Top-four hopefuls Melbourne have copped a double blow with an ambulance called for Daniel Turner before Changkuoth Jiath pulled up lame in their clash with North Melbourne on Saturday.
The Demons trailed for the entire first half against an impressive Kangaroos outfit before fighting back in the third quarter to cruise towards a 13.14 (92) to 11.10 (76) win — their 12th of the AFL season.
But it ended on a sour note with Turner needing medical attention after copping knees to the ribs from teammates Jake Lever and Matthew Jefferson in two separate incidents.
Sign up to The Nightly’s newsletters.
Get the first look at the digital newspaper, curated daily stories and breaking headlines delivered to your inbox.
By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.
“He (Turner) is not well,” Jason Dunstall said on Fox Sports after the second-quarter incident.
Turner, in clear pain and grabbing at his side, hobbled off the field to be checked over and initially played on.
But the decision was eventually made to rule him out for the game, and an ambulance arrived early in the fourth quarter to take him to hospital for precautionary scans.
That news emerged just after Jiath needed to be helped from the field with a soft-tissue injury. Nathan Buckley assessed it “looks like a decent” tear.
“Sad news for this year’s pick-up, 11th game for this season with his new club after being traded by Hawthorn,” Dwayne Russell said.
“Lived his whole footy life on the selection borderline.”
Superstar Kysaiah Pickett needed treatment after having his mouth cut open early in the second term.
Melbourne captain Max Gawn also needed painkillers in the first half, clearly sore from a knee to his right leg in a ruck contest but played out the game.
The skipper went into defence in the second half and joked he was willing to go back full-time after Turner and Jiath went down.
“I gave it a good go today — got a couple of good contested ground balls, a couple of loose marks, that was nice,” Gawn said.
“But I’m happy to play wherever (coach Steven) King wants me to play.”
Jefferson booted a career-best 4.1 from his five kicks, while Jacob van Rooyen and Latrelle Pickett slotted two goals each.
Tom Sparrow (33 disposals, one goal), Kysaiah Pickett (29, one) and Jake Bowey (29) all helped Melbourne climb out of a first-half hole and stay in the hunt for a top-four spot.
The Demons also went some way towards shelving their reputation as specialists at the MCG — where they are 9-0 this season — with their third win from nine fixtures elsewhere.
The Kangaroos burst out of the blocks with three goals in the first six minutes, two of those majors to Paul Curtis, who finished with three.
North pressured the Dees’ ball carriers and were rewarded in the front half, marching ahead 6.1 to 2.0 on Cooper Trembath’s excellent mark and goal.
Jefferson jagged two late in the opening term, at the end of which Melbourne trailed by 12 points.
Harry Sheezel’s fine crumbing major helped extend the Kangas’ cushion back to 19 points before the Demons finally hit back.
Melbourne booted six unanswered goals either side of half-time to turn that deficit into a 15-point lead when van Rooyen slotted his second.
Gawn progressively got on top of Tristan Xerri in the ruck, while defensively the Demons denied North the corridor they had used to great effect early.
Jefferson plucked a superb goal-square mark and kicked his fourth in the shadows of three-quarter time as Melbourne’s lead pushed out to 15 points.
The margin blew out to 36 points in the final term, before the Kangaroos scored the last three goals.
Sheezel (33 disposals), Cooper Harvey (28), Luke Davies-Uniacke (28) and Caleb Daniel (27) led the way for North.
