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With Melbourne’s season hanging on a thread, Saturday night’s game against North Melbourne unfolded like a scene in a hospital emergency department. The patient presented to the ward in a bad way. Doctors and nurses pumped life-saving medication into his body and, in the ensuing half hour, he responded with blood returning to his cheeks as he stirred back to life. After a slight relapse, the nurses pumped further medication into the bloodstream and the prognosis started looking good as the next hour ticked by. The patient even sat up momentarily. Suddenly, without warning, the vital signs displayed on his bedside screen went haywire and the patient was again in peril. It took all of the skills of the experienced ER ward surgeons, helped by a team of young interns, to step in and save the day. At last report, the patient was resting in a stable condition but still on life support. There’s a long way to go but he’s hanging on … for the time being. Speaking of hospitals, welcome to Melbourne’s 2024 campaign in the post superstar phase. But it’s not just the fact that Christian Petracca‘s internal injuries will keep him out of the game for at least the rest of this home and away season that are keeping coach Simon Goodwin up at night. Leaving aside the usual media swarm and the naysayers who smell blood when a team’s going through hard times, Goody’s facing attack from all sides in the football world and not just about the unenviable task of mending the midfield in his star player’s absence and the fact that another of his superstars in Clayton Oliver is in a career slump. There’s the potential problem of overworking his skipper and champion ruckman who battles on with little support, the occasional defensive lapses and then, there’s the long-running matter of connection when going into attack which refuses to be resolved and rears its head with too many goalless (and scoreless) quarters and with most of the forwards also in a form slump. Add to this, the fact that a quiet rebuild is going on in the background. Of the teams competing in Round 15, Melbourne fielded the most players aged 22 and under with ten, compared to North Melbourne’s eight. Geelong had only four players in this category; Brisbane, Carlton, Essendon, Sydney and West Coast had five. It’s great to see so many young faces in the team working manfully but having plenty of youth and inexperience in the group also poses challenges in the heat of a tight battle. Granted that you can’t fix all of the issues surrounding a major form slump overnight, there are still some positive vibes out of all of this. The impending return of Jake Lever who is so important in the defensive structure, will help. Steven May kept Nick Larkey goalless in a peerless defensive performance and the return of his partner in crime in defence is timely in light of the do or die contest coming up on Friday night in Brizvegas. Despite the fact that North’s up and coming midfield won the clearance battles, Goodwin’s first effort on the work in progress in this area produced some promising signs. Jack Viney was an absolute beast as he worked hard under the skipper’s gaze and while Oliver was shut out under the close watch of Will Phillips. Into the breach came Trent Rivers who had plenty of time and a reasonable return lining up in centre bounces. Tom Sparrow had some good moments as well and second gamer Koltyn Tholstrup was promising at half-forward. It will be a while before he can be considered in the same light as Petracca but there were some really great signs. And how about that great lifesaving cameo run down by Kynan Brown that virtually ensured the win for his team? Despite the continuing relative dysfunction of the forward line, there was some signs