ADELAIDE'S top four hopes have taken a hit, with the Crows going down to North Melbourne by 32 points at Etihad Stadium on Sunday night.
The Kangaroos' fast ball movement, particularly by hand, was too much for the flat Crows, who slid from second to fifth on the back of the 17.19 (121) to 13.11 (89) loss.
But, just as it let a 32-point lead slip against Port Adelaide in round eight and threatened to let a 58-point lead slip against the Brisbane Lions a week later, North struggled to close out its victory.
It led by 48 points after a Lachlan Hansen behind at the seven-minute mark of the third quarter, but the Crows then seized control, kicking the game's next four goals to get to within 22 points at the 23-minute of the term.
But a clutch set shot late in the quarter from the sometimes wayward Lindsay Thomas, which was set up by a line-breaking run from defence by Shaun Atley, helped the Roos carry a 30-point lead into three-quarter time.
And after a goal by Kieran Harper in the first minute of the final term, the Roos were never again seriously challenged.
The Crows were well down on the excellent standards they have set in 2012, but Scott Thompson, Rory Sloane and Richard Douglas worked hard in the midfield, while Taylor Walker (three goals) provided a target in attack.
In his post-match press conference Crows coach Brenton Sanderson said North's dominance at contests had been disappointing.
"The number that we take the most pride in as a football club is our contested ball, and when you go in as No.1 in the competition and you get beaten by 19, that's probably the main reason we got beaten," Sanderson said.
"We've been so good inside the contest, but today we got beaten inside the contest and outside."
The Roos' performance was a welcome return to form after they had won just three of eight games - against bottom-four teams Gold Coast (twice) and the Brisbane Lions - since beating the Cats.
After the match, North coach Brad Scott said the Kangaroos had not lost faith in themselves during that bad patch.
"We firmly believe when we play at our best, our best is pretty good and it is capable of taking it up to the best sides in the competition, and Adelaide have proven to this point of the year that they're one of them," Scott said.
"So we just had to get back to the fundamentals of what makes us play well. We focused on those while trying to blunt some of Adelaide's obvious strengths."
The Kangaroos were led by Daniel Wells' tireless work in the midfield, Atley's explosive run out of defence, and some opportunistic work up forward from Leigh Adams and Thomas (both three goals).
North set its win up with a blistering first half. The Roos slammed on six goals in the first quarter to the Crows' three to lead by 22points at quarter-time, then stretched their lead to 41 points at half-timewith a four-goal-to-one second term.
The victory lifted North from 12th to 11th on the ladder, with the Roos now just percentage out of the eight.
NORTH MELBOURNE 6.6 10.10 13.14 17.19 (121)
ADELAIDE 3.2 4.5 9.8 13.11 (89)
GOALS
North Melbourne: Tarrant 4, Adams 3, Thomas 3, Bastinac 2, Petrie 2, Hansen, Harper, Harvey
Adelaide: Walker 3, Vince 2, Callinan, Dangerfield, Douglas, McKernan, Sloane, Tippett, Wright, Porplyzia
BEST
North Melbourne: Wells, Atley, Adams, Goldstein, Thomas, Ziebell, Tarrant
Adelaide: Thompson, Sloane, Douglas, Reilly, Walker
INJURIES
North Melbourne: Ziebell (bruised shoulder)
Adelaide: Tippett (concussion), Shaw (knee)
SUBSTITUTES
North Melbourne: Sam Gibson replaced Ben Cunnington in the third quarter
Adelaide: Jared Petrenko replaced Kurt Tippett (concussion) at half-time
Reports: Nil
Umpires: Nicholls, Kamolins, Pannell
Official crowd: 18,866 at Etihad Stadium
The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the AFL or its clubs.
