Stunning Stephenson sparks Roos against Eagles
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Jaidyn Stephenson has turned in a career-best performance as North Melbourne dealt a stunned West Coast side its third home loss of the season to cap Round 17.
Despite being the AFL’s bottom-placed side, the Kangaroos have been more competitive of late and were brilliant once again, weathering a furious fourth-quarter charge from the home side to run out 10. 10. (70) to 8. 12. (60) winners in slippery conditions at Optus Stadium.
Stephenson, who arrived at North Melbourne after Collingwood’s fire-sale last summer, was outstanding with a career-high 38 disposals and a goal in the win, with 25 of the 38 touches coming in a superhuman second-half performance.
“It was awesome,” Stephenson told Fox Footy after the win. “Obviously the season hasn’t gone to plan so far, but to come here and beat West Coast at their home ground is unbelievable.”
“We didn’t have many fans in the crowd, it was very West Coast biased, but we all fought through and worked hard.
“We’ve come a long way in such a short period of time. Obviously at the start of the year we didn’t start too well, but in the last four weeks after the bye we’ve just been awesome.”
The 22-year-old’s performance lit up social media as he put in his best performance since his first match in Kangaroos colours in Round 1, where he had 33 touches in a loss to Port Adelaide.
Stephenson was far from the only Kangaroos star to shine in the wet, with the veteran trio of Todd Goldstein, captain Jack Ziebell and midfielder Ben Cunnington all influential.
Goldstein etched his name into the AFL record books by becoming the league’s all-time hitout leader, passing Fremantle great Aaron Sandilands’ record of 8502 in the opening term.
Fittingly, it was the 33-year-old who sealed North’s win, with his second goal of the match in the final term capping off a memorable night.
It was a bitterly disappointing result for the Eagles, who were unable to arrest their poor run of form despite being back in the familiar confines of Optus Stadium.
Adam Simpson’s side had 13 scoring shots to five in the first half, but kicked a paltry 3.12 to take a slim eight-point lead into the main break.
The loss leaves the Eagles clinging to a finals spot on percentage, tied with the ninth-placed St Kilda team.
North Melbourne drew to within two points of the 17th-placed Hawks with the win and will aim to surpass the Hawks with another win next week against Essendon.
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