1998 PREMIERSHIP SEASON IN REVIEW

Player of the year: Wayne Carey
Mark of the year : Winston Abraham V Port Power
Goal of the year: Winston Abraham against Collingwood
Best Individual performance: Wayne Carey’s 6 goals against St Kilda
Biggest Win: 104 Points over Fremantle at MCG
Longest Winning streak: 11 in a row
Longest Lossing streak: 3 games
Rising Star: Byron Pickett
Players who played every game in 1998: Martyn, Longmire, Scott, Sholl, A.Stevens
Total home game attendance : 357,725
Membership: 20,000 approx
Leading Goal kickers: Wayne Carey (73)
Most Possesions : Anthony Stevens 556
Players used in 97: 33
Higest ladder position: 1 (Round 19-22)
Lowest ladder position: 12 (Round 4)

Preseason1998 got off to the best start possible, North Melbourne once again dominated pre-season talk with a great performance to take out the 1998 Night Premiership. The season started a long time ago back in Hobart where North through off an early Carlton challenge to run out comfortable winners. After that it was off to the MCG for the Grand Prix weekend clash with the Bombers, another easy win was the result. Brisbane put up little opposition in the semi finals putting North though to another Grand Final. North Melbourne were to take on the equally impressive Saints who were probably slight favourites going in. St Kilda got out to a good start but North realed them in Wayne Carey was the best on the ground and won the Michael Tuck medal for his efforts. The good signs that came out of the Ansett Cup were the immergence of Byron Pickett who had only previously played one game and the magical form of Winston Abraham who fitted in perfectly along side the King up forward.

The regular season started North was up against the West Coast Eagles at the MCG. This was one of the games of the season , West Coast lead early but North pulled back, Adam Simpson kicking a match winning goal in the dying minutes to give North a 2 point win. The great Mark By Scott Welsh on the wing was one of the highlights. Next North came up against Melbourne a team that had struggled over the previous two seasons but always gave North trouble. This game was no excepting, Melbourne were much to good for North jumping out to a huge lead, North though came storming back in the third quarter only to stop dead once the gap was down to a point, Melbourne drew away in the closing minutes for an easy 25 point win.

Next it was the first interstate journey of the season playing in wet conditions against Portat Football Park. North were in control all after night kicking 7 goals to one in the first term, thanks mainly to Brent Harvey who revelled in the conditions kicking 5 goals. North won again the following week against the struggling Brisbane side at the MCG. Corey McKernan showed glimmers of old form kicking 5 goals.

North was sitting quite well at this stage, the side hadn't reproduced the brilliance of the night series as yet but winning form is good form and North were winning more then there fair share. North hit a bit of a bump in the road in the coming weeks though, first was the disastrous loss to Fremantle when nearly everyone in the team played below their best. North got out of jail the following week beating new Public Enemy number one Adelaide at the MCG after a free kick was award to Hewitt against Rehn for holding the ball. North goaled as a result and snuck across the line again, this time by 4 points. Shannon Grant was best on ground for the Roos. North Melbourne faced league leaders Footscray at the Optus oval the week after and despite leading for most of the game caved in in the last term to be beaten fairly convincingly.

The North Melbourne Sydney clash in Round 8 was a classic, it was a great game that held a lot of interest mostly because North were up against Wayne Schwass for the first time. The game will probably be remembered most for a 75 metre bomb by Wayne Carey in the last quarter that finished off the Swans. He won a free after being flattened by Mr Injunction Dunkly on half forward, Carey went back and kicked one of the goals of the year, North by 10 points Glen Archer was best on ground. North was back out at Optus oval the following week against Carlton who were at that time facing the real prospect of picking up the clubs first wooden spoon. North didn't have any problems with the Blues running out easy winners, a North fan ran onto the ground to present the Blues with a wooden spoon. John Longmire kicked 4.

