THE WESTERN Bulldogs have gone down to North Melbourne by 13 points in their NAB Challenge match at Eureka Stadium in Ballarat on Saturday afternoon.
The Bulldogs led by 28 points during the third quarter but were overrun by the Kangaroos who booted nine goals to three in the final term.
North Melbourne small forward Lindsay Thomas was the match-winner, ending the match with six goals.
For the Dogs, Matthew Boyd, Shaun Higgins and Ryan Griffen all found plenty of the ball in the midfield, while Adam Cooney kicked four goals and Jarrad Grant three.
But coach Rodney Eade was far from happy with the late fade-out.
"Gee, it was poor, wasn't it?" Eade said. "I'll probably have to look at the tape to see what happened.
"I thought our defenders were poor all day. We really never got going as a team until the third quarter, which I was pleased with. We got a bit of a break but in the last quarter it seemed we just relaxed.
"So there's some things to work on and we've still got a couple of weeks to get things right."
The form of Cooney was a rare bright spot in Eade's day.
"We didn't have many good players but I thought Adam was one that actually showed a bit," he said.
"It was pleasing for him to get through and for him to have a few touches was a plus."
North coach Brad Scott was full of praise for his young side.
The win came despite losing Matt Campbell (hamstring strain), Sam Wright (concussion) and Brady Rawlings (hamstring tightness) to injuries, while Aaron Edwards played out the game but was troubled by a corked thigh.
"You would think at three-quarter time we were going to get overrun, but the players stood up," Scott said. "The Bulldogs had about 155 interchanges and we had 88.
"The Bulldogs took Barry Hall off, they experimented. They probably could have put the foot on our throat if they'd really wanted to, but still our guys had to run it out and they did."
NORTH MELBOURNE 5.2 8.6 9.8 18.10 (118)
WESTERN BULLDOGS 6.2 9.4 13.6 16.9 (105)
GOALS
North Melbourne: Thomas 6, Petrie 4, Adams 2, McKinley, Swallow, Urquart, Adams, Thompson, Anthony
Western Bulldogs: Cooney 4, Grant 3, Hill 2, Jones 2, Higgins, Hall, Picken, Minson, Djerrkura
BEST
North Melbourne: Thomas, Petrie, Harvey, Anthony, L. Delaney, McMahon, Goldstein
Western Bulldogs: Boyd, Higgins, Griffen, Picken, Hudson, Williams, Wood, Djkerrura
INJURIES
North Melbourne: Edwards (corked thigh), Campbell (hamstring), Wright (concussion), Rawlings (hamstring)
Western Bulldogs: Giansiracusa (ankle), Gilbee (hamstring)
Reports: Nil
Official crowd: 7000 approx at Eureka Stadium, Ballarat
The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily of the clubs or the AFL
