Martyn is unlikely to take his place in the side against Geelong this weekend after missing training last night. Pagan said that he will be subjected to a fitness test today before makeing a decision or whether he will play. I dont expect him to its a bit of a risk soft tissue injuries normally need 2-3 weeks to heal properly.
North Melbourne has appointed former Carlton ruckman Justin Madden as the club's new ruck coach. Madden, who retired last season after 332 AFL games, is the first former league ruckman to coach the North ruckmen since former Geelong big man Damian Bourke six years ago. Reserves coach Tony Elshaug had been instructing ruckmen at Arden Street in recent times.
North Melbourne's home ground Arden Street will launch the special Transurban city link tole trial next week. Dont know how they got associated with that but if you want to be part of the trial you have to meet at 10am at the Social Club on Wednesday. (I hope this is the date i cant remember for sure, if you interested ring the club anyway).
As expected Brett Allison was North's representative on the Live and Kicking Song contest last night. The winner gets their end of season footy trip paid for by channel 7. It was pretty good, I have seen him do better but it was much better then Richmonds attempt at Tom Jones. Allison was accompanied by Brady Anderson and Glen Freeborn but they didn't actually sing.
North has always recruited experienced or "rejected" footballers extremely well but in my opinion the recruiting of players from the Under 18's hasn't been very successful. One example is Nick Stevens, Danny brother , Nick was expected to go high up in the draft and not be available by the time North's selection came around. He desperately wanted to join his brother at North and he had huge wraps on him. On draft day however Nick was still around when North got to pick their 17 yo but they overlooked him in favour of Shannon Watt. Nick Stevens is now on fire for Port Adelaide averaging 24 possessions a game since his debut 4 rounds ago. I reckon he would have made a very handy addition to our midfield, which is starting to push on a bit in age these days. We dont exactly lack quality tallers at the moment
Injury problems are mounting, Robert Scott and Martin Pike the latest to go down. They will miss 1-2 , Pickett is ok though after his knee scare and will be playing this week
North has an easy win against bottom side Carlton yesterday. North lead all day to run out 42 point winners. Longmire lead the attack up forward with 4 goals, he was well supported at ground level by Peter Bell and Winston Abraham. North are now third on the ladder two games off top side Western Bulldogs.
North Melbourne's 1998 membership figure currently stands at 19,456 which is up slightly on last year.
Corey McKernan plays his 100th game tommorow against the Blues.
North has recalled Darren Crocker and Scott Welsh to replace the injured Martyn and Allison. Crocker hasnt played a game this season after hurting his knee against Carlton in the Ansett Cup down in Hobart. He was playing well at the time though and will add another option to our forward line. Scott Welsh has been recalled after a good game in the reserves last weekend.
Michael Martyns injury is worse then first thought and he will miss this week and possibly next with the hamstring strain.
Denis Pagan running off his usual match winning speech about how he liked the efforts of King, Carey , Pike, Grant etc accidently put Schwass in as one of players which brought a laugh to the normally deadly serious coach. It was weird seeing Schwass in the Red and White for the first time. He and Grant had an interesting battle, playing on each other at one time. The good thing to know though is Shannon Grant will still be kicking the ball out in front of the leading Carey when Schwass is doing the media rounds after retirement. Schwass came back to the social club after the game to have a few drinks with his former team mates.
Andrew Dunkley got three weeks for attempting to knock Carey's head into the Southern Stand. He will probably try for an injuction though knowing the Swans. He pleaded not guilty and said he was off balance and lost sight of the ball, yeah right. Allison will miss 6 weeks with a strained knee ligament while Martyn (slight hamstring) should be able to take his place in the side next week
North defeated the Swans by 10 points on the weekend. North took command in the first term before falling asleep only to come home with a wet sail and get the result. King , Archer and Martyn were excellent in defense while Carey and Blakey were the major goal kickers.
Pike Chandler and Longmire have all been added to the side for tommorows game against the Swans. Stevens, Welsh and Simpson have been dropped.
Its good to see Brisbane have to pay $10,000 a day to defend their drug cheat. Once again Noel Gordon is having a cry about things. Serves the gready Lions right, I dont get what is with these Interstate Teams and their court cases. First it was the Swans and Andrew Dunkley and now its Brisbane trying to defend a drug cheat. I hope he gets 22 weeks and Brisbane have to use up all the money they stole from under our noses to defend the indefensable.
