MAX GAWN's ruck dominance was the driving factor in Melbourne's breakthrough win over North Melbourne at the MCG on Saturday, with Roos coach Brad Scott conceding the Demon "really got a hold" of Todd Goldstein.
Gawn was best on ground in the Demons' 37-point win that ended a 17-game losing streak against the Kangaroos. He finished with 18 possessions, six marks, 50 hit-outs and three score assists, while helping his team dominate centre clearances 20-10.
With a 7cm height advantage, Gawn appeared too big for Goldstein to combat at ruck contests, with the Kangaroo winning just 15 hit-outs, way down on the 36.5 he averaged across 2018's first two rounds.
FULL MATCH COVERAGE: Highlights, stats and more
Goldstein never stopped trying and, with 13 possessions, five clearances and a goal, had some impact around the ground.
But Scott told reporters after the game his team's inability to nullify Gawn had played a significant part in the result, even joking that he had checked whether North could field an extra player in the centre square at bounces.
"I thought 'Goldy' responded at times, but on the whole Gawn really got a hold of him today," Scott said.
"Goldy's rucked well against him in the past, but Gawn was very dominant so we were very reactive in there.
"We supported it with a number of different options, and we supported it around the ground too and I thought that worked better than the centre clearances. But, as I said, you can't put any more than four (players) in there."
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Scott said Saturday's loss also highlighted that North need a more even contribution from its midfield.
Ben Cunnington was the Roos' best player against the Demons with a game-high 11 clearances, but aside from Shaun Higgins and Goldstein (both five) no other North player had more than three.
WATCH: Brad Scott's full post-match media conference
"We need to find a way to bring our younger guys up to speed quicker, a few of them got a bit of a lesson today in midfield work," Scott said.
"But that's a bit of where we're at, we're going to continue to really work hard on developing midfielders for the club into the future.
"We certainly need to bring some in and we'll look to that. But Will Walker showed some signs again in the VFL today (and) we'll really persist with Luke (Davies-Uniacke) until he shows signs of dropping off.
"But we need to develop that area because at the moment it's being left to too few."
North vice-captain Robbie Tarrant was a late withdrawal from Saturday's game with a hamstring injury, but Scott expected him to be fit for North's game against Carlton at Blundstone Arena next Saturday night.
"It's not severe. The sports science team are saying it's not even really a strain, but there's a neural component to it, which presents a lot of risk," the Roos coach said.
"If he's not clean, we weren't prepared to risk a month, four-to-six-week hamstring. He was very, very close. We gave him right up until the last minute and then brought Majak (Daw) in.
"The feedback to me has been we'd be very, very surprised if he was unavailable next week, but I'm loath to say it because we get it wrong half the time."
