1998 Premiership Season

Goals:Carey 8; Rock 4; Grant 3; Bell, Harvey, Abraham, McKernan, Pike, Capuano, Sholl

Best: Carey, Simpson, Rock

North Melbourne has stretched their winning run to seven games after easily disposing of a pathetic Fremantle. North played scrappy football early but got into gear in the second half to come away with a 105 point win. Money hungry Peter Mann manager to somehow injure himself before the game had even started leaving Fremantle's already stretched list in an even more desperate position. Fremantle played well in the first quarter Mann's replacement kicking the first goal. North's first quarter was wasteful, North seem to have lapsed into inaccuracy again in the last couple of weeks and the first quarter was shocking, Simpson missed an easy one and Carey missed one that he should have been able to get with his eyes closed. Fletcher had a few early touches but was tagged fairly effectively by Simpson as the game wore on.

Winston Abraham put a great (and fair despite the fuss the papers are making of it) bump on Bond sending him to the bench to get his breath back. North got their first goal through Shannon Grant after Sholl did well to keep the ball in North's forward 50 after a failed clearance attempt by the defence. David King was reported for the most trivial of things and I have no doubt the charge will either be withdrawn or thrown out after 2 minutes, the reverse angle on the telle showed he just met him with his shoulder, it wasn't even a hard collision. Freo got a 50 out of it though and increased their lead. North were still pushing forward looking for a goal, Anthony Rock should have got it but he got a terrible bounce in the square and the Docker defence managed to get back and tie it up. Corey McKernan took a big grab and kicked a goal to give North the lead for the first time and they took a 3 point lead into the first change.

Abraham started the second with an electrifying run making his way past three defenders to gather the ball but he could only manage a behind. Anthony Rock got his first for the game after the umpire paid advantage from a Carey free kick. Corey McKernan was started to look good overhead he took another strong mark in the backline. North lifted a gear, well Carey certainly did anyway, he kicked his first goal of the game after receiving a pass from Crocker then took a wonderful one hander dragging it in when it seemed certain to go out of bounds. He calming ran around and kicked his second and North had opened up a handy break. Carey combined well with McKernan but his long bomb was touched over for a behind. Brent Harvey added another for North and we seemed to be cruising toward an easy win. David King did one of his runs only to have his shot hit the post when it looked home for all money. North's intensity dropped off though in the last five minutes and the Dockers were able to kick three late goals to close within 14 before Carey steadied with his third of the quarter to give North a 21 point lead at half time.

Carey started the third term in the same way he ended the second plucking down a mark when he was third in line going back and confidently kicking the goal. Mckernan who was enjoying a great game in the air and in the ruck was not doing so well in his kicking he kicked three shockers in a row one of them resulting in a turnover that cost North a goal. Carey after getting a few frees in the first half was robbed of two marks within a minute early in the second, he was looking unstoppable but the umpires decided to give the Dockers a break and disallow some of his marks for a while much to Carey's disgust who pointed out the umpires errors on the scoreboard. He outbodied his opponent and marked again soon after but this time he was aloud to take his kick and comfortably registered another goal. Anthony Rock soccered another goal for the Roos after a defensive error to put North 40 in front. North were on fire now the younger Dockers already beaten, to the Roo's credit though they keep on grounding them into the dirt. Wayne Carey won a free kick in 50 after applying a great tackle, it resulted in yet another goal for the captain, three more Browlow votes in the bag. Rock was having a dream match in his return to the seniors not only was he gathering a lot of the ball he was kicking the goals, he added a third goal to his total to put North further clear. Carey marked another one running back with the flight but put it wide, Grant didn't miss when he got his chance though drilling his second goal from 50 out on the run. A late defensive error by McCartney gave the Dockers a goal but it didn't matter North were 55 points up and in top gear.

North came out and finished the job in the final term after a scrappy first seven minutes. Sholl who was having a poor game personally still did a few good things, he set up his second goal after again keeping the ball alive and handing it off to Grant who kicked his third. The defence was playing well, Martyn and McCartney were an impenetrable wall while Pickett was staring swooping in and picking up the lose ball. The midfield was on fire thanks mainly to North's ruck dominance and the forward line lead by Carey was again looking unstoppable. Carey added two more great goals in the final term before being taken off the ground, while Winston Abraham weaved some magic to put though his first goal of the night. North pushed on toward the 100 point mark, everything was going right for them, Matthew Capuano lumbered after a misdirected pass, finally got the ball and snapped it though from an impossible angle. North kept on pumping it forward out of the centre, Bell got a goal and then Craig Sholl got on in the dieing seconds to put North 104 points in front. It was a great game and the Kanga's have their best winning streak in 19 years and sit on top of the AFL ladder tonight.