North were missing mighty Mick for the game against Geelong and North put in the worst performance (bar the last half of the Grand Final) of the year to be thrashed by struggling Geelong. Wayne Carey played a great game if it wasn't for him we probably would have gone down by 100. Gary Hocking used his pace to once again kill us in the middle. In fact this whole game resembled the Grand Final really, all North's problems were highlighted in this game. Wayne Carey was best on ground again the next week helping the Roos to a 26 point win over a persistent Collingwood. Dion Miles played his first game for North after being picket up off the sup list at the start of the season. North was especially good in the second quarter. This game wasn't the turn around as it was hoped however and North fell into another rut begin well beaten by the Tigers and then losing narrowly to a team who hadn't won all year, Hawthorn out at Waverley. North were now 7th on the ladder and three games behind the pace setting Bulldogs and St Kilda. Things were looking bad but to their credit North did a fabulous job of rebuilding the season. This loss against the Hawks was the last one North were to experience as North got on the biggest roll in the clubs history that was to tragically run out of steam on Grand Final day.

North's first victim was Essendon a team the Roos have little problem disposing of on most occasions, it was the game that lead to Kevin Sheedy's outburst calling Miller and Dawson marshmallows and would lead to the marshmallow final two months later. North played at their best the next week to thrash St Kilda, it was the turning point of the season for both clubs, North rose to a Grand Final while St Kilda who were once 2 games clear of third self destructed once again to finish sixth and be blown out of the finals by Melbourne. Carey kicked 6 goals, took 14 marks and had over 20 kicks seeing off four St Kilda opponents at times with only one hand. It was one of the best game of his career, Abraham was a willing helper up forward as North put the Saints to the shoad. North had another great game with WWest Coast Carey finally out running Jackovich as North won by a goal.

North Melbourne powered home the following week kicking 10 goals in the last quarter to crush the Demons at the MCG. North was now using the "Pagans Paddock" with great success, Carey was on fire playing the best season of his career as North seemed to get better every week. Next victim was Port Adelaide in the Canberra experiment, the game wasn't much of a spectacle but it will go down in history thanks to the mark of the year taken by Winston Abraham, it was a great grab and is one of the best ever seen in the VFL/AFL. The next two weeks saw thrashings of Brisbane and then Fremantle , Fremantle in particular were torn apart as North won by 104 points to record its biggest win of the year. Carey kicked 8 goals. Round 21 saw another win against the Crows this time at Football park, then round 22 saw North up against the Bulldogs in the battle for the minor Premiership.

This was truly one of the games of the year the Dogs getting out to a lead before North Melbourne wore then down to win by less then a kick to take North's winning streak to 9 and end the season on top with a 16 and 6 record.

The finals came around and the mood at Arden Street was one of quite confidence, North's first final was against Essendon in the final much hyped at the Marshmallow War, North sent the Bombers on there way after a tight game giving the Roos the weeks rest and another place in the Preliminary final. North came up against the second hottest team in the AFL in the preliminary final, Melbourne had won 7 games in a row and had been devastatingly brilliant in there two finals wins over Adelaide and St Kilda. Melbourne had to support of the public but it was once again North who just kept on rolling on who won the game, Melbourne never really looked likely after quarter time but it was a good game and North were into another Grand Final.

North had a great year in a number of areas a Night Premiership, Byron Pickett Norwich rising star, mark of the year by Winston Abraham and the club record 11 straight wins. But when it comes down to it 1998 was a disastrous failure one half of football ruined what would have been arguably the greatest in the history of the club. North list does now look to be boosted though in the younger area, Pickett is a star and Abraham fitted in well. Shannon Grant put in a great year except for the Grand Final and his trade for Schwass has proven to be a great success. North must win the flag next year though, some off our better players are starting to get on a bit, lets hope North bounds back in 99 to win the flag. The best players for North this year were Carey of course, Stevens had another good year or to did Glen Archer. Peter Bell has continued to develop as a quality midfielder and was one player who played his guts out for 4 quarters in the Grand Final. Corey McKernan again had an indifferent, mostly disappointing year, he seemed to respond well to the big challenges up against the likes of Everitt and White but stuggled against lesser lights.