Kangaroos thump woeful St Kilda in veteran’s 350th AFL game.
North Melbourne’s Brent Harvey celebrated his 350th AFL game with a four-goal haul in his side’s 68-point win over St Kilda at Etihad Stadium.
Leading by a massive 55 points at quarter-time and 59 at three-quarter time, North managed to hold on to win comfortably 19.19 (133) to St Kilda’s 10.5 (65) after booting two goals to the Saints’ one in the final term.
Both clubs remain unlikely finals contenders with North improving their win-loss record to 4-6 while the Saints are 2-8.
North had plenty of avenues to goal with big men Aaron Black (five) and Drew Petrie (four) complemented by small forwards Harvey and Lindsay Thomas (three) while skipper Nick Riewoldt kicked three goals for the Saints while Jack Steven tried hard in midfield.
Stung by two consecutive narrow defeats by a total of just three points, North began brilliantly with a nine-goal first term.
Riewoldt kicked two of St Kilda’s three goals in the second term but the Kangaroos added another four to hold a 61-point advantage at halftime.
The Saints outscored North five goals to four in the third term but still faced a 59-point deficit at the final change and the Kangaroos were never in serious danger of defeat in a grand occasion for 35-year-old Harvey who was chaired off the field in front of 25,658 fans.
The 167cm Harvey became the 13th AFL player to reach the 350-game milestone.
North’s 200-gamer Daniel Wells was also chaired off while Leigh Montagna was a good contributor for the Saints in his 200th match.
Gold Coast host North on Saturday while St Kilda play West Coast at Etihad Stadium the following day.
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