North trained at the MCG for an hour and a half yesterday after getting special permission. Pike trained well and will return to the side this week. Up to four players could be dropped however as Pagan is unhappy with the performance of several senior players. Mark Roberts is still coming along VERY slowly with his hamstring injury. Will be another 3 weeks away at this stage.
North must win this weekends game against Wayne Schwass and the Sydney Swans if they are to stay in touch with the top sides. North has strugled this year and is yet to beat a Melbourne based side. Wins have come over Port, Adelaide, West Coast and Brisbane .
We seem to have escaped any consequence of the little push and shove at half time which is a suprise. There was certianly more then four people in the mix but whose complaining, save the team some money.
North Melbourne has had a huge loss to the Western Bulldogs, It was a good contest for three quarters but North were run over the top of in the final term by the much faster legs of the Dogs. Carey stared earlier but North strugled to score when he was shut down.
North Melbourne coach Denis Pagan has issued the team with an ultimatum - become more consistent as individuals or find yourself in the reserves.
Pagan's warning came last night after a series of indifferent performances by the Kangaroos this year, culminating in the come-from-behind four-point win against Adelaide on Sunday.
"We've been inconsistent in our attack on the ball all year and we've put it to our players that if you can't deliver an even, four-quarter performance then we'll play blokes who will," he said.
"We haven't played anywhere near our best this season, nowhere near it, there's been patches of good play for 20 or 30 minutes, but it hasn't been consistent. We've had lapses in all six games we've played and that's cost us dearly against Fremantle and Melbourne.
Even Hewitt is this weeks Norwich Rising Star joining Pickett who was nominated earlier in the year. Hewitt has had a good last two games kicking four goal, he layed the game winning tackle this week altough nearly stuffed it up when he caused a turn over a few minutes earlier on the wing. He has established himself as a first team regular in the last month.
The umpires boss has supported the holding the ball decisions given to North in the last term of last weekends game, especailly the game winning tackle of Hewitt. Rehn froze and didnt attempt to get did of it he ducked into the tackle and deserved to be free kicked.
North Melbourne has had a lucky 4 point win over the Crows, North ran away with it in the first term but fell to pieces in the 2nd and 3rd terms before fighting back strongly in the final term to pinch it just before the siren thanks to a goal from Peter Bell. Bell said afterward that it was about time he did something as he hadnt done anything all day.
North Melbourne is unlikely to play its home games at the Docklands after Essendon announced it was going to be the grounds major tenant. North way still play 3 or 4 games there against the Interstate clubs but with Western Bulldogs, Essendon and St Kilda tired to the ground it is unlikely there will be room for North.
Anthony Rock is out for a week after being found guilt of tripping. Its a disaster for Rock who is only just starting to regain form after returning from suspension served during the Ansett Cup.
North Melbourne has had a 17 point loss to Fremantle in Perth on the weekend. North trailed all night but has their chances to steal the game. Shannon Grant and Wayne Carey were best for North.
North Melbourne's reserves took another caining on the weekend going down to Richmond, the once mighty reserves side has won only one game so far this season.
Martin Pike has been handed out a 3 week holiday by the Tribuneral. Pike was reported on video evidence for stricking Richard Champion with an elbow to the head. Pike apologised to Champion via a video hook-up to Brisbane. "It was definitely not to try to hurt you or take you out of the game," Pike told his victim.
It was Pike's first suspension at senior level for three AFL
clubs, although he was fined $1500 earlier this year for
making an insulting gesture at an umpire in the Ansett Cup series.
Pike said the MCG incident made him look bad. "I'm trying
to change my image and trying to clean it up," he said.
"It was an accident. My arm came up but I had no vicious
intent. I was unbalanced and I was careless,".Players' advocate Bert Gaudion admitted: "If he did not plead guilty to that, he could plead guilty to insanity."
North Melbourne has had a 17 point win over Brisbane at the MCG. Brett Allison played his 200th game. North lead all day but couldnt shake the Lions, Carey was best on ground at CHB , McKernan kicked 5 goals.
Wayne Schwass continues to star for the Sydney Swans, he kicked 5 goals and was best on ground this week, why couldnt he have displayed that sort of form for us in the past couple of seasons.
