THE Suns stormed home but just failed to catch North Melbourne in a sweltering Townsville late yesterday, with the stalled Kangaroos holding on for a 13-point win. For the visitors, key forward Aaron Black and Lindsay Thomas top-scored with three goals, while ruckman Daniel Currie was always threatening in a performance that featured two goals. Suns star Gary Ablett had a quiet day with just one goal, but David Swallow maintained his good form by kicking two. Gold Coast coach Guy McKeena praised his outfit for hauling back a 39-point first-quarter deficit to leave north Queensland with respect, but lamented a sluggish start. "I don't think we've ever come close to running down a side after a 39-point head start, so I think the boys got a bit of belief out of that," he said. In the last three quarters it was a very willing contest. It's the second week of NAB and we've got things to work on. The boys have been up here for a couple of days and I think credit goes to the AFL for relaxing the rules and allowing to play six on the bench and take the rotations away. The AFL's heat policy was introduced after temperatures reached 32C at Tony Ireland Stadium before the bounce, and the players needed it, given the game's 3.30pm start. The Kangaroos seemed to relish the testing conditions early as they surged to a commanding seven-goal lead, with Thomas providing the most points with his two goals and Jordan Gysberts a super goal. Inaccurate shooting continued to plague the Suns during the following quarter and North Melbourne thrived to take a 73-34 half-time lead, although a supergoal to the Suns' Steven May and other majors to Swallow and Aaron Hall at least got Gold Coast on to a competitive footing. Ablett's goal was met with rousing applause but the moment was short-lived when Thomas kicked his third, followed by a super goal to North Melbourne's Robbie Tarrant. The Kangaroos continued to assert their dominance in the latter stages of the third term before the Suns finished with a late flurry of goals from Swallow, Campbell Brown, Jarod Breenan and Jarrod Harbrow. North Melbourne Kangaroos 2.13.6 (102) bt Gold Coast Suns 1.11.14 (89)