Brent Harvey gets on his bike.
NORTH MELBOURNE KANGAROOS 8.3 12.6 15.10 19.16 (130)
GREATER WESTERN SYDNEY GIANTS 1.3 5.3 6.6 6.8 (44)
Goals: North Melbourne: D Petrie 5 L Thomas 4 B Harvey 3 A Mullett J MacMillan J Ziebell L Adams R Bastinac R Tarrant T Goldstein.
Greater Western Sydney: S O'hAilpin 2 A Corr L Sumner S Reid W Hoskin-Elliott.
Best: North Melbourne: Brent Harvey, Andrew Swallow, Lachie Hansen, Scott Thompson, Drew Petrie
Greater Western Sydney: Tom Scully, Adam Treloar, Sam Reid, Setanta O'hAilpin, Toby Greene
Umpires: Sam Hay, Luke Farmer, Matthew Leppard.
Official Crowd: 15,438 at Etihad Stadium.
North Melbourne inflicted an emphatic 86-point drubbing on the GWS Giants on Sunday, but the Kangaroos will almost feel like they let an opportunity to release a few frustrations slip on an exasperating day at Etihad Stadium.
With their finals aspirations put on life support by four losses of four points or less in their first 12 matches, the 13th-placed Roos looked poised to put a record beating on the competition's new boys early on.
A week after Brent Harvey was harassed to distraction by Ryan Crowley, he received the attention of the Giants' Toby Greene who played a lot wider of the master Roo onballer, with Harvey revelling in the greater freedom.
In a meeting notable for a lack of physical aggression and contested ball, the Giants managed just 33 tackles for the entire match.
The Kangaroos kicked just four goals in four quarters of football against Fremantle in their 38-point loss at Patersons Stadium last week, but they equalled that tally in the first 14 minutes against the Giants.
Lindsay Thomas does it with his eyes closed.
Kevin Sheedy's youngsters were given plenty of time to rest up during their bye leading into the round 14 clash and they played like their minds were elsewhere as the Roos ran riot early.
Drew Petrie and Lindsay Thomas eyed career-best outings with three goals each in the opening term with the ball never far away from an attacking 50 they patrolled with intent.
Thomas' third goal was a sign of the Giants' lethargy as three defenders looked on as the goalsneak wheeled out to his left to make six points a certainty from the tightest of angles.
Setanta O'hAilpin was the late replacement when Jeremy Cameron was withdrawn with a virus and the Irishman at least provided a bit of spark with his side's only goal of the quarter that set up the 42-point deficit at the first break.
Sheedy had clearly seen enough and went ultra-defensive from there on in.
Time and again up to 11 Giants would start a centre bounce from behind the defensive side of the square.
It didn't make for enjoyable Sunday afternoon viewing for either set of fans, but it did stem the flow as the Roos failed to navigate their way through the sea of orange that confronted them more often than not.
Content to try and absorb pressure and counter attack, the Giants matched North's four goals in the second term with Will Hoskin-Elliott's 60 metre dash and goal a highlight.
North managed to edge just three points further in front by half-time, but booted the first three goals in the first eight minutes of the third quarter to put the easy kill that many Roos' fans would have hoped for back on the table.
But that was all Brad Scott's men could muster as the Giants' flood once again confounded their opponents and brought boos echoing down from the sparsely populated stands.
The Giants were on track for their average losing margin of 69 points this season when 58 points down at three-quarter time, but a combination of their tiring legs and the Kangaroos' desire to break the game open saw that margin blow out.
North got some measure of satisfaction with the only four goals of the quarter setting up the 86-point win that leaves just the slightest glimmer of hope that they may be able to salvage something from the second half of the season.
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