Glen Archer has made an amazing recovery and will play in this weekends game against Brisbane
Byron Pickett is the Round 3 nominee for the Norwich Rising Star Award. Pickett put in a great game again Port, the team that over looked him for inclusion in their inaugrial side.
David King will miss three weeks with ligament damage in his ankle. Glen Archer will also be missing for two weeks after injuring his knee. Both players suffered the injuries in Saturday nights 29 point win over Port.Just when North looked like getting a full side on the park more players go down, oh well at least they arnt too serious. North may be boosted however by the return of Allison, Longmire and Crocker
North Melbourne has had a 29 point win over Port Adelaide at Football Park. North lead all night after setting up a big first term lead. Brent Harvey was the star for North kicking 5 goals in his first game for the season. Abraham kicked 4.
ITS NOT TOO LATE TO JOIN AS A MEMBER in 1998. Finals ticket access is still available for all Memberships purchased up untill June.
North Melbourne has lost to Melbourne by 25 points. North were thrashed early before fighting back well only to run out of legs in the last 10min and go under. Carey and Grant were Norths only really good players. The form of Anthony Rock and to a lesser extent Glen Archer is a worry.
Glen Freeborn has been rubbed out for two matches for striking John Worsfold. He pleaded guilty and would have been hoping to get off with one week.
North has had a 2 point win over the Eagles on Friday night. North lead for most of the game before being overrun in the third term, the last quarter was a beauty North fighting back to kick the winning goal with one minute to go. The bad news is that Pickett and Grant were injured and Freeborn was reported
North has annonced Anthony Stevens as the new vice captain replacing Wayne Schwass. I was expecting it to go to Anthony Rock but the selection of Stevens is a good one. North has also got 4 deputies Peter Bell, David King, Glen Archer and Corey McKernan. Anthony Rock again didnt get one of these jobs either, the club is obviously looking for a future leader as all the new duputies are young and players such as John Longmire, Rock and Sholl have been overlooked.
John Longmire will not be available for selection this week after suffering Shoulder damage in the game againtst St Kilda, Longmire is likely to miss 2 to 3 weeks with the injury. North will now have to reply on Matthew Capuano and Evan Hewitt to ruck against Michael Gardiner on Friday.
Of North's injured brigade, only Brett Chandler (ribs) is likely to be available for the season
opener. Corey McKernan (leg stress fracture) is about two weeks away, as is Brett Allison
(hip). Brent Harvey (collarbone) is likely to resume in the reserves this week. Mark Roberts
(hamstring) and Darren Crocker (knee) are three weeks off resuming.
The game against The Eagles may be transferred to Waverly Park if the MCG hasn't come
up after the weekends Billy Joel - Elton John concert. The MCC says that the ground will be
in good condition for the game but the AFL has lined up a transfer should the pitch fail an
inspection this afternoon.
North Melbourne has won the Ansett Australia Cup Grand Final last night in front of 64,000 people. North trailed by 34 points half way though the third term but came storming back to
win the game by 14 points. Carey was best on ground winning the Michael Tuck Medal, Shannon Grant and Winston Abraham also played very well. Abraham has picked up a slight leg injury, he was limping around at family day today but hopefully he will recover in time for out next game which is against the Eagles at the MCG on Friday night.
North will play in its 4th Night Grand final in the 90's on Saturday night, North stands at 1-2 so far so hopefully a big win over St Kilda will even up the score. North will have Anthony Rock and Brett Allison available for selection, St Kilda are likely to recall Nathen Bourke.
North is still trying to hammer out a deal with the TFL to play home games in Tasmania in the year 2000. Greg Miller said on Television that the club was definatly interested in Hobart as North must become an Australia wide club in order to compete with the other 15 AFL teams.
Damien Oliver has earned himself a two week ban from house racing for riding Arden Street incorectly at Sandown on the weekend. Arden Street is owned by John Longmire and i think Craig Sholl or Darren Crocker. Thanks to Olivers crappy riding i lost $20.
North Melbourne has advanced to Saturday nights Ansett Cup grand final with a big win over Brisbane. North lead at every change to come out 45 point winners. Best for North was Jason McCartney who put in a great game at Centre-half back. Mark Roberts was injured early however and will miss 3 weeks with a hamstring strain. Coachrane also broke his nose in the last minute of the match.
