JACK Ziebell has powered North Melbourne to a tense seven-point victory over Adelaide in Hobart that keeps open the race for finals football.
The lead changed seven times on Saturday as the Roos ran out 14.17 (101) to 13.16 (94) winners, with two final-term goals to both Ziebell and 100th gamer Ryan Bastinac getting them over the line.
Ziebell finished with 4.5 in a livewire game, ensuring the Kangaroos at least host an elimination final.
Adelaide has no such joy, likely to drop out of eighth place by the end of the round with just one match remaining in the season.
For much of the game, neither side appeared able to rid themselves of goalkicking woes to seize control.
The contest came alive in a hectic third term, with four lead changes as both sides committed to attacking football.
But North seized the moment with five last-term goals to come from behind to win.
Roos coach Brad Scott was thrilled with both the result, and the manner of the victory.
“The boys are so disciplined to do what we practice and they executed it well today. You can practice it all you like but you don’t get a lot of opportunity to practice it at September intensity.
“I think the players would have felt that last 10 minutes was like a final and that’s what we’re going to get in finals for four quarters," he said.
North Melbourne was cheered on by the lion's share of the 10,702 crowd at Blundstone Arena and keenly watched by a group of other clubs looking to steal Adelaide's spot in the eight.
Despite the gravity of the occasion to their finals hopes, the Crows started sluggishly.
The Kangaroos brought greater desire and quickly had an advantage on the scoreboard.
With Michael Firrito marshalling well on half-back and Ziebell contesting strongly, the Kangaroos deserved greater than their two-goal quarter-time lead.
Patrick Dangerfield willed the Crows forward and eventually his teammates replicated his desire.
Brad Crouch and Richard Douglas stepped up for Adelaide, with Jarryd Lyons kicking two for the term to give the Crows the narrowest of half-time margins.
Goals by Eddie Betts and Matthew Wright pushed the Crows on, who led by 13 points.
But the Kangaroos found inspiration in an unlikely source - Kayne Turner, the League's youngest player.
Turner, a year 12 student at Maribyrnong College, ended half-an-hour without a Kangaroos goal for his second of the day.
With the match in the balance, Ziebell and Bastinac's forward-line presence built the Kangaroos a 16-point lead.
A concussion to Rory Laird provided a long pause to an otherwise frantic finish as Taylor Walker's 55m bomb gave the Crows a chance.
But James Podisadly faltered twice; giving away a late 50-metre penalty then hitting the post as Adelaide's comeback was denied.
Adelaide coach Brenton Sanderson refused to blame Podsiadly alone for the loss, saying his side would spend the summer working on its composure late in games.
“That’s the sixth time this year we’ve lost a game by less than two goals, so we’re not far away, but we’re still not good enough to be able to compete with those top eight sides," he said.
The loss means Adelaide needs to beat St Kilda next week while Richmond (St Kilda, Sydney Swans), Collingwood (GWS, Hawthorn) and West Coast (Melbourne, Gold Coast) must all lose at least one of their next two matches for it to make the finals.
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NORTH MELBOURNE 4.3 5.6 9.12 14.17 (101)
ADELAIDE 2.3 5.7 10.11 13.16 (94)
GOALS
North Melbourne: Ziebell 4, Petrie 3, Turner 2, Bastinac 2, Goldstein, Thomas, Brown
Adelaide: Lyons 3, Cameron 2, Wright 2, Walker 2, Betts 2, Jenkins, Crouch
BEST
North Melbourne: Ziebell, Dal Santo, Greenwood, Bastinac, Firrito, Goldstein
Adelaide: Douglas, Thompson, Crouch, Dangerfield, Jacobs, Sloane
INJURIES
North Melbourne: Lachie Hansen (soreness) replaced in selected side by Aaron Mullett
Adelaide: Laird (concussion)
SUBSTITUTES
North Melbourne: Leigh Adams replaced Ben Brown at three-quarter time.
Adelaide: Rory Laird replaced Ben Rutten in the final quarter.
Reports: Nil
Umpires: Robert Findlay, Troy Pannell, Andrew Mitchell
Official crowd: 10,702 at Blundstone Arena
