Kysaiah Pickett and Bayley Fritsch had three goals apiece to their names in the opening half, and Fritsch added a fourth in the second half, while Christian Petracca was at his damaging best, collecting 35 disposals, four clearances and three goals, as the Roos had only one answer to stem the bleeding, by playing keeping’s off.

After the Demons amassed 37 more uncontested possessions in the first quarter, North Melbourne went to work at keeping them accountable defensively, taking a high number of marks and spreading the ground, and at three-quarter-time, the uncontested possession differential was 36.

They also produced back-to-back goals in the third term, but that was little consolation given how far ahead the Demons were by then, and they showed no mercy in the final quarter, pushing the gap out to triple figures before the 90-point final margin.

“From a game perspective, it was exactly what we wanted,” Simon Goodwin said post-match.

“We really wanted to put the defensive side of the game to them and I thought we really did that for the majority of the night, and on the back of that we got some reward in offence. We got away to a really good start and the game flowed from there.”

One cause for consideration for Simon Goodwin, however, will be whether Jacob van Rooyen and Josh Schache are the right spearheads to lead the Demons’ forward line, given premiership players Ben Brown and Tom McDonald remain on the outer. Defender Harrison Petty, who has played forward this season, will be available to return from concussion next week, as will Charlie Spargo.

“He’s obviously got an important week to get through still, but he’ll be coming straight back in,” Goodwin said of Petty, adding he’s open to the utility playing at either end of the ground.

Schache did receive plenty of love from his teammates, however, when he kicked his own goal of the night with seven-and-a-half minutes left on the clock.

While the scoreboard was telling, Clarkson said he believed his side played better than it had in recent weeks, but declared Melbourne one of the teams to beat this year. He said the club would look at injecting more young players into the team in coming weeks.

Moments to forget

A couple of moments in the second quarter summed up North Melbourne’s night.

Jaidyn Stephenson clumsily gave away a free kick for high contact on Trent Rivers early in the second term, when the Dees defender put his head over the ball on centre wing.

Ray Chamberlain paid the free kick to Stephenson’s disliking, and the former Magpies’ response triggered a 50-metre penalty for dissent.

If that wasn’t bad enough, Stephenson challenged Chamberlain’s decision again and ‘Razor’ paid another 50-metre penalty, taking Rivers all the way to the goal line for a certain goal.

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Later in quarter, Luke McDonald nonchalantly scanned the outer side of the field for an exit, but Alex Neal-Bullen rushed on him from McDonald’s blind side and caught him holding the ball, only to get up and pick up the ball and walk in the Demons’ 11th goal for the night.

Percentage boost

Melbourne jumped temporarily to top spot following the win, improving their percentage from 129.4 to 143.5 per cent with the comprehensive result.

The win took them to 5-2, equal with St Kilda, Brisbane and Port Adelaide, with Collingwood at 5-1 and boasting the chance to take top spot if they beat the Crows on Sunday.

Games against Gold Coast and Hawthorn in the next fortnight will put the Demons in a position to set up a 7-2 win-loss record.

North Melbourne’s loss was their fifth on end. They face St Kilda next weekend.

Best
Melbourne: Petracca, Oliver, Pickett, Fritsch, Chandler, Viney.
North Melbourne: Simpkin, Hall, Sheezel.