MATT CAMPBELL says North Melbourne can put the disappointment of Saturday’s agonising loss to St Kilda behind it and press on to play in September’s finals for a second year in a row.
The round 14 defeat on the Gold Coast, which came after the Kangaroos led by 16 points at three-quarter-time, capped a run in which Dean Laidley’s side played five out of eight games outside of Victoria heading into the mid-season bye.
North Melbourne plays Port Adelaide on the road in a fortnight’s time but, from there, will play six of the final seven games in its home state.
”We know we’ve got eight games to go now and that the majority of them are at home, which is good,” Campbell said.
”There are some really tough games in there – the Brisbane Lions, Collingwood, the Western Bulldogs and Geelong.
”But we believe if we can play our best footy against those sides, that we can beat them.
”We think we’re a good chance of playing finals again.”
Campbell was the Kangaroos’ most dangerous forward against the Saints, kicking three goals to take his tally to 24 for the season and 12 over the last five games.
He backed up coach Laidley’s post-match assertion that the North Melbourne players had let both themselves and the club’s supporters down in the last quarter.
”I think our work around the contested footy and the stoppages just dropped off – which was disappointing because we’d dominated for most of the game,” he said.
”Once St Kilda started getting more of the ball, they were kicking long and we don’t have the tallest defence in the world. That made it really difficult for the guys back there like Michael Firrito.
”To beat Hawthorn the week before and then let the game through our fingers like that, we’ve let everyone down.”
The Northern Territory product was one of a host of players who were initially bewildered when St Kilda was penalised in the last quarter for momentarily having 19 men on the field.
Daniel Harris kicked a goal with the resultant free kick from 35m out – the Roos’ only of the last term – after the ball was ferried all the way down from deep inside the Saints’ forward 50m.
”We didn’t really know what was going on – we thought something had gone on with the interchange, but we weren’t sure which team,” Campbell said.
”Once we realised it was ours, all of us forwards were standing around pointing at each other, trying to work out who was going to have the kick at goal.
”In the finish, it ended up being one of our midfielders.”
