It was wet, wild, and ugly as North Melbourne fell by 16-points to Gold Coast in its Round 1 clash in Cairns.

All 12 goals came at the same end of the ground, with final-quarter majors to Jack Bowes and Jarryd Lyons proving the difference.

A wet week in Cairns got a whole lot wetter about 45 minutes before the first bounce, with torrential rain sweeping across the region and flooding Cazalys Stadium.

North Melbourne coped best in the puddles early, winning more contested ball and notching the first quarter's only goal through Shaun Higgins.

The Kangaroos missed two sets shots and had a masterful Higgins' solo effort along the boundary line ruled to have glanced the post as they looked to establish control of the contest in the second term.

But they were left to rue those missed opportunities as the rain eased, the ground drained and the Suns kicked five straight to finish the half leading by 24 points.

North Melbourne responded by pushing Jack Ziebell forward and kicking all four goals in the third term, the skipper notching two of his own and setting up another to reduce the margin to one at the final break.

The rain returned in the final quarter, leaving teams with no choice but to hack it forward.

It was the Suns who ultimately had the better of the crucial final quarter, as they overran the Roos.

MEDICAL ROOM
Gold Coast: A clean bill of health for the Suns. In good news, Aaron Hall (finger), Sean Lemmens (hamstring) and Peter Wright (calf) could all be available next week.

North Melbourne: No real problems for the Kangaroos either with just Jy Simpkin – who had a terrific game – and Robbie Tarrant both getting stitches to gashes in their foreheads but returning to the field.

NEXT UP
Gold Coast will like their chances of going back-to-back when they travel to Melbourne on Saturday afternoon to play Carlton at Etihad Stadium. The Kangaroos have a short turnaround, but for a good cause – they have a second crack at Good Friday football against first-up winners St Kilda at Etihad Stadium in six days' time.

GOLD COAST 0.2 5.6 5.8 7.13 (55)
NORTH MELBOURNE 1.2 1.6 5.7 5.9 (39)

GOALS
Gold Coast: Ainsworth 2, Sexton, Bowes, Lyons, Young, MacPherson
North Melbourne: Ziebell 2, Anderson, Dumont, Higgins

BEST
Gold Coast: Bowes, Young, Miller, Martin, Harbrow, Ainsworth
North Melbourne: Ziebell, Macmillan, Thompson, Clarke, Simpkin, Cunnington  

Reports: Nil
Umpires: Brown, Findlay, Ryan
Official crowd: 3722 at Cazalys Stadium