North Melbourne are finally off the mark in the 2024 AFL season after a bizarre final quarter against a West Coast side missing the suspended Harley Reid.
The Kangaroos were ahead by 33 points early in the fourth quarter but conceded six goals in a row to cough up the lead — only to kick the last two majors of the game for an 11.8 (74) to 8.17 (65) victory.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Boos rain down as ‘unbelievable’ decision seals dreaded defeat.
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North skipper Jy Simpkin kicked his side ahead with a set shot stemming from a controversial holding-the-ball decision against Eagles star Elliot Yeo.
Yeo tackled George Wardlaw then reached for the loose ball but had it in his grasp for only half a second before Simpkin wrapped him up to earn the free kick.
“Adam Simpson can’t believe it,” commentator Adam Papalia said as West Coast’s shocked coach looked on.
Boos rained down from the Optus Stadium crowd after the umpire blew the whistle, when Simpkin’s kick sailed through and again after the full-time siren.
Brownlow medallist Gerard Healy was adamant it was not holding the ball — “not in my book,” he said — while former players were quick to react on social media.
“One of the worst umpiring displays I’ve seen. West Coast have been absolutely stiffed!” Adelaide grand finalist Paul Seedsman said.
Tigers champion Matthew Richardson could only laugh: “Players will start second guessing if they should take possession of the ball. That can’t be a good thing surely.”
Simpson made his thoughts clear enough, without saying anything, in his post-match press conference.
“It’s probably the wrong time to ask me,” he said.
Even Simpkin had a wry smile when asked about the free kick in the immediate aftermath.
“Absolutely (it was),” Simpkin said before speaking on converting for the match-winning goal.
“To be honest the heart was going a fair bit.
“Hadn’t really been in that situation too often. Just went back, did my routine and luckily enough it went straight through the middle.”
North entered the game with an average losing margin of 52 points while never finishing within four goals of an opponent.
The win over West Coast marked the first for half a dozen players in their side, including star draftee Wardlaw.
“I’m just pumped for him, you see day to day how hard he works and the rest of the young guys,” Simpkin said.
“I can’t wait to get around these boys and celebrate tonight.”
The match had taken a dark turn with just eight minutes left on the clock when Eagles premiership player and co-captain Liam Duggan suffered a concussion in a friendly-fire head clash.
Duggan was going back with the flight of the ball when he suddenly found himself sinking to the turf.
West Coast had been disappointing in front of their home crowd against the winless Kangaroos before the fourth-quarter burst.
North Melbourne won the first 10 clearances of the match but they weren’t able to translate that dominance on to the scoreboard as the first quarter looked set to be a goalless affair.
That was until North Melbourne ruckman Tristan Xerri gave away a silly hands-in-the-back free kick in the ruck, gifting Jack Darling a goal with 36 seconds remaining.
West Coast went into the quarter-time break leading 1.4 (10) to 0.1 (1), with Darling kicking 1.3 for the term.
The Kangaroos were forced to activate their sub Eddie Ford early after losing Will Dawson to a game-ending shoulder injury in the first term.
West Coast’s waywardness continued in the second term, registering 1.5 to North Melbourne’s 4.4 as the visitors shot out to an eight-point lead.
Larkey kicked two goals for the quarter, with the Kangaroos entering the halftime break up a whopping 28-10 in the clearance battle, including 6-0 in the centre clearances.
The third term was the Larkey show as the star forward tore West Coast to shreds.
Larkey outbodied Tom Barrass in a marking contest, then burned off the Eagles defender to kick off proceedings for the quarter.
His second goal for the term came via a smart snap, and he nailed a tough set shot from the boundary to make it three for the quarter.
Up the other end, West Coast sprayed a wayward 0.6 to enter the final change with 2.15 to their name and nursing a 27-point deficit.
The game was flipped on its head in the final term as West Coast went on a six-goal burst, with Jake Waterman’s three-goal onslaught helping give the Eagles the lead before North Melbourne snatched it back late.
– with AAP