It was North’s first defeat of 2016, and there were plenty of talking points from a big Friday night in Sydney.

In what was a hard-fought battle at the SCG, the focus was squarely on the midfield tussle. It was a fight the Swans ultimately won to secure themselves the 26 point win.

After Sydney’s fast start, the Roos made a late charge, but ultimately couldn’t hold on to keep their undefeated season alive. Despite the loss, the Roos still remain on top of the ladder, a game clear of second-placed Sydney.

The Twittersphere

 

The Herald Sun

“While the margin was a comfortable 26 points in the end the Kangaroos were in the contest until Franklin closed the door with minutes to go and will lose no respect for their performance

“Ben Cunnington led the way for the Kangaroos with 32 possessions, including 16 contested and was well supported by Jack Ziebell (22-10) and Nick Dal Santo (21-8).” – Neil Cordy

The Age

“The Kangaroos were aiming for 10 straight wins for the first time this century, but Sydney triumphed with a mixture of brains and brawn, largely nullifying North Melbourne's tall timber forward line with another dominant midfield display, allowing them to set the terms through crucial periods.” – David Sygall

Lindsay Thomas quickly became the talking point of the night, and ultimately the weekend, after the small forward was on the receiving end of a handful of high tackles.

Herald Sun

“If footy fans were looking for this year’s poster boy for directing their anger at over the milking of head-high free kicks, they picked the wrong bloke in Lindsay Thomas.

For before Friday night’s controversy, Thomas had received only TWO free kicks this season for high tackles.

And even if you added in the TWO frees he got against Sydney — both ticked off on Saturday as correct decisions by the AFL umpiring department — that puts him only equal 25th in the AFL for high frees in 2016.” – Glenn McFarlane

Leigh Matthews was also quick to jump in to the debate, labelling the criticism of Thomas “ridiculous”

“I have had a look at the incidents and I still can’t work out why there has been so much controversy about a couple of obvious high tackles. They were high tackles 50 years ago. I hope they are high tackles in 50 years’ time.”

The Age

“I'm more of the view that this whole debate is a bit of a storm in a teacup, one filled with a series of red herrings. Is it really a growing blight on AFL football? I'm far from convinced.

Friday night's game certainly had its share of evidence. Of 40 free kicks paid, 14 were for high contact, 11 of those involving tackles. But statistics show it was far from the norm. In fact, the average number of free kicks paid for high contact in games so far this season has been just four, only 3.3 of which have involved tackles.” – Rohan Connolly