NORTH Melbourne and new coach Brad Scott have recorded their first victories for the season, defeating the West Coast Eagles by 25 points in a scrappy encounter at Etihad Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
The Roos' ability to capitalise on some awful Eagles turnovers gave the home side a half-time and three-quarter time lead, and saw the final scores 17.14 (116) to 13.13 (91).
After both sides got off to strong starts in a high-scoring first quarter, North slowly pulled away.
Forwards David Hale, Aaron Edwards and Ben Warren all made their presence felt to kick seven goals between them - which was one more than what the side produced against St Kilda last week.
The Roos were eager to move on from their 104-point drubbing - where they were held goalless for almost two quarters - and kicked their first goal just one minute into this game.
Despite their 23-point deficit, the Eagles dominated the early stages of the final term but a return of 1.7 ended any hope of a come-from-behind victory.
Under pressure following his five-disposal outing against the Saints, Brent Harvey responded with a career-best 44 possessions to finish as the best player on the ground.
Coach Brad Scott knew Harvey would bounce back sooner rather than later and had nothing but praise for his captain.
"I said in this room last week that I wasn't worried about [Brent Harvey] at all because that is what champions do, they bounce back and he is an absolute out-and-out champion and he proved that again today," he said.
"We're really pleased and I can't think of a better captain's performance than he produced today. He was fantastic."
Harvey was well supported by Andrew Swallow (34 possessions) and Daniel Wells, who showed glimpses of a return to form from his long battle with injury.
Ryan Bastinac had the daunting task of following Daniel Kerr and the 18-year old passed with flying colours, restricting the Eagles midfielder to just three possessions in the first half and 21 for the game.
The Roos would have also been buoyed by the performances of some of their other young players.
Jack Ziebell showed his strength around the contests in the second half, while Liam Anthony finished with three goals and looked lively around the ground.
On the other side of the coin, the Eagles are without a victory after three rounds and despite their finals chances appearing slim, coach John Worsfold believes winning form is just around the corner.
"Zero and three is disappointing - we haven’t been good enough to win the games," he said.
"It's getting to be a stretch [to play finals] but the key things is that we have been in and about in the games that we have played."
After a week off with hamstring soreness, Mark LeCras had three goals in the opening quarter to finish with five, but failed to find the required support from fellow West Coast forwards Josh Kennedy and Ashley Hansen.
They kicked just three goals between them.
Matt Priddis was among the visitors' best performers, collecting 36 possessions from 13 clearances, while Matt Rosa (29 possessions) made a successful return from injury.
North hosts the Sydney Swans next Saturday, whereas West Coast meets Essendon at Subiaco Oval on Friday night.
North Melbourne 6.1 10.6 15.11 17.14 (116)
West Coast 6.5 7.5 12.6 13.13 (91)
GOALS
North Melbourne: Anthony 3, Hale 3, Warren 2, Edwards 2, Thomas 2, Urquhart, Ziebell, McIntosh, Harvey, Wright
West Coast: LeCras 5, Kennedy 2, Ebert, Rosa, Cox, Naitanui, Brown, Hansen
BEST
North Melbourne: Harvey, Anthony, Wells, Bastinac, Firrito, Rawlings
West Coast: LeCras, Priddis, Rosa, Embley, Ebert, Dalziell
INJURIES
North Melbourne: Nil
West Coast: Swift (concussion)
Reports: Hansen (West Coast) by field umpire McLaren for striking Wells (North Melbourne) in the second quarter
Umpires: McLaren, Findlay, Pannell
Official crowd: 18,394 at Etihad Stadium
The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the club.
