VENUE & TIME: Etihad Stadium, Saturday, 23 July, 2.10pm (AEST)
HEAD TO HEAD: Played 24, North Melbourne 10, Brisbane Lions 13, Drawn 1
LAST TIME: Brisbane Lions 10.13 (73) def North Melbourne 8.11 (59) at the Gabba, Round 9 2011
LAST TIME AT VENUE: North Melbourne 12.18 (90) def Brisbane Lions 13.11 (89) at Etihad Stadium, Round 11 2010.
WALKING WOUNDED:
North Melbourne copped a blow with one of their heroes in the win over the Bulldogs – Ben Speight – ruled out for the season with a shoulder injury. Other than that, the Roos came through unscathed with fringe players Sam Wright (shoulder), Matthew Scott (knee), Ayden Kennedy (knee) and Ed Lower (knee) already done for the season. Captain Brent Harvey will continue to play through the pain barrier with his broken thumb.
Brisbane have suffered an enormous loss with inspirational captain Jonathan Brown out for the remainder of the season after undergoing facial surgery for the second time this year. The courageous Brown flew back into a pack and copped a stray elbow from team-mate Mitch Clark knocking him unconscious and fracturing several bones in his face. Clark also hurt his ankle in the loss to Cats and is no certainty to line up this week. Injury-prone defender Josh Drummond faces a test on his knee, but he is unlikely to be risked, while Claye Beams (foot), Ryan Lester (knee), Daniel Merrett (back), Jamie Charman (Achilles) and Xavier Clarke (foot) are all out for the remainder of the year.
FORM:
North Melbourne's Past Five:
Round 17: Win, 21.16 (142) – 17.9 (111) v Dogs, Etihad Stadium
Round 16: Loss, 3.12 (30) – 22.15 (147) v Pies, MCG
Round 15: Loss, 10.10 (70) – 12.7 (79) v Saints, Etihad Stadium
Round 14: Win, 21.10 (136) - 14.7 (91) v Power, AAMI Park
Round 13: Win, 17.9 (111) - 12.18 (90) v Bombers, Etihad Stadium
Brisbane Lions' Past Five:
Round 17: Loss, 15.14 (104) – 20.13 (133) v Cats, Gabba
Round 16: Loss, 9.9 (63) - 16.9 (105) v Hawks, Aurora Stadium
Round 15: Win, 15.9 (99) - 13.10 (88) v Power, Gabba
Round 14: Loss, 10.5 (65) - 12.16 (88) v Dockers, Patersons Stadium
Round 13: Loss, 14.10 (94) - 18.17 (125) v Tigers, Gabba
North Melbourne produced easily their best performance of the season last week against the Dogs to return to the winners' list after two straight losses. Trailing by 20 points early on, the Roos stormed into the lead and held off a spirited fightback to register the season-saving 31-point victory. The win was sweet redemption after the humiliating 117-point loss to Collingwood the week before.
Brisbane were also super impressive last week despite going down to Geelong by 29 points. The Lions outplayed the second-placed Cats for large portions of the match and led going into the final quarter before they fell away as Geelong powered home. The result was a significant improvement on the loss to the 42-point loss to the Hawks the week before. The Lions have just one win – against bottom-placed Port Adelaide – in their past seven matches.
WHO'S HOT:
Jack Ziebell produced the easily the best performance of his 40-game career last week against the Dogs. He registered a career-high 41 disposals (28 kicks and 13 handballs), while he also booted a goal and laid six