Jasmine Garner and Emma Kearney have celebrated their joint AFLW milestone match by steering North Melbourne to a comprehensive 26-point win over Gold Coast at Blundstone Arena.
Garner and captain Kearney, both playing their 50th game, were superb, while Tahlia Randall slotted a career-best three goals in the Kangaroos' 6.4 (40) to 2.2 (14) victory on Saturday afternoon.
The SUNS conjured the first score of the game when vice-captain Jamie Stanton snapped a behind in the opening three minutes, but the visitors were forced to wait until the last five minutes of the match before notching their next score.
In the meantime, North ran riot playing the game almost exclusively in its forward half, propelled by Garner's expert playmaking and clearance work and Kearney's smarts across half-back.
Gold Coast ruck Lauren Bella was regularly getting her hands on the footy first at the hitouts, but the Roos' midfielders, led by Garner, cut a swathe once the ball hit the deck at the stoppages.
The Roos were even more dominant in the second term to move ahead by 26 points at half time.
Randall marked a Garner pass and nailed her third early in the term, which was followed by debutant Sophia McCarthy kicking the first of her career as the Kangaroos romped to a 39-point three-quarter time lead.
To their credit, the SUNS showed pride by lifting noticeably in the fourth term.
Stanton converted a free kick for Gold Coast's belated first goal with just over three minutes remaining before Kalinda Howarth's mark and goal inside the last 60 seconds limited some of the earlier damage.
Say what?
"I thought for the first three quarters we had the game really looking the way we would like it to look. I thought our forward-half domination was definitely there. Did we get enough reward for our effort and our ability to lock the ball in our front-half? Maybe not. But I thought for three quarters we set the game up really well." - North Melbourne coach Darren Crocker
"We would have liked to have started how we finished, it's fair to say. We just didn't get the ball forward enough in the first two-and-a-bit quarters, and then we finished reasonably strong but you can't do that and expect to win games of footy against quality sides like North Melbourne." - Gold Coast coach Cameron Joyce
Up next
The Roos' next test will be a much tougher one, with a clash against Melbourne at the MCG pencilled in for Friday night ahead of the Dees' AFL qualifying final. For the SUNS, they host West Coast at home at Metricon Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
NORTH MELBOURNE 2.1 4.3 6.4 6.4 (40)
GOLD COAST 0.1 0.1 0.1 2.2 (14)
GOALS
North Melbourne: Randall 3, Garner, Rennie, McCarthy
Gold Coast: Howarth, Stanton
BEST
North Melbourne: Garner, Randall, Kearney, Gavalas, Riddell, King
Gold Coast: Drennan, Rowbottom, Bella, D'Arcy
INJURIES
North Melbourne: Nil
Gold Coast: Nil
LATE CHANGES
North Melbourne: Nil
Gold Coast: Nil
