NORTH Melbourne rolled the dice with Nathan Grima on Saturday afternoon and won, with the key defender surviving his first game in three months after getting a late call-up to face Greater Western Sydney.
Grima returned in the VFL last week for his first action since round seven as he dealt with a serious foot injury, and was then a traveling emergency for the trip to Canberra to face GWS.
But the late withdrawal of Lachie Hansen (hip) left North coach Brad Scott with no choice but to throw Grima back into the fray.
The gamble paid off with Grima getting through the game as the Kangaroos secured a 19.12 (126) to 7.9 (51) victory that will go a long way towards ensuring finals football for the club.
"It was a risk. We have to admit that," Scott said of playing Grima.
"He has played a half in the VFL, we would've liked him to play another one, but we didn't have another key defender on our list, so he was the next one in.
"We had a real setback pre-game when (Levi) Greenwood and Hansen were late withdrawals, which meant we had to take a risk with Grima coming back in, but I thought he was terrific.
"We're always a better side with him in it."
Greenwood was a late withdrawal with a leg injury, with Aaron Mullett also getting a call-up into the 22 at Canberra's StarTrack Oval.
Scott was hopeful both Greenwood and Hansen would be available for next week's game against the Western Bulldogs.
"We picked them in the side because we expected them to play on Thursday," Scott said of the injured duo.
"But they just didn't come up well enough.
"Hopefully they're only going to be one week.
"We've got an eight-day break now so we've got a bit of time to assess them and get them right."
There was also plenty of attention pre-game on North debutant Kayne Turner.
The youngest player in the competition at just 18, Turner had 12 possessions at almost 92 per cent efficiency and five marks in a debut that clearly impressed his head coach.
North led by just four points at half-time and Scott felt Turner was the driving force behind a third quarter that finished with the Roos kicking 8.3 and holding GWS to a solitary behind.
"To be honest I thought it was our youngest, most inexperienced player that got us going in the third quarter," Scott said.
"Kayne Turner was really electric with his energy.
"We brought him in because he's a genuine competitor and a really vivacious character.
"We didn't pick him for the novelty factor, we picked him because of what he's been doing at VFL level.
"He's earned his spot, he adds something different to our team and I thought he was really, really good today.
"It was a very good debut, in my view."
The Kangaroos are now 11-8 for the year and have put a little distance between themselves and the chasing pack in the race for spots at the bottom half of the eight.
Asked what he feels his side can still achieve in 2014, Scott replied: "It's really difficult to speculate.
"We've beaten the top four this year, Geelong are in the top four now and Port Adelaide are just out, but I think our best is good.
"The reason we're not in the top four ourselves is because we're not good enough to do it all the time.
"If we produce our best, I think we're going to be a challenge for most teams.
"The challenge for us is to do that all the time."
Twitter: @AFL_JD
