1998 - Round 4 - North Melbourne v Brisbane
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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:
Brisbane
In:
Out:
North Melbourne 7.2 10.4 15.9 21.11 (132)
Brisbane 3.4 8.9 11.12 17.18 (120)
Goals
Nth Melb: McKernan 5, Grant 4, Harvey 3, Hewitt 2, Rock, Scott, Abraham, Carey, Sholl, Welsh, Allison
Brisbane: Johnson 5, Bradshaw 4, D Scott 3, Champion 2, Black, Leppitsch, Picket
A great first quarter set up a win against the dangerous Lions. Brisbane, without a win, had been under pressure all week, with talk centering around John Northey's future. Allegations were made that players had even played several practical jokes to spite their coach. North knew Brisbane would come out hard, which made the first quarter effort even more important.
North took the lead after a Sholl mark and goal from outside 50m within the first minute of play. North was to keep the lead all day. McKernan played full forward all match, making it obvious he was not fit enough to play on the ball. Instead Hewitt, Longmire and Capuano rotated in the centre, putting pressure on the Brisbane rucks. Archer made an amazing recovery from knee soreness, and played up forward, alongside Abraham, Harvey and Sholl. Allison's 200th match saw him on and off the bench - rotating as the small forward.
North's forward line looks fantastic this year with the addition of the smaller players. Abraham has a touch of class and has the magical skills so many of the Aboriginal players seem to possess. In the last two weeks Brent Harvey has been brilliant. His pace and uncanny goalsense has made him a permanent selection in Norths starting 18. With Sholl and Carey the main marking options, Pagan has the luxury of being able to add Allison or Archer, plus have Mellington, Crocker and Groom on standby.
Carey played at centre-half-back and was best on ground. It is a position that suits the team balance. He is able to pressure opposition forwards, and with his excellent field kicking set up North from defense. In a sense Pagan is playing Carey exactly as Jakovich does for West Coast. It is a "sweeper" type role, with Carey dropping back to take easy marks, and run off. Carey had an amazing 10 marks in the first half, and is racking up kicks - he is eighth in the AFL and second (to Stevens) at the club. The backline places less stress on Carey's body, which may be a good idea to prolong his career. Carey still managed to drift forward to take an excellent overhead mark, which proved the shoulder is close to 100%.
North suffered badly in the first quarter from exceptionally poor umpiring. Most of the media made comment that the Lions were kept in the game at quarter time by the poor umpiring. Almost all radio stations agreed it was the worst umpiring of the season. Two goals in the last minute of the quarter extended North's lead to a handy 4 goals.
Brisbane suprisingly outplayed North in the second quarter, but only kicked 5.5. This was double the scoring shots by North. For the rest of the game North slowly extended the lead, and Brisbane couldn't really ever challenge North further. It was a hard fought victory, and Brisbane's two forwards in Johnson and Bradshaw marked very well and kicked 9 goals between them. Bradshaw looks to be a star in the making.
Shannon Grant played very well, kicking 4 goals. He must surely feel the pressure, seeing that Wayne Schwass is starring in Sydney. Schwass is the Brownlow favourite, and kicked 5 goals the night previous to North's match. Pike played well on Voss but was reported on video for striking Champion. He broke free for several runs, but kicked poorly into attack. It looked like Pike was running too quickly and kicked without balancing properly.
McKernan's 5 goals were achieved without dominance. He took some easy marks, got away with a few push in the backs, and often was caught behind his opponent. He is no where near 100%, but his height helps to exploit the opposition's lack of height. The dangerous Leppitsch, who usually stars against North, was well held by Martyn. In the end Northey used Leppitsch as a dummy forward to drag Carey away from the play, which negated Leppitch's influence on the game.
North would be thrilled with the win, especially the performance of Harvey, Grant and Carey. Allison and McKernan are still recovering from injury and the run would have helped. Rock showed an improved performance, but whether he stays in the 22 remains to be seen.