Match result

North Melbourne 16.13 109 defeats Box Hill 11.7 73

In action

AFL-listed
Taylor Garner (10 disposals, 2 goals), Luke Davies-Uniacke (14 disposals, 7 tackles), Paul Ahern (27 disposals), Mitch Hibberd (14 disposals), Nick Larkey (13 disposals, 5 goals), Alex Morgan (21 disposals, 6 marks), Ben McKay (15 disposals, 6 marks), Daniel Nielson (8 disposals, 1 goal), Will Walker (19 disposals, 1 goal), Braydon Preuss (17 disposals, 5 marks), Josh Williams (16 disposals), Kyron Hayden (23 disposals, 1 goal), Tristan Xerri (9 disposals, 2 marks), Tom Murphy (15 disposals, 8 marks), Gordon Narrier (13 disposals, 1 goal), Declan Mountford (9 disposals, 1 goal), Cameron Zurhaar (18 disposals, 4 goals), Oscar Junker (11 disposals)

VFL-listed
Nick Rippon (24 disposals), Chris Jansen (25 disposals, 6 tackles), Nash Holmes (23 disposals, 9 tackles), Louis Cunningham (15 disposals), Nick Hogan (10 disposals, 5 tackles)

Story of the game

North Melbourne has recorded back-to-back wins for the first time in the season proper, upsetting joint ladder-leaders Box Hill at Avalon Airport Oval on Saturday afternoon.

For the second week running, North started strongly. 

The Roos put in a repeat performance against the favoured visitors, booting six consecutive goals in a dominant opening. 

Doubles from Cameron Zurhaar and Taylor Garner allowed North to hold a 34-point lead at the first break.

If the first quarter was imposing, the second term was even better. 

A further goal from Zurhaar after the break gave him three majors in two quarters, before ultimately finishing with four.

The remainder of the quarter belonged to Nick Larkey.

The versatile big man looked destined to mark every ball that entered the forward 50, kicking three goals in a commanding display that underlined his worth to North’s forward stocks. He finished the day with five goals. 

Additional majors from a returning Dan Nielson, Kyron Hayden and one for the highlight reels from Gordon Narrier threatened to turn a competitive game into a blow-out.

The speedster Narrier picked up a dribbling ball and broke a tackle, before laying the footy off to Nick Larkey, who provided a receipt for the tricky youngster to slot home without a contest.

Narrier’s effort allowed North to enter the sheds with a comfortable 60-point buffer at half-time.

The game took a competitive turn in the third quarter, with the Hawks starting to hit the scoreboard. 

But the hard work was done. North prevailed by 36 points. 

Braydon Preuss’ good work and overall dominance allowed Paul Ahern to gain first usage at every opportunity, with the classy onballer acquiring 27 disposals. 

VFL coach David Loader praised the efforts of North’s emerging youngsters, who have continued to improve in recent weeks, irrespective of result.

“I thought it was pretty good, the boys played well,” David Loader told North Media.

“I touched on last week, we felt that the Richmond game when we got beat, that we were getting closer to playing the style of footy that we think we can play as a group.

“Last week was a massive step forward, a little bit of confidence came out of that. For the boys to follow up today and certainly play the style of football that they played in the first half, was outstanding really.

“Even in the third quarter, when they (the Hawks) challenged us a little bit, they kicked a couple of early goals. We were able to bounce back and put the foot down again, and even if up a bit.

“I thought it was a really solid performance across the day.

“I think we’re a long way from playing a complete game of football, but we’re working in that direction.

“If you can put in performances like that, like I said against good quality opposition, it’s really important for their development. We were pleased with what we’ve got in the last couple of games, no doubt about it.”

Best of AFL

Nick Larkey
With North’s VFL side playing on Channel 7 for the first time, Nick Larkey stole the show in spectacular fashion.

After catching the attention of the viewing audience with his witty interview from the bench, Larkey had all the answers for Box Hill’s defence, kicking a perfect five from five in picture perfect conditions.

The reliable goal-scorer now has 19 goals for the season.

“It’s good for us to get another win on the board,” Larkey told Channel 7.

“Last week I thought we really turned around the way we’ve been playing the few weeks before that. Our defence from our forward half, that was the key coming into playing Box Hill Hawks.

“We were up as forwards and didn’t let them use the ball off half back, cause they like to possess it a lot there. I thought we did a good job today.

“Our backs were solid, our mids’ were good and forwards had good pressure. It was a good all round team performance.

Cameron Zurhaar
The versatile midfield and forward option wasted no time in his return, hitting the scoreboard regularly. 

Zurhaar capped off his birthday celebrations from earlier in the week by booting four goals, allowing North to secure back-to-back wins against top-eight opponents.

“It was unreal. Everyone played their role and that’s the result we get,” he told North Media.

“It was a big focus for us [to start fast].

We just wanted to get scoreboard pressure on and by everyone playing their role, that’s how we got out fast. We just had to hold on by the end. I was just lucky enough to get on the end of a couple, same with Larks’.

“They were deep and we got a couple of goals.”

Best of VFL

Nash Holmes
For the third week in a row, Holmes was a tackling machine in North’s engine room.

He laid a game-high nine tackles for the royal blue and white, while gathering 23 touches. 

Holmes' ability to win inside ball and provide first usage to surrounding midfielders has become a staple of his game, offering plenty of the footy to fellow roving options.

Talking points

Murphy steps up 
It was ironic that in the week contested marking lynch-pin Sam Durdin earned senior selection, that Murphy was able to step up. 

The 20-year-old, selected with pick four in the Rookie Draft, had one of his best games for the Roos, including a pack mark going back with the flight of the ball in the final term that earned raucous applause from the North faithful.

“It’s a really good team effort for the boys,” Murphy told North Media.

“It just shows that we can come up against the best and if we perform like that, we’ve just got to keep doing it consistently.

“I’ve been doing some work with Browny (Gavin Brown). He’s been some real help for me as an individual this past couple of weeks, my performance has gone up a little bit.

“(I'm) just concentrating on defending and trying to do the team thing, and play my role. It’s good to have a good performance and hopefully keep improving each week.”

Hayden finding the footy
Powerfully-built youngster Kyron Hayden took a big step in his development with an impressive display.

Kyron had shoulder surgery in the pre-season and has eased back in at the level, but racked up 23 disposals against the Hawks. 

The 18-year-old scored his first goal in North colours, showing his evasiveness to slot one from a tight angle. 

Mountford’s return
Midfield mainstay Declan Mountford made a welcome return in the VFL.

Returning after successful rehabilitation on a shoulder injury, the number 42 played the second half, and got through unscathed. 

He finished with nine disposals and a goal. 

Narrier kicks a beauty
First year rookie Gordon Narrier kicked a second quarter goal to remember, with this silky play.

Another fast start
Six unanswered goals from North in the first term proved to be the difference across the day. 

“If you could play every game like we did in the first 25 or 30 minutes, we would,” coach David Loader told North Media.

“That’s something that we’ve worked on probably over the last month, that were probably a bit slack on in stages earlier in the season.

“The effort over the first 25 or 30 minutes to set the game up was terrific. We can still be better in some areas, but it was really good today.”