Round 10 Hostplus SANFL Snapshot – Saturday

West Adelaide showed plenty of heart but it wasn’t quite enough as North Adelaide held on grimly for a four-point win at Hisense Stadium. 

Lively Bloods forward Dylan McCormick had a chance to steal the premiership points with a set shot from 45m after the final siren but his kick sailed wide, and short, much to the Roosters’ relief.

North led by as much as 23 points nearing the 10-minute mark of the final quarter when captain Alex Spina backed up his rare goal with two in the term from set shots.

But the Bloods, under the guidance of caretaker coach Sam Elliott, refused to concede as Tom Scully kicked the next two in succession to bring the deficit back to just 11 points.

McCormick then converted a free kick from a set shot at close range to get the Bloods within a goal as the clocked ticked into time-on of the final stanza.

With the vocal West members cheering them home, the Bloods continued to charge forward but North defender Cody Raak enhanced his great performance with two match-saving chest marks on the last line of defence in consecutive minutes.

It was enough to give North interim mentor Sam Mayes his second victory in the chair as his side kept in touch with the top five by earning its fourth win of the season.

Raak was fittingly named the X Golf Player of the Day with 19 disposals and eight marks in a fine effort for North while Hughen Wissman racked up a team-high 26 disposals to go with seven tackles and five clearances.

Oskar Faulkhead and Harrison Wigg also collected 19 disposals for the Roosters while Spina had 18 to go with his two goals.

Nippy North forward Kym LeBois continues to enjoy his revival, booting four goals in the second term while Lachie Wilsdon also kicked four goals in his 50th Hostplus SANFL League outing.

Still without co-captain Sam Frost (AC joint), the Bloods were led well by Kobe Ryan with 28 disposals and 11 clearances while McCormick finished with 25 touches to go with his 2.3 on the scoreboard.

West’s Brady Searle worked hard for his 23 disposals and seven clearances while Scully booted a team-high three goals, including two brilliant solo efforts against his direct opponent.