The Kangaroos were the reigning premiers but struggling slightly, coming off a 49-point loss to Essendon. They sat just outside the top four with a percentage of 99.5.
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Brisbane was a year away from beginning its historic three-peat premiership run, with most of the key players in place.
Wayne Carey was greeted by Justin Leppitsch at the opening bounce and they had a battle worthy of the admission price while at the other end, Brisbane's key forwards Alastair Lynch and Daniel Bradshaw were met by Mick Martyn and Adam Lange respectively.
Jason McCartney was allowed to play as the third key defender and made the most of it by repeatedly cutting off opposition attacks throughout the evening. It was the first time McCartney had faced Brisbane since the 1999 preliminary final. That night he was suspended and missed the Grand Final the following week.
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Carey got on the board with his first early. It was his 600th career goal in his 219th game. Despite another later on in the first quarter, North trailed by five points at quarter time.
It appeared the game would be tight the entire way given the flow of the second term. Halfway through, the margin was just one point in favour of North. Even with a little more than three minutes remaining, North led by 16-points.
It was in those final three minutes when North made its run. Four goals in the blink of an eye sandwiched a Brisbane reply and all of the sudden, the lead was 34-points at the main break after a 10-goal quarter.
Two of those four goals came via the boot of Shane Clayton, who had arguably a career-best game. The 21-year-old former Lion collected 26 possessions, 7 marks and the 2 goals. He would end up earning the three Brownlow votes; the only three of his career.
North's surge continued in the early stages of the third. It was Craig Sholl who popped up with the first two goals to extend the lead to 47. The second came after a scuffle with Chris Scott, who had been flattened by Wayne Carey early in the night.
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It kept the tensions high, and perhaps inspired Brisbane to stay in the game. Both sides missed gettable shots on goal as the third quarter wound down - Bradshaw with three in a row. With one quarter to go the margin was 40-points.
Just when an early goal to North may have sealed the game, Luke Power went down the other end and put Brisbane on the board in the first minute.
While the Kangaroos kept breaking down across half-forward, the Lions repeatedly hit the scoreboard, chipping away at the deficit. By this time, Carey and Leppitsch extended their duel ground-wide.
Halfway through the final term, the Lions defender-turned-forward led out of the goalsquare. As he made his run, one of the umpires inadvertently collided with Carey, giving Leppitsch the space he needed to mark. The resulting goal from the set shot reduced the margin to just 12-points with more than nine minutes to play.
A few minutes later Leppitsch was involved again, this time at the opposite end of the ground. With Brent Harvey lurking, Leppitsch mistimed a simple sideways pass to Scott, allowing Harvey to swoop. Harvey ran into an open goal, the lead blew back out to three goals and it appeared the game was settled.
But there was one final push from the Lions. Leppitsch popped up again for his fourth and Akermanis snapped a rushed kick to cut the margin to four points with two minutes left.
Denis Pagan and Leigh Matthews screamed instructions down the phone as the Lions threw everything at North. But the final siren sounded and it was a four-point Roos win.
North Melbourne 3.3.21, 13.7.85, 16.11.107, 17.14.116
Brisbane 4.2.26, 8.3.51, 10.7.67, 17.10.112
Goals
North Melbourne: Carey 5, Motlop 3, Sholl 3, Clayton 2, Harvey 2, Abraham 1, Bell 1
Brisbane: Leppitsch 4, Bradshaw 3, Ashcroft 2, Lynch 2, Power 2, Akermanis 1, Lawrence 1, Molloy 1, C Scott 1
Brownlow Medal
3 - Shane Clayton (NM), 2 - Jason McCartney (NM), 1 - Brent Harvey (NM)
