The 10.9 (69) to 7.15 (57) result featured key moments resulting from an interchange infringement and the first deliberately rushed behind decision of the season.
The Bombers suffered first when the ball was taken out of Matthew Lloyd’s hands as he was lining up for goal midway through the third quarter. In a flurry of interchanges, Essendon had ended up with 19 men on the field.
The moment, however, shook up the game which until then had been an error-ridden affair.
Jason Winderlich got the Bombers back into the contest after winning a free kick close to goal, but North kicked away.
Two goals to David Hale and another to Brent Harvey set up what proved to be a match-winning 20-point lead at three-quarter time, although there were some nervous moments to be endured for the Kangaroo fans in the stands.
Harvey again emphasised that he is the Roos’ barometer, leading them to victory with 33 possessions and three goals.
The rushed behind ruling came in the final quarter and with North looking shaky. Essendon had already been given belief with Brent Stanton’s clever snap when Daniel Pratt back-pedalled across the goal line after failing to find a target from the kick-in.
Matthew Lloyd took the gift of his 899th career goal to bring the Bombers within a kick but North were able to hang on to register a badly needed win.
Earlier, North started well despite the influence of Bomber ruckman David Hille.
His centre bounce tap-out to Andrew Lovett was straight out of the text book as the brilliant rover streamed out of the middle and landed a 50 metre goal. It was the Dons only goal for the opening quarter.
North was over-using the ball and Essendon produced its opening goal of the second term after Courtenay Dempsey charged through the centre found Hille who relayed it to McPhee.
Dustin Fletcher was a tower of strength down back for the Bombers but he was powerless to stop Drew Petrie taking a goal-square mark after Adam Simpson had cleverly hooked the ball back from the boundary line.
Essendon was hanging on but chances for Adam McPhee and Jobe Watson (twice) went begging when the Bombers desperately needed goals, but a late goal to Lloyd cut the lead to 10-points at half time.
The third stanza was riddled with mistakes and opened with kick-ins at either end falling into opposition hands for goals to Harvey for North and Lloyd for the Bombers.
If either side could produce 10 minutes of clean, positive football the game was there for the taking. After the interchange infringement brought the Kangaroos to life, it seemed that’s what had happened, but the final term had a sting in its tail that almost brought about another upset.
North Melbourne 3.3 5.5 9.7 10.9 (69)
Essendon 1.3 3.7 5.11 7.15 (57)
GOALS
North Melbourne: Hale 4, Harvey 3, Ziebell, Petrie, McIntosh
Essendon: Lloyd 3, Winderlich, Stanton, Lovett, McPhee
BEST
North Melbourne: Harvey, Hale, Hansen, Ziebell, Urquhart, Simpson.
Essendon: Davey, Zaharakis, Lloyd, Stanton, Watson
INJURIES
North Melbourne: Matt Campbell (hamstring)
Essendon: Hayden Skipworth (hamstring)
Reports: Nil
Umpires: Donlon, Chamberlain, Pannell
Official crowd: 33,842 at Docklands
The views in this story are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL.
