Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
AAP
AAP
Shayne Hope

Riddell, Garner on song as North crush Dockers in AFLW

Tahlia Randall starred with five goals as North Melbourne thrashed Fremantle in the AFLW. (James Ross/AAP PHOTOS)

Ball magnets Ash Riddell and Jasmine Garner have fired North Melbourne into second spot on the AFLW ladder with starring roles in a 45-point belting of Fremantle.

Riddell (37 disposals, six clearances) and Garner (30, three) were dominant figures in the midfield throughout the Kangaroos' 10.6 (66) to 3.3 (21) victory at Fremantle Oval on Sunday.

Jenna Bruton (27, four) and Mia King (21, six) also shone, while Tahlia Randall (five goals) and Kate Shierlaw (two) benefited from their teammates' control around the contest.

Bruton became the 16th player in AFLW history to reach 1000 career disposals and matched King with a game-high 11 tackles.

The Kangaroos led by 10 points at halftime and piled on 6.1 to 0.2 after the main break to run away with the result.

"We felt like it was going to be an arm wrestle but at some point the game would open up, and that's the way it unfolded," North Melbourne coach Darren Crocker said.

"Our ball movement and being able to hit the scoreboard is something that we've been trying to address and that was a pretty key feature of the way we were able to open the game up.

"We consider ourselves a pretty skilful team and that's something that we try to bring each week."

It was a disappointing result for Fremantle, who would have moved into the top eight with a win.

Defender Emma O'Driscoll (28 disposals) was the Dockers' best in a losing cause.

"We got beaten in pretty much all facets of the game so it's a disappointed group down there," Fremantle coach Lisa Webb said.

"We just couldn't get our hands on the footy.

"We struggled contest to contest and our backs fought really hard, but we were always going to be undone with the amount of ball going in there."

Aine Tighe gave Fremantle a great start with the opening goal inside two minutes but North Melbourne controlled proceedings throughout the first half.

The visitors dominated inside-50s (25-10) and disposals (149-118) to halftime and would have led by more than 10 points if not for wasteful kicking at times in front of goal.

Randall's third goal and another from Tess Craven increased North's lead to 22 points by the final change, with the Dockers held scoreless in the third quarter.

It got ugly in the final term and Randall completed the rout with her fifth major on the fulltime siren.

"It's always very handy to have a key forward who can kick a bag," Crocker said.

"Being able to score heavily, you probably don't do that unless it's on the back of one of your key forwards having a pretty dominant display, which she was able to."

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.