of a pulse with Disco Turner kicking a couple and Harry Petty taking six marks and scoring a goal. Some more consistency and a return to goal scoring form from the likes of Bailey Fritsch, Kozzie Pickett and Kade Chandler are hopefully just around the corner. Indeed, a return to form of the likes of Oliver, Fritsch and co on the big stage up north next week is exactly what the doctor ordered. MELBOURNE 5.2.32 6.4.40 11.4.70 11.4.70 NORTH MELBOURNE 1.2.8 3.7.25 5.7.37 10.7.67 GOALS MELBOURNE Turner 2 Chandler Gawn McDonald Petty Pickett Rivers Sparrow van Rooyen NORTH MELBOURNE Zurhaar 4 Ford Sheezel 2 Davies-Uniacke Simpkin BEST MELBOURNE Viney May Rivers Gawn Sparrow Neal-Bullen NORTH MELBOURNE Davies-Uniacke Wardlaw Sheezel Zurhaar Phillips Simpkin INJURIES MELBOURNE Christian Salem (knee) NORTH MELBOURNE Nil REPORTS MELBOURNE Nil NORTH MELBOURNE Nil SUBSTITUTIONS MELBOURNE Kynan Brown (replaced Christian Salem in the fourth quarter) NORTH MELBOURNE Dylan Stephens (replaced Toby Pink in the third quarter) UMPIRES Donlon Haussen Heffernan Wallace CROWD 28,774 at The MCG

Before Collingwood’s massive comeback from the dead against North Melbourne, there was Melbourne’s win at Blundstone Arena late last year after trailing by 33 points. The turnaround in actual points was not dissimilar. MELBOURNE 1.3.9 8.4.52 14.7.91 15.13.103 NORTH MELBOURNE 5.5.35 8.8.56 9.9.63 10.11.71 THE TEAMS NORTH MELBOURNE B A. Corr B. McKay J. Archer HB J. Goater T. Thomas L. McDonald C E. Ford L. Davies-Uniacke B. Scott HF C. Taylor D. Tucker J. Stephenson F W. Phillips N. Larkey P. Curtis FOL T. Xerri, H. Sheezel, J. Simpkin I/C T. Goldstein R. Hansen Jr K. Turner J. Ziebell SUB C. Lazzaro EMG B. Cunnington T. Powell L.Young IN C. Lazzaro OUT L. Young (omitted) MELBOURNE B J. Bowey S. May T. Rivers HB C. Salem J. Lever J. McVee C A. Neal-Bullen J. Viney E. Langdon HF A. Brayshaw J. Melksham J. Jordon F K. Pickett J. van Rooyen K. Chandler FOLL M. Gawn C. Petracca L. Hunter I/C J. Harmes H. Petty J. Smith T. Sparrow SUB M. Hibberd EMG B. Grundy C. Spargo A. Tomlinson IN M. Hibberd T. Sparrow OUT A. Tomlinson (omitted) T. Woewodin (omitted)

It was Round 10, 2022 … NARRM 4.4.28 8.9.57 10.13.73 14.16.100 NORTH MELBOURNE 3.0.18 6.1.37 8.3.51 8.5.53 The undefeated Demons bearing the indigenous name of our city beat North Melbourne at the Docklands for the first time ever in their ninth meeting at the venue. They were by no means dominant against the lowly Kangaroos and it took until the last quarter before they finally shook off their plucky opponents. THE TEAMS NORTH MELBOURNE B: K.Turner 28 A.Corr 4 L.McDonald 11 HB: B.Scott 8 J.Walker 19 L.Young 17 C: H.Greenwood 18 L.Davies-Uniacke 9 F.Perez 39 HF: J.Horne-Francis 6 N.Larkey 20 P.Curtis 25 F: J.Ziebell 7 C.Zurhaar 44 J.Anderson 3 Foll: T.Goldstein 22 J.Simpkin 12 T.Thomas 26 I/C: K.Hayden 37 T.Powell 24 C.Taylor 5 T.Xerri 38 Sub: A.Bosenavulagi 15 Emerg: J.Archer 34 C.Coleman-Jones 21 J.Stephenson 2 In: H.Greenwood J.Horne-Francis J.Simpkin T.Xerri Out: C.Coleman-Jones (omitted) C.Lazzaro (omitted) J.Mahony (ankle) J.Stephenson (omitted) NARRM B: J. Hunt 29 H.Petty 35 T.Rivers 24 HB: J.Lever 8 S.May 1 J.Jordon 23 C: T.Sparrow 32 L.Dunstan 27 E.Langdon 15 HF: A.Neal-Bullen 30 B.Brown 50 C.Petracca 5 F: T.McDonald 25 L.Jackson 6 B.Fritsch 31 Foll: M.Gawn 11 C.Oliver 13 K.Pickett 36 I/C: J.Bowey 17 A.Brayshaw 10 J.Melksham 18 C.Spargo 9 Sub: T.Bedford 12 Emerg: B.Laurie 16 A.Tomlinson 20 S.Weideman 26 In: T.Bedford L.Dunstan J.Melksham Out: K.Chandler (suspended) J.Harmes (hamstring) J.Viney (hamstring) Odd spot: The Demons haven’t played North Melbourne at the MCG since April 2018. The victory broke a long time losing streak against the Kangaroos but can you guess who the top goalkickers were for each side that day?