1998 Ansett Cup - Round 2 - North Melbourne v Essendon
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North Melbourne
In:
Out:
Essendon
In:
Out:
North Melbourne 2.5 4.9 9.13 16.14 (110)
Essendon 3.2 7.7 8.9 8.15 (63)
Goals
Nth Melb: Scott, Chandler, Pike, Abraham, Carey, Bell 2, Blakey, Anderson, Sholl
Essendon: Hird, Cockatoo-Collins 2, Lucas, Alessio, Moorcraft, Blumfield
North Melbourne overcame early inaccuracy in front of goal, to completely shut out Essendon in the second half. Essendon was held to a mere goal in the second half. It was not until midway through the third quarter that North managed to seize the lead, and at that stage Essendon had come to a grinding halt.
Early in the game Essendon looked to jump North, by kicking 2.1 before North had scored. It was a clever Sholl snap that put North on the scoreboard. Poor kicking, including a miss from 15 metres by Longmire, had North trailing at quarter time, despite being the better team.
The second quarter was a long tough quarter. Joe Misiti was carried off by stretcher, after fracturing his jaw in a collision. It took several minutes to carry the unconcious Misiti from the ground, during which heated confrontation in the Essendon forward line occurred. Martyn dragged Hird by the jumper, and a free kick was awarded to Essendon. Pike then was reported, perhaps for abusive language, and Hird was given a 50m penalty. It was extremely poor umpiring during this period, as it was obvious that tensions were mounting whilst Misiti was being attended to. The umpires should have taken control of the situation, perhaps by calling the respective captains over, and ordering them to keep the two teams in separate huddles during the 4 minute break.
Essendon had the better of the quarter, but also suffered by kicking poorly. Hird missed two easy set shots at goal from 30m, as Essendon kicked four behinds on end. North trailed at the half, having kicked only 4 goals for the match.
The highlight of the match was Moorcraft's grab in the goalsquare. He managed to get the perfect sit, and rose above his opponent to take a great high mark. This matched Abraham's right foot goal from an impossible angle. Abraham kicked a right foot goal from the right forward pocket, along the boundary line by screwing the ball back across his body.
After the main break, North came out firing. Scott kicked two goals to put North just a point behind Essendon. After Cockatoo-Collins outmarked Pickett and goaled midway through the third quarter it was all North. Carey chipped in with 2 goals, as did Pike, and North ran away with the match, kicking the next five goals.
An impressive performance by Abraham should see him start in North's best line-up. Capuano returned from a year long injury, but had limited effect on the match. North would be pleased to progress to the semi-finals, with players of the calibre of McKernan, Rock and Allison still to return. North's backline was again superb, led by Martyn, who kept Lloyd goalless (he kicked 10 goals last week), and Archer.