North Melbourne has fallen to a heartbreaking four-point loss at the hands of Fremantle.

A Todd Goldstein shot in the dying seconds would have put the Roos in front, but the big man's shot went to the right and the Dockers held on. 

North was on the backfoot early, with Fremante kicking four consecutive goals in the opening 14 minutes to jump to a 25-point lead.

Freo never led by more than that margin, however, and with Tommy Sheridan (leg) having been sidelined since half-time, looked in trouble when North cut its lead to nine points at three-quarter time.

North hit the lead for the first time at the 18-minute mark when Ben Brown snapped a clever goal, and appeared to be running away with the game when it had the next two scoring shots – behinds to Goldstein and Jack Ziebell.

But Ryan Nyhuis cut the Roos' seven-point lead to just one when he goaled on the run from 50m at the 25-minute mark before kicking the match-winner from 45m after marking strongly in front of Roo debutant Daniel Nielson.

Freo skipper Nat Fyfe (33 possessions, six marks and one goal) played one of his most influential games this season, and was well supported in the midfield by

Connor Blakely (32 possession and seven inside 50s) and Lachie Neale (27 possessions and seven clearances).

Michael Walters (20 possessions, three goals and seven rebound 50s) was class personified, especially when he found his way into space, and Bradley Hill's run stretched North's defences.

North's loss was its fifth in a row, but the Roos lost few supporters with their brave comeback.

Brown stood tall in attack for the Roos with four goals, while his defensive pressure was also outstanding and saw him run down Freo speedster Bradley Hill in the middle of the ground early in the third term.

Shaun Higgins (26 possessions and seven inside 50s) was influential through the midfield despite being shadowed by Docker Nick Suban most of the day, while skipper Jack Ziebell (28 possessions, nine clearances, eight tackles and one goal) and Ben Cunnington (28 possessions, eight clearances and eight tackles) drove the Roos' comeback in the second half.

Aaron Mullett (two goals) also gave North damaging rebound across half-back and was well supported by Shaun Atley (one goal).

North coach Brad Scott lamented his team's costly slow start, but took solace from the fightback that put the Kangaroos in a position to win the game.

"I feel really disappointed for our players and our fans. I think a win is always a great antidote to a few losses, so no doubt we're disappointed," Scott said.

"But it was all within our control. We gave ourselves opportunity.

"The game is about creating opportunity and to Fremantle's credit they created it early and we didn't do enough to defend it. We created it late and we didn't take our chances.

"I can live with the execution, because that's what you just keep working on, but we've got to make sure we don't have such a lacklustre start to the game in this case."

MEDICAL ROOM

North Melbourne: TBC
Fremantle: Joel Hamling limped from the ground after a marking contest midway through the first quarter and received treatment on his right hip on the interchange bench. After going down to the rooms, Hamling returned at the start of the second quarter but was clearly restricted. The key defender played out the game but was switched from original opponent Ben Brown. Sheridan limped from the ground just before half-time with an apparent leg issue and played no further part in the match. Brady Grey left the ground just before three-quarter time with a shoulder injury but returned with the joint heavily strapped at the start of the final term.

NEXT UP

The Kangaroos have a six-day break before they travel to Adelaide Oval to take on Port Adelaide. It will be the first time the teams have clashed at the new home of South Australian football, but North has lost all four of its matches there against Adelaide. The Dockers host West Coast at Domain Stadium next Sunday, when they will be looking to break a four-game losing streak in the Derby.

NORTH MELBOURNE 1.2 6.3 8.4 12.10 (82)
FREMANTLE 4.3 9.4 9.6 13.8 (86)   

GOALS
North Melbourne: Brown 4, Mullett 2, Mountford, Swallow, Atley, McDonald, Higgins, Ziebell 
Fremantle: Nyhuis 4, Walters 3, Kersten 2, Kersten 2, Fyfe, Cox

BEST 
North Melbourne: Brown, Higgins, Ziebell, Mullett, Atley
Fremantle: Fyfe, Nyhuis, Blakely, Walters, Neale, Tucker

INJURIES 
North Melbourne: Nil 
Fremantle: Grey (shoulder), Hamling (hip), Sheridan (leg)

Reports: Nil
Umpires: Donlon, Haussen, Hosking
Official crowd: 19,267 at Etihad Stadium