North Melbourne coach Brad Scott reviews his team’s 59-point win over the Crows at Blundstone Arena on Saturday.
On their dominant first quarter…
“It was awesome. Terrific intent, attack on the ball. We were able to go forward really effectively and score. It was something like 24 inside 50ms in the first quarter and when you have that high amount of inside 50ms, it’s usually because it’s going in and coming back out.
“We were able to be pretty efficient going forwards as well too, which was terrific. I think it was the fourth-highest first quarter score in North Melbourne’s history, so it’s really pleasing that our fans can see that with the players that are out on the field representing the club, they’re capable of doing something like that, which is history-making for us.
“It wasn’t a tactic to kick 10 goals in the first quarter… It sounds boring, but it’s just about how you go about it and we felt that how we’ve gone about our footy this year has been strong.”
On how the game unfolded…
“What I had to be clear about with the players is that Adelaide have shown they’re the best side in the competition, to this point of the season. They’re capable of kicking 140 points plus fairly easily and fairly consistently. We didn’t feel by any stretch that the game was over at quarter-time.
“Even if the score’s not going the way you want it to go, coaches are always looking at the way (the game) is unfolding. The way that it was being played was the way we set out to achieve. So even if you’re not getting the reward on the scoreboard, we were certainly pleased with the way we were approaching the game.”
On Adelaide’s performance…
“It’s a sign of how good Adelaide are that the coaches box wasn’t comfortable until the last few minutes of the game. They’re capable of so much going forward and they’ve shown this year that they have a great balance in their side.
“Sometimes really good sides have little blips on the radar and with the quality of Adelaide’s set up, not just their playing stocks but their whole club, they’ll bounce back pretty strongly and everybody in the competition knows that.”
On containing Adelaide’s forward line…
“The defenders were fantastic, they stuck to their task really well. Any defender will tell you that the supply of ball coming down is probably going to be the number one factor in whether you’re going to defend effectively. I thought our midfield got right on top in the contest and gave our defenders the best kind of help they can give them, which is pressure on the ball.”
On tagging Rory Sloane…
“Yeah, there’s no point trying to avoid the question. He’s the best in my view, probably alongside Dustin Martin as the best midfielder in the competition at the moment. His first six weeks have been exceptional. He’s not only been able to dominate in possession, he’s been a terrific defensive player for Adelaide too. We felt he was massively important to the contest and Sam Gibson was fantastic.”
On the current state of the competition…
“It’s a great time to be a footy fan, because you look across and you see teams get up when you don’t expect them to… I don’t think there are too many football experts who tipped us this week.
“If you try and draw a form line through a month of footy, you’re probably going to be proven wrong in a month’s time. That’s just the nature of the game right now, it’s so even.”
