Kangaroos stroll to victory - Fox Sports

Comprehensive ... Drew Petrie leads Tim Mohr to the contest. Source: JOE CASTRO / AAP

Greater Western Sydney have taken a step closer to an unwanted piece of AFL history with their 86-point hammering by North Melbourne at Etihad Stadium on Sunday.

The Giants have now lost all 13 matches this season, and are closing in on being the first team in AFL/VFL history since Fitzroy in 1964 to go through a season winless.

Critical to the Giants breaking their duck this season appears next Saturday's clash with fellow strugglers Western Bulldogs in Canberra.

		P	W	D	L	%	Pts
1	Hawthorn	13	12	0	1	144.98	48
2	Geelong	13	11	0	2	128.85	44
3	Essendon	13	10	0	3	129.51	40
4	Sydney	13	9	1	3	131.15	38
5	Fremantle	13	9	1	3	124.55	38
6	Richmond	13	9	0	4	124.39	36
7	Port Adelaide	13	8	0	5	118.17	32
8	Collingwood	13	8	0	5	104.79	32
9	Carlton	13	6	0	7	113.90	24
10	West Coast	13	6	0	7	110.02	24
11	Adelaide	13	6	0	7	105.72	24
12	North Melbourne	13	5	0	8	114.25	20
13	Gold Coast	13	5	0	8	90.94	20
14	Brisbane	13	4	0	9	74.34	16
15	St Kilda	13	3	0	10	85.61	12
16	Bulldogs	13	3	0	10	75.19	12
17	Melbourne	13	2	0	11	54.01	8
18	Greater Western Sydney	13	0	0	13	50.16	0

The Bulldogs lost to another battling side in Melbourne this weekend, and have won just three of their 13 matches this campaign.

Sheedy admitted he had not considered the prospect of the team going through their sophomore season without a win.

But he admitted the importance of the Bulldogs game had been a topic of post-match conversation after the Giants' 19.16 (130) to 6.8 (44) defeat by a dominant North in an otherwise forgettable game.

"It's an opportunity for us to try and search for our first win, and I've been speaking about that to the players,'' Sheedy said.

"I haven't thought about that (the prospect of a winless season) to be honest.

"The task you take on when you try to build this club from the real, deep foundation ... is you suffer some losses early like the Brisbane Bears did and the Swans did.''

The Giants' hopes of an upset were extinguished by the end of the first quarter - the Kangaroos piling on an eight goals to one term to set up the victory.

Drew Petrie booted five goals and Lindsay Thomas four for the Kangaroos.

GWS moved into damage limitation mode in the second term by putting players behind the ball - a tactic which worked to a degree as the sides booted four goals apiece in the quarter.

But the Kangaroos had the better of a dire second half, restricting the Giants to just one goal as the visitors continued to play extra men behind the ball for the rest of the match.

North now have a 5-8 win-loss record, keeping alive their faint chances of making this season's finals.

Coach Brad Scott admitted he was pleased with how his team had coped with the Giants' unusual defensive tactics.

"The main thing we take away from that is the opposition threw something pretty strange at us, and we were able to respond really quickly,'' Scott said.

"I called for an organised effort from our boys, and after halftime we really got that.''

North's only concern to come out of the match centres on Thomas, who faces match review panel scrutiny after what appeared a possible headbutt on Giants youngster Jacob Townsend.

North now have a 5-8 win-loss record, and will need seven wins from their remaining nine matches to have any realistic hope of reaching the finals.

Form sides Richmond, Geelong, Essendon and Hawthorn dot the Kangaroos' run home, and they remain three wins out of the top eight in 12th place.

But their percentage is best of any of the teams currently outside the eight and better than one of those inside - eighth-placed Collingwood - whom the Kangaroos will play in the final home-and-away match of the season.

"We play really good sides on the way home,'' Scott said.

"We just look at playing footy that's capable of beating them (opposing teams). And then if we get the numbers we need, then we'll get there.

"If we don't play good footy along the way, the good sides just get you.''

North take on Richmond next weekend, with the Tigers having now won four successive matches after their 64-point win over St Kilda.

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