Roos Tarryn Thomas, Ben Brown and Luke Davies-Uniacke celebrate one of Brown’s five goals. Photo: GETTY IMAGES
However stand-in AFL coaches have fared over the longer term, history suggests it’s not often they don’t have at least some sort of first-up impact on the teams they’ve taken over.
That wouldn’t have been lost on Richmond as it prepared to take on North Melbourne with Rhyce Shaw in charge of the Roos for the first time. Nor would the Tigers’ comprehensive defeat in their last appearance at Marvel Stadium against the Western Bulldogs a month ago.
Most of all, though, it would have been the Roos’ form last week when they took care of that same opponent which would have put the Tigers on notice. Rightly so, as it turned out. Because Richmond’s six wins from its past seven games counted for nothing this week.
North Melbourne by the end of last week’s emotion-charged win over the Doggies, Brad Scott’s last game in charge, was a lot closer to the Roos who surprised most of the football world in 2018 than the disappointing version of 2019, 18 goals as many as they’d kicked all season.
And against a better side than they’d just beaten, North didn’t just keep that form going, they improved on it again. This was an even tougher effort, a more complete team effort, the contributors coming from among the veterans, the new kids and that frustrating generation the Roos have been waiting on to blossom for so long.
And the result, in the finish, was a comprehensive and thoroughly deserved 37-point victory.
The Roos had looked “on” right from the start of this game, their tackling fierce, the determination to match Richmond for physical pressure obvious.
It was the Tigers who hit the scoreboard first, however, courtesy of a free kick to Tom Lynch. But North wasted little time in answering that through Nick Larkey, and after Dustin Martin curled a beautiful snap through from some distance, the Roos had much the better of the first term.
At one stage, the Roos led the tackle count 14-5, and soon enough they were able to capitalise on the spills they were forcing.
North booted three of the final four goals of the first quarter, Jed Anderson just making the distance, Ben Brown winning and converting a free and Mason Wood a grateful recipient of a Bachar Houli blunder, the Tiger’s pass across goal intercepted by Jack Ziebell, whose tap into the path of his teammate was put away.
Houli, however, remained a constant for Richmond, the spare defender constantly reading the play brilliantly to mop up North’s attacks. He’d won the Yookien Medal in last week’s Dreamtime Game, and by half-time in this one, he’d racked up 22 disposals.
Anderson was in everything midfield, Jy Simpkin offering plenty of support, and Cameron Zurhaar a tackling machine in the Roos’ forward 50.
Richmond was within five points at quarter-time, but perhaps a little fortunate to be so. And that was even more the case early in the second term when North wasted chance after chance.
Wood was wasteful, Larkey missed a gettable opportunity, and by the time Shaun Higgins and Jared Polec shanked a couple more, the Roos had added 1.6 for the second term, leaving the door ajar.
Perhaps predictably, Richmond bolted through it, adding three goals in six minutes. Dan Butler had the first after a free kick downfield, and then it was time for a little Martin magic.
Stationed at full-forward on Scott Thompson, the Tiger champion held his position at the back of a marking contest, possibly a little fortunate not to give away a free kick, but having no troubles from 20 metres out.
From the next centre bounce, he effortlessly snapped another on his right foot, giving Richmond the lead again for the first time in a quarter-and-a-half.
That was deflating for the Roos, which made Wood’s second goal only 22 seconds before the half-time siren a welcome change of fortune on the goalkicking front. And something of an omen, too.
From not being able to take the simplest of chances, North Melbourne after the long break suddenly couldn’t miss, six goals straight the result of a quarter more dominant even than before.
The Roos were terrific in the third term. They racked up 30 more disposals, doubled the Tigers for clearances and inside 50 entries, and again turned up the tackling heat, 21-7 a reflection of their take-no-prisoners approach.
And now it was the senior players leading the charge, Ziebell, Higgins and Ben Cunnington accumulating just on 30 touches between them for the quarter.
It was goal for goal to start, but then North rattled off the next five of the term. Wood was palpably growing in confidence, his third and fourth goals of the evening coming in this spell. Zurhaar proved he can do a lot more than land a strong tackle with a brilliant centring ball for Jy Simpkin for another goal.
And Brown blew the margin out past five goals, converting from right on the boundary line after Tiger defender Dylan Grimes, in a fair summation of his side’s second half, accidentally booted the ball out-on-the-full.
Five-and-a-bit goals in a gettable enough margin in today’s football, but you never sensed Richmond was going to find whatever it took to close that gap this time. And sure enough, Brown made the result an absolute formality with the first couple of goals of the last term.
That took the sting right out of the final 20 or so minutes, Richmond probably already thinking about next week against Geelong. Not that it would have taken too long to realise the Tigers will need a much better effort than that.
And the Roos? Well, for all the hand-wringing , come the final siren they sat just one game outside the top eight.
It remains to be seen how long the “new coach bounce” can be maintained under Shaw, but the last couple of weeks have at least given a glimpse into what this North line-up is capable of regardless of who is in charge. And, not for the first time, it’s a fair bit more than many sceptics would believe.
NORTH MELBOURNE 4.1 6.7 12.7 15.9 (99)
RICHMOND 3.1 6.3 7.4 9.8 (62)
GOALS
North Melbourne: Brown 5, Wood 4, Anderson 2, Larkey, Simpkin, Polec, Thomas
Richmond: Martin 3, Butler 2, Lynch, Castagna, Prestia, Astbury
BEST
North Melbourne: Ziebell, Anderson, Wood, Cunnington, Higgins, Brown, Polec, Zurhaar
Richmond: Houli, Martin, Cotchin, Baker, Stack
INJURIES
North Melbourne: Macmillan (calf), Turner (ribs/shoulder)
UMPIRES: Margetts, Chamberlain, Hay
CROWD: 29,326 at Marvel Stadium
