Geelong vs North Melbourne

De Koning has quickly become one of the Cats' most integral players but will miss out against the Roos.

The club has reported the 22-year-old has a corked muscle. De Koning has quickly become one of the Cats’ most integral players but will miss out against the Roos. Geelong has swung a late change ahead of Saturday night’s clash with North Melbourne, ruling out young star Sam De Koning.

The pressure continues to build on beleaguered North Melbourne coach David Noble, whose last-placed side suffered a 112-point AFL demolition at Geelong.

As North continue to wallow at the foot of the ladder, the ruthless Cats took full toll. But the Cats ramped up their team defence to repeatedly force turnovers as they boosted their percentage ahead of next Thursday night's big game at GMHBA Stadium. The Kangaroos rallied, kicking the last three goals of the opening term to trail by just four points at quarter-time.

GEELONG has blown away North Melbourne with a 13-goal to one second half to record a 112-point victory and inflict the Kangaroos' biggest loss of the year ...

Despite Danger’s extended stint on the sideline, he was in solid touch after his barnstorming start to the game and looks to be a dangerous asset for the Cats in the back-half of the season. He had a shot on goal after the siren for what would have capped the fairytale off, but alas it wasn’t to be as the shot from the 50m arc fell short. It was always going to be an uphill battle to beat Geelong on its home deck, but North's job was made even harder when it lost two players before quarter-time. After four weeks on the sidelines with a calf injury, the comeback kid would go on to record 19 disposals and five marks in managed game time. The ever-reliable Mitch Duncan celebrated game number 250 in style, with his 30-disposal and 14-mark effort making him one of the Cats’ best in the huge win. It emerged later that Noble had given his players a fierce "spray" after the Lions loss.

North Melbourne suffered their biggest loss of the season as the Cats thrashed them by 112 points with the Kangaroos recording just 11 inside 50s after ...

The margin by that point had slowly but steadily blown out beyond five goals but North rarely lost control of the game as they chipped the ball around in defence, making maintaining possession a priority. Belatedly McKay was moved into defence midway through the third quarter, but such was the supply David Dench, Mick Martyn and Glenn Archer would have struggled to contain the scoring. It was hard to work out how the move benefitted North Melbourne or McKay. By game’s end Hawkins had kicked six goals to outscore North on his own. For the Cats, the game was a tune-up with their work around the contest and tested, and their ball use refined as they worked the angles to run the ball from one end of the ground to the other repeatedly in the third quarter without it touching the ground. Determined to ensure the team avoided embarrassment Davies-Uniacke had 15 touches and five centre clearances by quarter-time. What it did mean was the ball stayed in the Cats’ front half as they stretched the margin beyond 50 points and Hawkins and Cameron began to take control.

The North Melbourne Kangaroos have gone down to the Geelong Cats by 112 points at GMHBA Stadium on Saturday night.

North Melbourne: Spicer (replaced Hall in first quarter) North Melbourne: Aaron Hall (quad), Kayne Turner (concussion) It was always going to be an uphill battle to beat Geelong on its home deck, but the Kangaroos' job was made even harder when they lost two players before quarter-time.