1998 - Round 1 - North Melbourne v West Coast
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Be sure to check out the "Head to Head" statistics link above. It contains the scores, and match details of all recent games between the clubs.
North Melbourne
In:
Out:
West Coast
In:
Out:
North Melbourne 4.4 9.7 11.10 15.13 (103)
West Coast 2.4 7.7 13.10 15.11 (101)
Goals
Nth Melb: Sholl 5, Grant 2, Stevens, Archer, Pike, Abraham, Carey, Groom, Bell, Simpson
West Coast: Ball 4, Heady, Gehrig, Cousins, Phillip Matera 2, Braun, Morrison, Turnbull
A lucky snap by Adam Simpson rolled into goal with a minute left to play. It was the last scoring shot of the game - and more importantly was the winning goal. Martin Pike shepherded the ball through the goal to the delight of the 27,000 pro-North crowd.
North had only 6 days break from the Night Grand Final, but started well. Carey started at full-forward, but rotated with Craig Sholl for the centre-half-forward position. The duel between Jakovich and Carey did not eventuate - as McIntosh played most of the game on Carey. Both players were good contributors to their respective sides, but neither had a big influence on the game.
North has a two goal lead at quarter time, but was far more dominant on the field. Early second quarter goals made it look like North was going to run away with the game - but West Coast hit back. For the rest of the second and third quarters Jason Ball and Ryan Turnbull managed to bring down marks close to goal. North was struggling up forward, with only Craig Sholl looking like taking a mark. West Coast was starting to dominate the centre-bounces.
Uncharacteristically, the North half-back line looked tired. David King didn't have his usual run, and when the backline tried to drive forward their was a break-down on the half-forward line. Pagan started the match with Pike roaming the ground and Archer in attack. The backline looked more settled when the two players returned.
It came down to the last quarter and North 15 points down. North got two lucky goals - Stevens had a long kick, which bounced through. Stevens probably meant the kick as a pass. Even luckier was Simpson's snap, which rolled end over end for 15 metres. It was the winning kick.
North reacted to the goal by sending the entire team in to the backline. When Freeborn marked in the back-pocket North chipped the ball around, playing keepings off until the siren went.
Anthony Stevens was voted best on ground. He had 31 disposals, but many of those passes were ineffective kicks. Sholl was North's only effective forward. Ball was excellent for West Coast, as was Heady and Braun. Freeborn was reported for striking Worsfold. In an earlier incident Worsfold gave away a free kick about 50 metres from the play to Abraham. Abraham goaled - which proved to be the difference between the teams. No explanation for the free-kick was evident - although there were some suggestions that it may have been for holding.
Byron Pickett played a half before injuring his Achilles - but he continued to look good. His pace and balance was exceptional. With McKernan, Allison and Chandler almost ready to return, North would be happy to have "stolen" this match. Both sides were below their best, and there was no dominant player in the game.