North defeated the Bombers by 14 points, to equal their best start to a season in the club's history. Yet, at the final siren, there was a standing ovation from Bombers supporters as they cheered their side off the ground, and as for North fans - no one really knew what to think.
Football is a strange, emotion fuelled game and no one summarised it better than Brad Scott; "A win that felt like a loss." Still, we are 8-0 and on top of the ladder.
You didn't even need to be at the game, or watch it for that matter, to see where things went wrong. The stats said it all. 35 first half tackles to 18 in the second: that was the big one. Intensity and desperation came crashing to a halt. Also 2.8 to 8.8 kicked after half time and the Bombers scored 7 behinds in the final term. It wasn't a great display by a side who is supposedly challenging for a top 4 spot.
We're also not playing the same football we played in the first five rounds of the season. Our scoring has come to a stop. In rounds 1-5 we scored over 100 points and in round six we fought a tough battle and it was a well deserved win. In the last 2 weeks though it's something else. We struggled to score against St Kilda and against Essendon we missed so many shots I don't have enough fingers and toes to count them all.
We seemed to put the cue in the rack at half time and that is not how you play a game of football, especially North Melbourne who have a dark history of disappointment and snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. We have all been and seen it with our own eyes too many times. But there were, as always, some positives. McDonald probably played his best game of the year while Tarrant and Thompson had an influence. It was the midfield who couldn't stop an Essendon side who just kept on running... something we definitely didn't do.
So now what? If there's one thing we do know it's that North have a remarkable way of bouncing back after disappointment, and disappointment in the form of a 14 point victory is strange. If North defeat Carlton they will officially have their best start to a season in their history, which is quite remarkable.
If Carlton are going in confident next week, I for one won't blame them. We aren't playing our best football. However, there is one thing you have to agree with and that is aside from all this discussion, North do deserve to be on top of the ladder. After all, they have won the most games so far this season - and that is the ultimate aim of the game.
So when you sit on social media, week after week, the only comments you'll find are, "who has North really beaten?" and "wait until they play a good side like Geelong or Sydney"
This suggests two things:
Firstly, the only victories which matter are ones which come against 'quality' opposition and
Secondly, Geelong and Sydney are the only genuine sides in the comp, leaving us third on the 'quality side' ladder.
As a supporter of the game, the ignorance from other supporters baffles me, because I'll tell you one thing: EVERY WIN MATTERS. Take 2014 as an example, North finished 6th at the end of the Home and Away season, and defeated every side who were placed above them at some point that year (finals included). However, they lost games to Collingwood (round 5), Brisbane (round 15) and Carlton (round 18) - who finished 11th, 13th and 15th respectively. Had we won those three matches, we would have finished fourth. So now you see my point... but I doubt the rest of the AFL world will, they'll just throw another 'who have North really beaten?' back in my face and then go home to sulk about their own side's issues. If our issues are a frustrating victory, then I'll take it any day.
But back to North Melbourne and back to their form - we need to lift. It's not a wonder North supporters were left angered at the final siren, however all we need from here is to move forward and hopefully bounce back in emphatic fashion.
Anyway, it's a lot to think about and a lot of questions will be asked, but the best answer we can give is to keep on winning. If North win in round nine, 2016 will be the best start to a season they've had in their history and no one should make them feel like they haven't deserved it or haven't done anything challenging to get themselves into that position.
But we do need to wake up and maybe that was the call we needed.
Only time will tell, I suppose.
Here's to another week and another win.
Marnie x
