.

However, consecutive goals to Jy Simpkin and Taylor Garner then put North eight points up.

The Dogs hit back with the next three goals – in just over three minutes from the 21-minute mark of the final quarter – through Tom Liberatore, Jake Stringer and Matt Suckling to take a 10-point lead that looked sufficient to get them home.

It was – but not before Jack Ziebell goaled a minute later and Thomas missed his chance to be the hero (and botched an inside 50 pass 30 seconds earlier).

The Bulldogs' win was an excellent response to their surprise round three loss to Fremantle and improved their record to 3-1.

However, the victory was soured by a delayed concussion to forward Tom Boyd and suspected broken ribs for Travis Cloke.

Boyd was hurt in an accidental head clash with North defender Scott Thompson after spilling an easy mark midway through the first quarter. He came back on to the ground briefly but did not return after quarter-time.

Five talking points: North Melbourne v Western Bulldogs

Luke Dahlhaus (32 possessions, six tackles and two goals) was outstanding for the Bulldogs, while Marcus Bontempelli helped kick-start the Dogs' comeback with 10 third-quarter possessions just as North was threatening to run away with the game.

Matt Suckling (26 possessions and two goals) provided an avenue to goal when the Bulldogs' scoring had dried up, while Jack Macrae was influential through the midfield and Matthew Boyd and Robert Murphy were resolute in defence.

Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge paid tribute to the character his team showed in its second-half comeback.

"I thought we were outstanding in the end to win that game. I thought North Melbourne were almost every bit as outstanding," Beveridge said.

"From a dig deep, persistence point of view, in that regard we were outstanding.

"Things weren't on our terms most of the night and in that third quarter when you thought that maybe it was going south, once again our boys dug deep and found a way."

Ben Cunnington (33 possessions and 10 clearances) and Jack Ziebell (27 possessions, eight clearances and one goal) did everything they could to get the Roos over the line, while Ben Brown held North's forward line together with four goals.

Robbie Tarrant kept Cloke to one goal in the former Magpie's 250th game, and Todd Goldstein (21 possessions, seven marks, 29 hit-outs and one goal) was the game's dominant ruckman.

Despite its highly competitive start to the season, North's loss saw it slip to 0-4, its worst start to a season since 2011.

North coach Brad Scott was proud of his team's hunger for the contest and its ability to fight the game out, but lamented its lack of polish at crucial stages.

"I think the framework of what we're trying to do is hopefully on show for all to see. As coaches, we feel like we're doing a lot right but not getting a lot of reward for that effort," Scott said.

"We could sit here and say, 'Oh gee, we were unlucky' but that wouldn't be the case.

"We didn't capitalise on our dominance in parts of the game and we gave up too many easy goals at crucial times when the flow of the game was going our way.

"So we've got to make sure that, while we're disappointed, that we don't feel sorry for ourselves and label ourselves as unlucky."

The contest started at a ferocious pace, with both teams' pressure outstanding.

The Bulldogs had the better of general play in the first term, pumping the ball inside their forward 50 17 times to the Roos' eight, but they went into quarter-time two points behind.

Both teams were forced to move the ball mostly by hand in the opening quarter – North had 49 kicks to 68 handballs, the Bulldogs 47 to 63 – as they struggled to find time and space.

After Bontempelli kicked the Bulldogs' second goal to put his team six points up at the 15-minute mark of the first term, North kicked the game's next six goals.

GAMEBREAKER The Bont rises in Good Friday comeback

The first of those goals came through Goldstein late in the first term, which helped North go into the first break in front.

The Roos kicked two goals in the second term through Brown and Turner and, after holding the Bulldogs goalless, went into the main break with an 11-point lead.

North bounded to a 29-point lead when they piled on three unanswered goals in the opening six minutes of the third term, the first two through Brown and the third the first career goal of third-gamer Simpkin.

Suckling finally broke the Bulldogs' goal drought at the seven-minute mark of the third term to cut the Roos' lead to 23 points.

It was the first of five consecutive Bulldogs goals and set up an epic finish.

MEDICAL ROOM
North Melbourne: Lindsay Thomas came off the ground early in the first quarter to have his right shoulder assessed, but was cleared to resume soon after. Otherwise, North emerged with a clean bill of health.

Western Bulldogs: Tom Boyd came off midway through the first term after an accidental clash with Scott Thompson after the big Bulldog dropped a mark and had to go hard at ground level, unfortunately being collected by Thompson's shoulder. The Dogs spearhead returned to the field after spending about eight minutes off the ground, but went into the rooms at the end of the first term to be assessed for an apparent cheekbone injury and missed the remainder of the game. Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge later said Boyd had suffered delayed concussion and would be assessed during the lead-up to round five. Tom Campbell also came from the ground midway through the second term with an apparent ankle injury, but returned soon after. Travis Cloke copped a heavy knock to the ribs from Jack Ziebell late in the game and came from the ground looking very ginger. Beveridge said Cloke had been taken to hospital after the match for assessment.

NEXT UP
The Kangaroos travel to Perth to take on Fremantle next Saturday night at Domain Stadium, a venue where they have lost five of their past six clashes against the Dockers. The Bulldogs host the Brisbane Lions at Etihad Stadium also on Saturday, having beaten the Lions by an average 62.5 points in their past two encounters at the Docklands venue.

NORTH MELBOURNE     2.4   4.7   8.11   12.14 (86)
WESTERN BULLDOGS   2.2   2.8   7.15   12.17 (89)

GOALS
North Melbourne: Brown 4, Turner 2, Simpkin 2, Higgins, Garner, Goldstein, Ziebell
Western Bulldogs: Stringer 2, Dahlhaus 2, Suckling 2, Cloke, Bontempelli, Murphy, Liberatore, Dunkley, Macrae 

BEST 
North Melbourne: Cunnington, Ziebell, Goldstein, Brown, Macmillan, Hrovat
Western Bulldogs: Dahlhaus, Bontempelli, M.Boyd, Macrae, Stringer, Murphy   

INJURIES 
North Melbourne: Nil
Western Bulldogs: T.Boyd (concussion), Cloke (ribs) 

Reports: Nil

Umpires: Meredith, Williamson, Findlay

Official crowd: 42,814 at Etihad Stadium