Michael Martyn had his charge throw out last night so he will be able to play in tommorows semi final clash against Brisbane. It was a good decision for once as Hird had no place being there in the first place, he was luck to get a free kick it would have be ridiculous if Martyn would have been punished for it.
Good and bad news today for North Melbourne, Martin Pike was given a $1500 fine for his insulting guesture to an umpire which is the good news as he will play next week. The bad news is however is that Michael Martyn has been reported on video evidence for wrestling James Hird to the ground in last weekends game. The charge is crazy considering Hird ran a mile to get involved in the dispute. Bytron Pickett escaped all charges
Brett Chandler will be right for Round 1 of the regular season although he may miss the rest of the Ansett Cup. Thats the good news to come from the Essendon V North game on the weekend.Pickett may still come under video review but hopefully he will be fine.
North now take on Brisbane on Friday night in the semi final of the Ansett Australia cup. The is to be played at Waverly Park and will start at 8:40pm.
North Melbourne has had a comfortable victory over Essendon in the Quarter finals of the Ansett Australia Cup. North trailed at half time before blitzing the Bombers in the second half. Most impressive for North were Michael Martyn and Martin Pike who shut down Essendons only two forward Options Lloyd and Hird. Pike was reported on a trivial arguing with the umpire charge but Pickett may face video investigation for putting Joe Misiti in Hospital. Chandler was North's only injury, he suffered a Hip injury.
North Melbourne is set to transfer its Round 18 game against Port Adelaide to Canberra. North pushed for games in Sydney at the end of last year because of the expense of hosting interstate sides at the MCG but was turned down by the AFL. North members will be compensated for the loss of a home game with extra away game privlidges.
North Melbournes Rookie list for 98 is David Round, Craig Folino, Julien Kirzner and Wade Kingsley. Round has been picked up from the Western Bulldogs while Kirzner and Kingsley have been given another chance after being dropped from the main list.
Anthony Rock received a two week suspension last night at the AFL tribunal for striking Ron Delulio. The charge resulted from a shirt front in the second quarter of Norths Ansett Cup clash with Carlton last weekend. The Umpire who laid the report said that Rock's intention was to "take the player out in a very violent manner with his forearm." Rock pleaded not guilty to the charge.
Rock told the tribunal he was committed to tackle De Iulio, then contact became inevitable after the Carlton player disposed of the ball. He said he had merely braced himself for the collision. "There was no intent to actually hit him in the head at all."
Darren Crocker has been cleared of serious knee damage and will be able to resume in 5 - 6 weeks.
North Melbournes next game is the Grand Prix eve showdown at the MCG against the winner of the Essendon V Hawthorn match.
Coach Denis Pagan said the club had set itself for the quarter-final match, which is likely to draw 80,000 given the right conditions. "The players were made well aware that we wanted to play in the only MCG game of the pre-season series because it's a good opportunity to increase our profile," Pagan said yesterday. North Melbourne chief executive Greg Miller said it was not impossible for North to gain an early cash injection of up to $100,000 from memberships because of the club's next fixture at the MCG.
"It's certainly an attractive proposition for supporters, being successful with momentum and having the MCG as a base to launch our membership drive," Miller said. North is also planning to have former players, including many stalwarts, manning membership booths on Saturday week.
After yesterdays healthy pro North crowd at Hobart Oval yesterday North has again registered interest in playing some home games down there in the future. North would play games that draw low crowds (e.g interstate teams) in Hobart because the games will turn a profit, at the moment a Sunday afternoon game at the MCG against an interstate team can result in a heavy loss because of the high overheads involved in running the MCG. North is unlikely to go aheaad though untill a new bigger stadium is completed
North Melbourne had an easy 45 point win in yesterdays opening round Ansett Cup game against Carlton.
North Melbourne has once again had a bad start fitness wise to the year with star Corey McKernan receiving a stress fracture in his right shin. McKernan picked up in the injury at Training on Thursday. McKernan will miss about 6 weeks with the injury and isnt expected back untill round 2 of the Premiership season. Darren Crocker has also injured his knee and will see a specialist today, hopefully its not too bad but it could be 12 weeks on the side lines for the ageing star
North Melbourne drafted 22 year old former Collingwood player Damian Houlihan with its first selection in Mondays AFL Pre-season draft. Houlihan last played senior AFL football in 1994 and was forced out of the game with a debilitating back injury. Houlihan spent last year at Tatura in the Goulburn Valley League where he finished fourth in the teams best and fairest. Pagan said Houlihan had trained with the team since before Christmas and had done everything asked of him. "We believe he has some talent and we are prepared to back him and give him every opportunity".
