The Northern Blues fell to their fourth defeat of the season on Saturday afternoon, going down by 54 points to Footscray at Ikon Park.
In what turned out to be a disappointing day for Northern result, the Blues were outrun by the Dogs, going down comprehensively 10.7 (67) to 17.19 (121).
Jack Silvagni and Matthew Owies were the two outstanding performers on the day in Blue, but Northern were left to rue too few contributors.
The opening term was a grind, with both teams struggling to assert themselves on the contest. Owies got the Blues’ first of the day, but after Footscray found its spark in the middle portion of the term, Northern entered the first break three points behind.
Footscray began to assert its presence on the contest and despite failing to completely convert their dominance on the scoreboard, the second quarter belonged to the visitors.
After Owies’ third in the opening minute of the second term, Footscray enjoyed a dominant quarter, with only inaccuracy stopping them from taking a greater lead than the 33-point margin.
A positive for Northern in the opening half was the continued re-emergence of Alex Johnson, who made his long awaited comeback from injury last week.
Johnson continued to build his confidence down back, collecting 10 disposals in the opening half and finishing with 16 for the game.
In the second half, Northern brought the fight despite Footscray's polish. Jack Silvagni used his experience and smarts to provide another target up forward, with a courageous contested mark up forward his best moment in a two-goal quarter.
It was Northern’s renewed want and aggression for the contest, as well as their improved skill execution, which got the back into the contest, narrowing the margin to 26 points at the final change.
Owies continued to fire up forward, contributing another two goals for the quarter to finish with a career-high five goals.
In the final term, Footscray was able to reassert its dominance, ultimately pulling away to confine the Blues to a 54-point loss.
Jack Silvagni continued to be a standout, combining his tackle pressure with a clever goal sense to finish the game with 26 disposals, 11 tackles and three goals.
Matthew Kennedy was also relentless in his efforts all afternoon to help Northern win the ball around the contests, finishing with 29 disposals, while Darcy Lang wasn’t far behind with 26 of his own.
The Northern Blues have a bye next week but will look to regroup in their Round 13 clash against Geelong at Ikon Park on June 29th.
NORTHERN BLUES 3.3 4.2 8.4 10.7 (67)
FOOTSCRAY 3.5 7.17 10.18 17.19 (121)
GOALS: Owies 5, J.Silvagni 3, Fasolo, O’Dwyer
BESTS: Owies, Cottrell, Silvagni, Kennedy, Lang, Goddard
