GWS have picked up their fourth win of the season after thrashing North Melbourne 53–102 on Sunday afternoon at Marvel Stadium.
It wasn’t much of a battle from the opening bounce, as Mark McVeigh’s Giants cut the Kangaroos to ribbons off half-back as they kicked 10 goals to two in the first half.
While the Kangaroos were able to make a contest of the clash in the third term, ultimately it was too little too late as the Giants kicked three last-term goals to run away 49-point winners.
Giants midfielder Stephen Coniglio was everywhere for the away side with 34 disposals and three goals, while forward turned defender Harry Himmelberg dominated with 37 disposals and 16 marks.
They were helped by the likes of Tanner Bruhn (two goals, 24 disposals) and Lachie Whitfield (29 disposals) as the Giants claimed comfortable wins in disposals (423-295), marks (149-69) and inside 50s (54-40).
For North Melbourne, Curtis Taylor (one goal, 18 disposals) and Luke Davies-Uniacke (one goal, 33 disposals) fought hard in defeat, while the Roos may be without No. 1 draft pick Jason Horne-Francis for their next game as the 18-year-old hit GWS’ Josh Kelly with a late swinging arm in the third quarter.
With the incident set to come under MRO scrutiny, AFL Nation’s Sam Hargreaves and Michael Barlow gave their thoughts as the hit happened live.
“He (Kelly) was felled as he got rid of it,” Barlow said.
“They’ve all come for Horne-Francis, he was frustrated.
“This will be a watch, Jason Horne-Francis collected him late.”
“Oh, that’s a round-arm, that’s weeks,” Hargreaves added.
“They need to get out and settle him, he was unravelling at half-time, he was clearly in distress and being comforted.”
Does Horne-Francis have anything to worry about after this swinging arm to Josh Kelly? 🤔
— Fox Footy (@FOXFOOTY) June 12, 2022
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Off the field, most of the talk pre-game surrounded the touted crowd, with some having fears that the clash could pull in the stadium’s lowest ever attendance for an AFL game which was set at 8,974 when Melbourne and GWS met in Round 23 of 2015.
Despite these concerns, Kangaroos fans were able to get to Docklands as the crowd came in officially at 13,742, comfortably above expectations.
The Giants will look to pick up another win when they host the Bulldogs next Saturday night, while the 17th-placed Roos will take the week off with a bye.
FULL SCORE
North Melbourne: 0.3, 2.5, 4.7, 7.11. (53)
GWS: 5.3, 10.4, 12.9, 15.12 (102)
GOALS
North Melbourne: Goldstein 2, Larkey 2, Davies-Uniacke, Taylor, Curtis
GWS: Coniglio 3, Peatling 3, Riccardi 3, Greene 2, Bruhn 2, Himmelberg, de Boer
BEST
North Melbourne: Luke Davies-Uniacke, Curtis Taylor, Jy Simpkin, Todd Goldstein
GWS: Stephen Coniglio, Harry Himmelberg, Lachie Whitfield, Tanner Bruhn, Tom Green
INJURIES
North Melbourne: n/a
GWS: Harry Perryman (ribs)