A second half fadeout has seen a depleted Northern Blues outfit succumb to North Ballarat by 40 points, who in the process leapfrogged the Blues in seventh spot.

A host of late exclusions to key personnel Jarrad Waite, Dylan Buckley and Nick Holman were no match for the Roosters, who made the Blues pay with their ability to find space all afternoon.

The game also saw the return for Northern Blues skipper Brent Bransgrove, who got through the match unscathed.

After kicking the first two goals of the game, the Blues saw themselves firmly on the back foot late in the first term, where the Roosters had eight consecutive scoring shots.

However, inaccuracy prevented the scoreboard itself being indicative of the contest, with 3.5 in that time for North Ballarat seeing them take only a 10-point lead into the first change.

The second term was very much the inverse of the first, with the Blues having the run of play but unable to convert where it most matters.

For the term, the Blues only managed to muster 1.6 - thanks to a late Dennis Armfield goal - to the Roosters’ 2.2, resulting in a 12-point deficit at the major interval.

A seemingly reinvigorated Northern outfit burst out of the blocks at the resumption of the contest, hitting the front inside five minutes thanks to Luke Reynolds and Matthew Watson.

Unfortunately for the Blues, this seemed to spur the Roosters back into life.

North Ballarat went onto kick six of the next seven goals to lead by 24 points at the last change, with their dominance largely on the back of key forward Bryce Curnow, who kicked all of his four goals in that six-goal patch.

A late goal after the three-quarter time siren to the again-impressive Cameron Wood gave the Blues a sense of hope heading into the final term, with last quarters having been a strong point all season.

However, any optimism the Blues had heading into the final stanza was soon evaporated with the Roosters kicking the first of the term, extending the lead beyond five goals.

Watson kicked the Blues only goal of the last term: the key defender-cum-forward was again among the Blues’ most impressive, finishing with 3.4 on a tough day for the Blues.

Sam Cattapan was also among the shining lights for the Blues, accumulating 28 disposals to be among his team’s best. 

It was the team effort from the Roosters which brought about the Blues’ downfall, with their run and carry in particular proving too much to handle.

North Ballarat smashed the Blues in uncontested disposals (208-146), uncontested marks (110-67), handball receives (98-79) and inside 50s (57-38).

The loss sees the Blues teetering on the edge in terms of a finals spot, sitting in 8th spot with an inferior percentage to their immediate rivals.

Speaking post-match, Northern Blues Senior Coach Luke Webster commended the effort of the opposition, while also lamenting inaccuracy in front of goal.

“We played some good patches of footy throughout the day, but just not good enough to get the result,” Webster said.

“Full credit to North Ballarat: they’re a good football side and they executed their game plan really well, plus their intensity was a lot better than ours.

“We missed some opportunities throughout the game which could’ve changed a few things: scoreboard pressure is a wonderful thing and if we converted some of those missed opportunities it could’ve been a different story.”

After a highly impressive and important win last week against Collingwood, Webster would’ve left Eureka Stadium disappointed with the result.

However, he noted that there were positives to come out of the day - namely the form of Watson, Cattapan and Ciaran Byrne - as well as having a chance to rectify the loss next week against Werribee.

“You go into every game thinking you can win it and next week I think we can definitely do that.

“Werribee are a very good team and they gave us a touch up when we went down there earlier in the season, so we need to bring four quarters of intensity next week if we’re to get a result.”

The Blues will have the chance to get back on the winners list against the Tigers next Saturday at 2pm at Visy Park.

NORTH BALLARAT      3.6      5.8      11.10      15. 13. (103)
NORTHERN BLUES      2.2      3.8      7.10         8. 15. (63)

GOALS
North Ballarat: Curnow 4, Austin 2, Wilkins 2, Couch, Dumont, Horbury, Keeble, Peters, Wallace, Warren
Northern Blues: Watson 3, Wood 2, Armfield, Reynolds, Totevski

BEST
North Ballarat: Anthony, Warren, Peters, George, Curnow, Conroy
Northern Blues: Cattapan, Watson, Lucas, Wilson, Wood, Armfield