1998 Premiership Season

Goals: Longmire 4, Abraham 3, Bell 3, Harvey 2, Chandler 1, Hewitt 1,Simpson 1,Stevens 1, Welsh 1

North has had an easy 42 point win over Carlton at Optus Oval today inflicting the Blues 8th straight loss making them the worst Carlton side since the turn of the century. Playing at Optus Oval means having to get to the ground by 11 o'clock to avoid paying for a seat so I got to see the reserves for the first time this season. Mark Roberts played , he didn't do much but he played and will be ready for recall after a couple of weeks in the twos to get some form back. Matthew Capuano had a very good game and will be pushing for reinclusion at the expense of Even Hewitt who hasn't done much in the past two weeks. One player who was missing from the reserves was Adam Simpson who got a late call up to the seniors replacing Crocker in the selected side.

Carlton won the toss and elected to kick with a pretty strong wind in the first term. Silvagni started at Centre Half back on Carey while Martin Pike took Kouta and Blakey took Pierce. The Blues started the game the better of the two sides but kicked poorly. The Blues added 5 straight behinds and it was obvious that if North could just hold Carlton in the first term it wouldn't be too difficult to pull away and win the match. North Melbourne kicked the first goal of the game with their first chance after Longmire marked strongly and goaled. McKernan didn't have a good start to his 100th game dropping two really easy marks in defence. John Longmire was playing well early he set up North's second chance on goal which was unfortunately missed by Peter Bell. Anthony Rock also had a good start to the game he had four possessions in the first minute and a half. North's second goal came though Anthony Stevens from a free kick, It was a really tough game. North was obviously trying to stop Carlton kicking away with the wind. Carey was being well held by Silvagni but did manage to take one huge mark. North blocked up the game very successfully keeping the Blues goaless in the first term and managing to kick two themselves into the wind.

Some advise for North fans who couldn't get a seat and had to pay $15 to get into the Legends Stand, wait until Quarter time. The attendants don't check the tickets at Quarter, Half and Three Quarter time because they think that you have just been to the toilet or to get some food. I was walking in and out of the reserved area of the Legends stand without any trouble at all. The stand is always half empty so just walk in as if you own the place and find yourself a seat in the corner somewhere and enjoy the game. It's much better then standing up all day and it saves forking over a fortune to John Elliot and his cronies.

Carlton came out firing in the second term. They kicked the first goal of the quarter and should have taken the lead if Whittnal would have converted an easy chance. John Longmire was North's main target up forward, he again marked well and kicked though his second goal to restore North's 2 goal lead. Carlton continued to press Pike managed to scramble one shot off the line , North was helped by the Blues poor kicking. Weight of numbers won through eventually and Carlton kicked a goal. Longmire had another chance from an acute angle in the pocket but missed. Archer took a great mark on the wing and pumped the ball inside 50 were Welsh marked and kicked a goal. Winston Abraham was starting to put his stamp on the game he did a marvellous run and then kicked a goal to stretch North's lead. Dennis Pagan moved Longmire into the backline for some strange reason, he was doing well up forward I have no idea why he shifted him onto Kouta. Peter Bell marked in the goal square and kicked a goal and North finally started to pull away from the Blues. Pagan switched Longmire back to full forward and moved Carey who had been relatively quite into the backline. North got one more goal just before half time thanks to an off the ground effort by Harvey, North lead by 24 points at the main break.

The Blues got the first goal of the third term after Longmire missed the ball looking into the sun the ball went right past Johnny but he didn't see it because of the heavy glare that he was looking into. Carlton were certainly trying to match it with North, they continued to through themselves in at every opportunity. Again North only had to hold the Blues and victory would be assured. Abraham kicked another running goal to re-establish the 4 goal lead. North were running the ball out of defence pretty easily, Pickett and Harvey combined for North's next goal. Scott Welsh injured himself and was taken from the ground after flying for a mark and landing heavily on his shoulder. Carey was doing well in the backline getting a timely fist in to foil many Carlton thrusts. McCartney had come onto the ground and was playing on the ball, he kicked a long ball into Simpson and the late inclusion put though the goal. The Blues started to pick up their game at the end of the term kicking the last two goals to get within 20 at three quarter time but with North having the wind in the last term the game was over.

All North fans were hoping that we would finish off the Blues in the last term, it was great fun as the bottom level of the Legends Stand was all North and the top was all Carlton and we could turn around and let them know just who was winning the game. The Crowd really got into the game, The Blues fans got upset as the North fans chanted Wooden-Spoon every time a Carlton fan cheered anything. It got quite heated actually a few missiles came down from the top of the stand aimed at us, the Blues fan obviously aren't used to being thrashed week in week out. The police came over though to try and calm people down. A few Carlton fans wanted to come down and start a fight. One North fan even ran onto the ground to present Carlton with their first wooden spoon.

Back to the footy and it was a question of by how much North Melbourne in the last term. Peter Bell kicked the first after Abraham was run down, the Blues fans thought it should have been holding the ball and weren't too pleased at all. Silvagni kicked a good long goal to answer for the Blues but North were well on top by this stage Chandler kicked a great goal after receiving a free in the pocket for deliberate out-of-bounds. North fans loved it and Carltons fans went feral I don't know why though the Carlton player went for the line and had no other intention at all. He didn't even attempt to knock it down the line he just bashed it straight out. Longmire kicked another two goals in the last term, its great to see him back in goal kicking form, I have always believed that if Pagan would just leave him at Full-forward for a coupe of weeks he would be able to start kicking a few goals. North defensive effort slackened off in the latter part of the term even though North continued to pile on the goals Carlton was getting a fair few of them back at the other end. Hewitt roved a great goal and Peter Bell kicked another late in the game. North ran out 42 point winners. A few injury worried though Martin Pike has a strained thigh and may miss next week, Pickett and Welsh also left the ground with injuries.

North is now up to third spot on the ladder while Carlton sit rock bottom with only one win from nine games and will play for the wooden spoon next week against the equally pathetic Brisbane.