1998 Premiership Season

Goals : Carey and McKernan kicked four each, Roberts three, Abraham and Bell two each and Sholl and Harvey one each.

Best: Roberts, Archer, Carey

Well North lost to Hawthorn for the first time in recent memory and we are now 7th on the ladder, its actually not as bad as I first thought it was as other results went our way and we are only one game off third spot. We still should have won though the team is playing very poorly, North lead for most of the day but failed to put the Hawks away at any stage, there was a strong 4 goal wind blowing for the entire game and North failed to use it too their advantage, especially in the third term when we let them keep pace with us, we needed to turn 3 clear in order to win and although they tried hard in the last term it just wasn't going to happen.

Mark Roberts was our best player on the day and Carey put in another good performance, Pickett did some good things again but overall the performance was down. Darren Crocker's performance has been disappointing since bursting back into the team against Collingwood with 4 goals. North missed Martyn, although Archer did a good job on Dunstall it left us a defender short and it probably cost us in the end. TO make matters worse Anthony Stevens (striking) and Shannon Grant (Tripping) have both been reported and may miss next weeks vital game against Essendon. Thank god Hird's broken down else we would be looking at three losses in a row. Corey McKernan was good in patches kicking 4 goals but Paul Samon was a star for the Hawks doing very well around the ground and dropping back in defence when needed. Pagans dig at the senior players seems unfounded to be as its seems to be the younger players that are struggling e.g Hewitt, Cochrane (as pointed out to me in e-mail I don't think he has ever played a good game), Grant etc.

North seemed to lack pace (not for the first time) against the Hawks who were playing with great passion and team spirit, Shane Crawford played really well for them. Shannon Grant is going though a bad patch, he got a total of two touches for the entire game and missed an opportunity (all be it a difficult one) in the dieing stages of the match. I didn't go to the match maybe that's why we are losing, that would be a simple solution, don't think its that easy though anyway here the match review from the Sun I will have mine back in operation this Friday.

HAWTHORN'S true believers erupted in premiership proportions yesterday.

After so many cases of heartache, they revelled in the knowledge that natural justice was alive and well.

The Hawks have made a habit of stumbling in thrillers this season, but finally they rewarded suffering fans with a pulsating two-point disposal of North Melbourne.

After weeks of being dogged by lapses in concentration and skill, it was the Hawks who forced the pace in what became an epic second half.

Inspired by midfielders Shane Crawford and Rayden Tallis, Hawthorn ran relentlessly into a fierce wind in the third term to post six golden goals.

North Melbourne also managed six majors in an amazing 36-minute quarter, but the Kangaroos' three-point buffer was far from cosy at windy Waverley.

Battle weary Hawthorn supporters had a hunch it was not going to be easy, although the Hawks had the aid of the breeze . . . and another addition to their nightmare season in the stands almost unfolded.

Aaron Lord kicked the Hawks one point clear after two minutes with a brilliant right snap, but they dominated general play for the next eight minutes without reward.

Wayne Carey - so often the man to spoil the Hawthorn party - marked strongly at the 10-minute mark and coolly slotted a goal from 45m. You could hear the groan around the Hawthorn dominated terraces.

When Byron Pickett surged forward and set up a goal for Winston Abraham four minutes later, the Kangaroos led by nine points and the same old cruel story was unfolding.

This time the Hawks were not going to let it slip - Nick Holland wobbled through a goal at the 15-minute mark to reduce the lead to three points.

North Melbourne defender Glen Archer was proving impassable, but then Dixon found space to put the Hawks ahead after a set shot at the 22-minute mark.

Hawks defender Jonathon Hay bravely smothered a kick from Robert Scott, who was ominously surging forward, and the game finally appeared over when Lord goaled again from 35m to open up a nine-point lead after 24 minutes.

True to form, the heart palpitations were not done - North's Corey McKernan goaled three minutes later from 55 metres to keep his team in touch.

Shannon Grant's second possession for the day rolled goalward with 30 seconds to play, but bounced to the wrong side of the post. At last, Hawthorn's luck had changed.

Hawthorn coach Ken Judge was typically low key in all the excitement.

'It (the result) says we are improving - under that pressure three or four weeks ago, we would have made the wrong decisions,' Judge said.

Once again it was Hawthorn's lone ruckman Paul Salmon who ignited his side.

Salmon was superb, particularly in the first half when the Hawks showed their rivals that they meant business.

The durable veteran finished with 16 kicks, 16 handballs and six marks and dominated the centre bounce duals.

Crawford and Tallis were the main beneficiaries with Crawford again his damaging self with 23 possessions.

While Jason Dunstall looked proppy at full-forward on Archer, Nick Holland was sensational for the Hawks at centre half-forward after copping some of the blame for last week's agonising loss to West Coast.

Holland, who tired at the WACA eight days earlier, finished with 13 marks and four goals and was at his most valuable when the tension peaked.

Carey was dangerous for North at the other end of the ground, but found himself standing Holland in the dying stages.

Carey was dominant on Mark Graham in the first half, but Hay helped quell him after half-time.

Evergreen Mark Roberts was also a fine contributor for North with 26 possessions and three goals and Anthony Stevens played his usual serviceable game, but the Kangaroos were disappointing through midfield again.

North's pace deficiency was obvious and it seemed wary on taking risks on the wild open spaces of Waverley.

The Kangaroos may have been part of one of the most stirring matches of the season, but they are now staring at a not-so-flattering 7-6 win-loss ratio.

'We didn't have enough good players and it was left to too few again,' North Melbourne coach Denis Pagan lamented.

A Hawthorn-North Melbourne draw in 1985 is remembered as one of the best games in history and maybe another draw would have been fitting yesterday . . . then again it was time Hawthorn enjoyed a break.