Marvel Mess: Dees Do Enough While North Faithful Suffer Again
Another Sunday arvo at Marvel Stadium, another result that tells you everything you need to know about where these two clubs sit in 2026. Melbourne got the job done against North Melbourne, and if I’m being honest, it wasn’t exactly must-see footy, but it matters plenty to how this ladder shakes out from here.
I’ll admit I had one eye on this one purely through a Collingwood lens. Every result up and down that top eight affects percentage, affects who we might cross paths with in September, and affects whether the Pies can keep building that buffer we’ve worked so hard for. So carn, let’s get into it.
Melbourne find a way, even if it’s not pretty
The Demons have had a funny old year. Some weeks they look like the outfit that terrorised the comp not that long ago, other weeks they look like a side searching for its identity. Against North they found enough polish in the midfield to control territory for long stretches, and that’s usually the difference between winning and losing at Marvel where the ball can zip around if you let it.
Melbourne’s inside mids just had more grunt through the middle stanzas. That’s not me being generous to a rival club, that’s just what the game showed. When you win clearances and win them repeatedly, you dictate terms. North simply couldn’t match it for long enough patches of the game.
Would I want that Melbourne midfield running through the guts of our side in a final? Not particularly. They’re not the ferocious combine of a few seasons back, but there’s still enough class there to hurt teams who switch off.
North’s inside 50 game still a work in progress
Look, I feel for the Kangaroos supporters, I really do. There’s a loyalty there that rivals our own at Collingwood, and that’s saying something given what Pies fans have been through over the decades. But watching North try to generate scores forward of centre, it’s clear the structure still isn’t quite humming.
Too often the ball got hoofed forward without a genuine contest set up, and Melbourne’s defenders — who have been through the mill themselves this year — were able to mop up and rebound. North’s forward line needs more connection, more players hitting the right spots at the right time. That’s not a slight on effort, the effort was there. It’s a structural thing, and it’ll take time.
The umpiring calls that had North fans fuming
Now I’m not going to sit here and pretend I know exactly what every free kick count looked like from the box, but from what I saw and from what North supporters have been saying since the siren, there were a couple of contentious high contact calls that went against the home side at crucial times.
I get it. As a Collingwood fan I reckon we cop it worse than anyone some weeks, so I’ve got sympathy for any club that feels the whistle wasn’t quite square. I’m not saying it was deliberate or biased, plenty of fans reckon these things even out over a season, but you could argue North were entitled to feel a touch hard done by on a couple of those 50-metre penalties that shifted momentum.
It’s a tough gig for the umpires every week and I genuinely don’t envy them. But when a game’s tight, those moments get magnified, and North fans have every right to be filthy about it.
What this means further up the ladder
This is where it gets interesting for us Pies supporters. Every Melbourne win keeps them within touch of that top eight conversation, which means every percentage point matters when we’re eyeing off double chances and home finals.
North languishing near the bottom isn’t a shock to anyone, but it does mean the Roos become a team everyone above them is licking their lips over for the run home. If Collingwood get North in the last month of the season, you’d fancy the Pies to make hay, and that could be crucial when it comes to securing a top four spot.
Melbourne, on the other hand, are the sort of team you don’t want to face in an elimination final. They’ve shown enough this season that when their midfield clicks, they can knock over sides that should beat them on paper. Definately a team to watch if they sneak into that eight come September.
Carn the Pies — eyes on the bigger picture
Look, this wasn’t a classic. It wasn’t the sort of game that’ll be replayed on the highlights reel in ten years time. But results like this shape finals footy, and as a one-eyed Collingwood supporter I’m watching every scoreline with half an eye on how it affects our run home.
Melbourne banking four points here keeps the pressure on the chasing pack. North’s fans, bless them, go back to the drawing board again, hoping for better days. It’s a cycle every long-suffering supporter knows, and Pies fans of a certain vintage know it better than most given what we went through before this current era of success.
Should of been a bigger contest given both club’s histories, but footy in 2026 doesn’t always deliver theatre. Sometimes it just delivers cold hard percentage points, and for a Collingwood diehard like me, that’s exactly what I was scanning for out of this one.
Final word
North need to find scoring efficiency forward of centre if they’re going to climb out of the bottom half of the ladder. Melbourne need to find more consistency if they want to be a genuine threat rather than just a team that beats the teams they should beat.
And Collingwood? We keep doing what we do, keep an eye on the results around the competition, and get ready for a run home that could define our whole season. Carn the Pies.
