IT WAS one of those form reversals that left footy tipsters all over the country shaking their heads.
How could you possibly pick North Melbourne to regroup from its 117-point loss to Collingwood and beat a resurgent Western Bulldogs team a week later?
One of the few people who wasn't surprised after the Kangaroos toppled the Bulldogs last Sunday was North coach Brad Scott.
Scott spoke of his good fortune to coach North, saying it had been "a given" his players would respond strongly to the record loss to the Magpies and show their "true character".
The rest of us should not have been surprised either. At least, not if you'd taken the time to study North's playing record since the 2000 season.
Since round one, 2000, North has been beaten by 100 points or more six times, and each time has rebounded to win its next match.
Two of those wins came in semi-finals against Hawthorn after humiliating qualifying final losses at the hands of the eventual premier.
In 2000, North was humbled by Essendon by 125 points - its fifth highest loss - and, in 2007, it went down to Geelong by 106 points. But both times the Kangaroos rebounded to beat the Hawks the following week, by 10 points in 2000 and 33 points in 2007.
Besides last round's win over the Bulldogs, North's other 100-point-plus rebound wins came:
- In 2001, when it lost to the Sydney Swans by 107 points in round 18, then beat Geelong the next round by 49 points
- After round 22, 2004, when it lost to the Brisbane Lions by 113 points, and then beat Carlton by 20 points in round one, 2005
- Last season, when it lost to St Kilda by 104 points in round two, then beat West Coast by 25 points the next week.
But as good as North has been on the rebound since 2000, its number of 100-point losses, six, is the third most in the league. Only two other teams, Carlton and Richmond, have suffered more losses of this magnitude, each with seven.
At the other end of the spectrum, the Sydney Swans have kept a 'clean sheet' where 100-point losses are concerned, their biggest defeat since 2000 a 73-point loss to Melbourne in round 17, last season.
The Swans are the only team to achieve this feat, but the Brisbane Lions, Geelong and St Kilda came close, suffering just one triple-figure defeat.
Even more remarkably, the Swans have suffered just five losses of 10 goals or more in the past 11 years (see Table 2). Little doubt, this record reflects the stingy defence they became renowned for under Rodney Eade and, even more so, under his successor Paul Roos.
Similarly, it's no surprise Adelaide, with its strong defensive focus under Neil Craig, suffered the next fewest losses of 60 to 99 points, with eight.
That Collingwood and Geelong suffered just 10 losses in this range is perhaps more an indication of how strong their teams have been since 2000, with the Cats, especially, more renowned for their free-flowing attacking style than their defence.
The other club that has stamped itself as one of the competition's most impenetrable defensive units in recent times is St Kilda.
And, although the Saints have suffered 20 losses between 60 and 99 points since 2000, 15 of those came before 2004.
Although the Swans have conceded the least 10-goal-plus losses in the past 11 years, they have won just 40 per cent of the games directly after those losses.
The Crows lead the way on this front, having won 75 per cent of their games after such losses, while North has again been one of the competition's best 'rebounders', ranking equal second in this category (with Collingwood, Fremantle, and Geelong) with a 50 per cent winning rate.
On a less positive note, Richmond suffered the most losses between 60 and 99 points, with 33, followed somewhat surprisingly by 2006 premier West Coast (29), and Carlton (27). North was ranked equal 10th (24).
TABLE 1
Club records after 100-point defeats since round one, 2000
| 100-pt losses | Wins next match* | Rebound% | |
| Adelaide | 2 | 1 | 50 |
| Brisbane Lions | 1 | 0 | - |
| Carlton | 7 | 2 | 28.6 |
| Collingwood | 3 | 0 | - |
| Essendon | 2 | 0 | - |
| Fremantle | 4 | 2 | 50 |
| Geelong | 1 | 0 | - |
| Hawthorn | 2 | 1 | 50 |
| Melbourne | 2 | 1 | 50 |
| North Melbourne | 6 | 6 | 100 |
| Port Adelaide | 2 | 1 | 50 |
| Richmond | 7 | 1 | 14.3 |
| St Kilda | 1 | 0 | - |
| Sydney Swans | 0 | 0 | - |
| West Coast | 5 | 2 | 40 |
| Western Bulldogs | 2 | 0 | - |
TABLE 2
Club records after 60-99pt defeats since round one, 2000
| 60-99pt losses | Wins next match* | Rebound% | |
| Adelaide | 8 | 6 | 75 |
| Brisbane Lions | 21 | 8 | 38.1 |
| Carlton | 27 | 8 | 29.6 |
| Collingwood | 10 | 5 | 50 |
| Essendon | 18 | 4 | 22.2 |
| Fremantle | 26 | 13 | 50 |
| Geelong | 10 | 5 | 50 |
| Hawthorn | 22 | 9 | 40.9 |
| Melbourne | 24 | 7 | 29.2 |
| North Melbourne | 24 | 12 | 50 |
| Port Adelaide | 23 | 9 | 39.1 |
| Richmond | 33 | 14 | 42.4 |
| St Kilda | 20 | 5 | 25 |
| Sydney Swans | 5 | 2 | 40 |
| West Coast | 29 | 8 | 27.6 |
| Western Bulldogs | 24 | 7 | 29.2 |
*Wins next match include round one wins that followed relevant defeats in a team's last game of the previous season.
The views in this story are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL.
