North Melbourne's finals hopes have been dealt a massive blow on Sunday afternoon, suffering a 31-point defeat to the Casey Demons at Arden Street Oval.

Small forwards Lachy Dovaston and Jacob Konstanty were the standouts for the Kangaroos, kicking four and three goals respectively.

The first quarter was kept even as the Roos led by two points, but a seven-goal run to the Demons in the second and third quarters put the game out of reach for the home side.

North Melbourne fought back in the last term by booting through five majors, but it was too little, too late.

The final score at Arden Street Oval saw the Roos fall 14.8 (92) to 9.7 (61).

KANGAROOS v DEMONS Full match coverage and stats

Player watch

Small forwards Konstanty and Dovaston kicked seven of North Melbourne's nine goals between them, but also gathered 19 and 14 disposals respectively. Both were able to get further up the field to impact both in the forward line and around the ground.

Half-back Robert Hansen jnr was the side's leading ball-winner, collecting 22 disposals. His nine intercepts helped him make an impact defensively in conjunction with his usual attacking role.

Veteran defender Griffin Logue was solid in defence, notching 19 disposals and nine marks. Despite the 58 forward entries from the opposition, he was the key in a defensive line that kept up quite well.

Young gun Luke Urquhart (20 disposals, five tackles) had a great performance in the midfield, using his size and strength to outmuscle opponents.

Ollie Griffin (13 disposals, one goal) started like a house on fire, collecting nine disposals and snapping through his goal in the first term. Unfortunately, a knock to the ribs in the second quarter nullified his impact for the rest of the match.

Oliver Lowe, Oscar van Dam and Lachlan Gollant all recorded 20 disposals each, with each player having a great impact on the game.

What the coach said

VFL coach Adam Marcon on the result: “Disappointing result today. We had a poor second half of the second quarter and we couldn’t quite recover after that.

“Melbourne were probably a bit tougher than us in and around the contest, which reflected on the scoreboard, and we were never able to make up the difference.”

On importance of remaining fixture: “They’re really important for the wildcard position but more so for our players and how we want to play.

“We’ve got a real focus on playing our role and executing that at the moment, and that’ll be the important thing going forward and we’ll continue to reflect and improve on that during the week.”

On Dovaston: “‘Dov’ is putting in some very solid work during the week at training. I thought his ability to get on the end of a few chains and his front-and-centre work was really strong today, so it was great to see him impact and hit the scoreboard.

On Konstanty: “We know ‘JK’ always brings really good pressure and effort wherever he is on the field. It was nice to see him get rewarded for this on the scoreboard and I thought he was really solid for us today up the ground as well.”

Next up

North Melbourne will head interstate to Queensland, facing off against the Brisbane Lions at Brighton Homes Arena. The game will commence at 10.45am AEST on Saturday, July 25.

NORTH MELBOURNE       1.3      3.4      4.6      9.7      (61)
CASEY DEMONS               1.1      7.3      9.6     14.8     (92)

GOALS
North Melbourne: Dovaston 4, Konstanty 3, Griffin, Fisher
Casey Demons: Cross 3, McDonald 3, Stanley 2, Cooke, D’Angelo, Gatt, Laurie, Mentha, White

BEST
North Melbourne: Logue, van Dam, Gollant, Dovaston, Konstanty, Hansen jnr