North used its second selection in the draft to pick up East Perth midfielder Brady Anderson. Anderson won the Sandover medal playing for East Perth in the WAFL last season. Anderson has been training with Richmond but the club being unable to take part in the draft opened up the door for North to draft him. Former North player Jason Daniltchenko was picked up by Hawthorn.
North Melbourne delisted Jason Daniltchenko in preparation for this weeks pre-season draft. Danilchenko has been around for a long time without being able to cement himself in the senior team. Jason played 29 games for North Melbourne since his debut in 1993 and only managed 3 for 1997. He's has nominated for the draft and might be picked up seeing as he's still quite young. North will now be able to pick two players in the draft after the retirement of Dean Laidley last week.
North Melbourne won its practice match against Port Adelaide at Football park on Friday night by 20 points. North fielded a virtually full strength team for the first time in 98, Anthony Stevens and Michael Martyn were the best on the ground. Martyn kept Port full forward Scott Cummings goal less as Port Adelaide struggled to kick only 4 goals after Quarter time. North's defence was well on top as well as Martyns effort Archer and Byron Pickett also played well. Winston Abraham continued to impress for North playing in a crumbing roll up forward feeding off Wayne Carey. Matthew Capuano also has another good game and looks
North Melbourne has two twilight matches in 1998. The new concept by the AFL twilight games start at 4:30 in the afternoon, its all for TV as usual and i am not a big fan of the time slots. Anyway North play Melbourne at the MCG on the 4th April at 4:30pm and the Swans on the 16th of May at the same stupid time.
There is a supporter group meeting for people in the areas around Portland to Hamilton and down to Colac on the 22nd of Feburary. It will commence at about 4.00 pm and Glen Archer and Matty Capuano will be in attendance. There shall be a barbeque tea available for anyone wishing to come along. For more information ring Rod Jubb on 03 55997258 e-mail [email protected].
Andrew Dunkley got three weeks for attempting to knock Carey's head into the Southern Stand. He will probably try for an injuction though knowing the Swans. He pleaded not guilty and said he was off balance and lost sight of the ball, yeah right. Allison will miss 6 weeks with a strained knee ligament while Martyn (slight hamstring) should be able to take his place in the side next week
Even Hewitt is this weeks Norwich Rising Star joining Pickett who was nominated earlier in the year. Hewitt has had a good last two games kicking four goal, he layed the game winning tackle this week altough nearly stuffed it up when he caused a turn over a few minutes earlier on the wing. He has established himself as a first team regular in the last month.
Martin Pike has been handed out a 3 week holiday by the Tribuneral. Pike was reported on video evidence for stricking Richard Champion with an elbow to the head. Pike apologised to Champion via a video hook-up to Brisbane. "It was definitely not to try to hurt you or take you out of the game," Pike told his victim. 
David King will miss three weeks with ligament damage in his ankle. Glen Archer will also be missing for two weeks after injuring his knee. Both players suffered the injuries in Saturday nights 29 point win over Port.Just when North looked like getting a full side on the park more players go down, oh well at least they arnt too serious. North may be boosted however by the return of Allison, Longmire and Crocker
Glen Freeborn has been rubbed out for two matches for striking John Worsfold. He pleaded guilty and would have been hoping to get off with one week.
North Melbourne has won the Ansett Australia Cup Grand Final last night in front of 64,000 people. North trailed by 34 points half way though the third term but came storming back to
win the game by 14 points. Carey was best on ground winning the Michael Tuck Medal, Shannon Grant and Winston Abraham also played very well. Abraham has picked up a slight leg injury, he was limping around at family day today but hopefully he will recover in time for out next game which is against the Eagles at the MCG on Friday night.
After yesterdays healthy pro North crowd at Hobart Oval yesterday North has again registered interest in playing some home games down there in the future. North would play games that draw low crowds (e.g interstate teams) in Hobart because the games will turn a profit, at the moment a Sunday afternoon game at the MCG against an interstate team can result in a heavy loss because of the high overheads involved in running the MCG. North is unlikely to go aheaad though untill a new bigger stadium is completed
