Roos hang on as Crows' finals hopes hang by a thread
Adelaide's finals hopes hang by a thread as Roos hang on for tight win
JACK Ziebell has powered North Melbourne to a tense seven-point victory over Adelaide in Hobart that keeps open the race for finals football.
The lead changed seven times on Saturday as the Roos ran out 14.17 (101) to 13.16 (94) winners, with two final-term goals to both Ziebell and 100th gamer Ryan Bastinac getting them over the line.
Ziebell finished with 4.5 in a livewire game, ensuring the Kangaroos at least host an elimination final.
“The boys are so disciplined to do what we practice and they executed it well today. You can practice it all you like but you don’t get a lot of opportunity to practice it at September intensity.
“I think the players would have felt that last 10 minutes was like a final and that’s what we’re going to get in finals for four quarters," he said.
North Melbourne was cheered on by the lion's share of the 10,702 crowd at Blundstone Arena and keenly watched by a group of other clubs looking to steal Adelaide's spot in the eight.
Despite the gravity of the occasion to their finals hopes, the Crows started sluggishly.
The Kangaroos brought greater desire and quickly had an advantage on the scoreboard.
With Michael Firrito marshalling well on half-back and Ziebell contesting strongly, the Kangaroos deserved greater than their two-goal quarter-time lead.
Patrick Dangerfield willed the Crows forward and eventually his teammates replicated his desire.
Brad Crouch and Richard Douglas stepped up for Adelaide, with Jarryd Lyons kicking two for the term to give the Crows the narrowest of half-time margins.
Goals by Eddie Betts and Matthew Wright pushed the Crows on, who led by 13 points.
But the Kangaroos found inspiration in an unlikely source - Kayne Turner, the League's youngest player.
Turner, a year 12 student at Maribyrnong College, ended half-an-hour without a Kangaroos goal for his second of the day.
With the match in the balance, Ziebell and Bastinac's forward-line presence built the Kangaroos a 16-point lead.
A concussion to Rory Laird provided a long pause to an otherwise frantic finish as Taylor Walker's 55m bomb gave the Crows a chance.
But James Podisadly faltered twice; giving away a late 50-metre penalty then hitting the post as Adelaide's comeback was denied.
“That’s the sixth time this year we’ve lost a game by less than two goals, so we’re not far away, but we’re still not good enough to be able to compete with those top eight sides," he said.
The loss means Adelaide needs to beat St Kilda next week while Richmond (St Kilda, Sydney Swans), Collingwood (GWS, Hawthorn) and West Coast (Melbourne, Gold Coast) must all lose at least one of their next two matches for it to make the finals.
Rory Laird is taken off on a stretcher with just minutes remaining in the match. Picture: AFL Media.
NORTH MELBOURNE 4.3 5.6 9.12 14.17 (101)
ADELAIDE 2.3 5.7 10.11 13.16 (94)
GOALS
North Melbourne: Ziebell 4, Petrie 3, Turner 2, Bastinac 2, Goldstein, Thomas, Brown