Young ruckman Taylor Goad was an imposing presence in the middle as North Melbourne continued its 2026 VFL campaign with a close loss to the Geelong Cats on Saturday afternoon.

In a back-and-forth contest all day, the Kangaroos had their opportunities late to steal a victory against the top-of-the-table Cats but were unable to capitalise.

The final score at GMHBA stadium saw North Melbourne fall 11.20 (86) to 11.7 (73).

CATS v KANGAROOS Full match coverage and stats

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Taylor Goad (31 hitouts, 19 disposals, five tackles) was a great presence in the middle and was able to match the Geelong's experienced tall Rhys Stanley in the ruck and around the ground as a marking threat.

His standout moment was a great contested mark over a pack of defenders, which led to his one goal for the day.

Pushing for a return to AFL-level football, Riley Hardeman (20 disposals, four rebound 50s) was terrific in setting up scoring opportunities for the Kangaroos.

In the opening term, one of Hardeman's booming kicks out of defence launched the transition that set up Darcy Macpherson's first goal.

Cooper Harvey (32 disposals, seven rebound 50s) was stellar off half-back once again, with his ball-use skills allowing for a great avenue out of defence.

Returning to the VFL side, Toby Pink (16 disposals, eight intercept possessions) was impressive in the backline, and made things tough for his direct opponents throughout the afternoon.

Young tall Matt Whitlock (15 disposals, two goals) looked unstoppable in parts of the clash, especially the second quarter where he kicked his two goals. These came in the form of a sneaky move to get out the back of a contest, and a major from the top of the goalsquare.

Bailey Scott (18 disposals, seven tackles) provided great pressure around the ground, often forcing the opposition into making skill errors.

Darcy Macpherson (22 disposals, two goals) and Thomson Dow (22 disposals, eight tackles) were once again some of the best performers, both dominating in different facets of the game.

What the coach said

VFL coach Adam Marcon on the result: "Really pleased today with the effort from the boys, I thought they played a complete, four-quarter game.

"At the end of the game the scoreboard wasn’t in our favour unfortunately, but very proud with the way we played this week."

On lessons learned from close finish: "It's great for us to play up at an AFL venue in a curtain-raiser, which is some great preparation for our boys.

"We’ll take a lot out of the experience of a close loss, but especially that our stoppage game needs a to be cleaned up a little bit, and playing against the type of defence we did today will help us in the future."

On Taylor Goad: "'Goady' was awesome today, he competed really strongly in the stoppage contests but also around the ground with his pressure on ground level, and his ability to grab a few marks meant a standout game for him.”

On Riley Hardeman: "'Hardy' gave us some really good drive off the back of his defensive contests, and his overlap with the ability to use his kicking was a real highlight."

Next up

North Melbourne head back home to face the Sydney Swans for the Round 7 clash at Arden Street Oval. The match will commence at 1:35pm AEST on Saturday, May 9.

GEELONG CATS                  2.2    4.10    8.15    11.20      (86)
NORTH MELBOURNE         3.1      6.3      9.4      11.7      (73)

GOALS
Geelong Cats: Ballantyne 3, Mellor 2, Green 2, Stanley, Capiron, Driscoll, Costello
North Melbourne: Whitlock 2, Macpherson 2, Gollant 2, Lowe 2, Goad, Kneipp, Tarrant

BEST
North Melbourne: Goad, Dow, Macpherson, Harvey, Hardeman, Byrne

LATE CHANGES
North Melbourne: Callum Coleman-Jones replaced by Alex Noblet