Spot fires, wild changes in momentum and a close finish. It was all happening at the MCG on Sunday afternoon.

The end result was North’s third win in its last four matches, and we break down the main points of the game using Brad Scott’s post-match media conference quotes.

Turning the momentum

“Certainly in the last quarter there Melbourne had some momentum and I think it shows a fair bit of character to be able to stand up against that momentum and push it back the other way. Our guys did that really well.

“It’s been well documented that we’ve had a couple of close losses – more than a couple – this year. And we always say we learn from our mistakes and we go away and work on it. I thought today was a really good sign that the guys are responding to that.”

When Jordan Lewis goaled from the boundary, Melbourne had cut a 22-point three quarter time deficit to just two. It was the Demons’ third consecutive goal; they had a +20 disposal edge in the final term, 63 per cent time in forward half and looked like they would finish much the stronger.

While North has had some close losses this season, this time was different. The players steadied, showing they had learned their lessons from the frustrations of earlier in the year.

From the centre bounce after Lewis’ goal, to the end of the match, the Roos played the game almost completely on their terms.

They dominated possession, 63 to 43. The Roos spent almost four more minutes in possession, and 74 per cent time in forward half and 9 inside 50s to 4. It was the biggest sign yet of the side’s improvement.

Winning the contest

“We addressed it at half time, that we wanted to be hard and tough in the contest but that’s where we wanted our hardness and toughness. It’s not a street fight; it’s a game of footy.

“In football, you prove your hardness and your toughness in the contest and we gave away at least one free kick off the ball and we just wanted to stamp that out. I thought our guys responded really well to that in the second half.”

After almost all of a 26-point quarter time lead had disappeared by half time, North had to regroup.

It did so by refocusing its efforts on the contest and refusing to give away any ill-disciplined free kicks.

Unsurprisingly, it was able to re-establish the lead in the third quarter, moving the ball fluently and allowing Ben Brown to reap the rewards.

It all started with the defensive efforts – Robbie Tarrant was responsible for kick starting the first two goals of the quarter, one after a holding the ball free kick and another after an intercept mark.

The vice-captain is approaching the form which won him last year’s Syd Barker Medal, having only conceded two goals in his last four matches.

Kicking a winning score

“We certainly wanted to set that up (Brown being deep forward) early, and it was reasonably effective. Melbourne responded in the second quarter, and then we had to change things up again.

“I said before the game and during the week, it’s great to have Waitey back, but it’s not ‘Waitey’s back, our forward line will be fine, he’ll kick six and do the job.’ It’s how the forward line functions when they’re together.”

While Jarrad Waite had a quiet day on the stat sheet – 10 disposals and one behind – it’s no coincidence North finished with 29 scoring shots for the day and a total score of more than 100.

North averages more than 100 points a game when Waite is in the line-up and more than four goals fewer when he’s been unavailable.

It extends to the win-loss record as well. Waite has a 28-12 record, compared to 2-15 when he hasn’t taken the field.

The clearance battle

“I thought Goldy dominated today. It doesn’t necessarily always translate to direct clearances but we were certainly able to set up the way we wanted to set up, and we were able to dictate from there.

“Melbourne are a pretty attacking team from stoppages and if the shoe had been on the other foot, we would have been reactive and I thought we were able to get pretty good use from our clearance wins. The variety that we could throw up in there was mainly because of Goldy’s dominance, and I thought he held up his end of the bargain.”

A key talking point heading into the match was how the midfield battle at ground level would play out after Todd Goldstein’s ruck dominance.

On the surface the numbers appear to be relatively even – both sides had eight scoring shots from clearances, with Melbourne edging the total count by five.

Interestingly, North was able to take advantage of Melbourne’s ineffective clearances and run it the other way for a scoring shot at a much higher rate than normal.

This is likely what Scott was referring to by being able to ‘set up the way we wanted to set up’, and also played into North’s efficiency in being able to score from Melbourne’s turnovers.