On September 25, 1999, master coach Denis Pagan led North Melbourne to the club's fourth VFL/AFL premiership. The cup, the second of Pagan's era, was delivered by a battle-hardened team packed with star names, from Wayne Carey, Brent Harvey and Corey McKernan to Glenn Archer, Anthony Stevens and Byron Pickett.

On the 25-year anniversary of that premiership, Pagan picks out three players whose contributions to North Melbourne's champion team of the '90s were lesser known.

1. 'No one ever put anything over him'

The half-back line in North Melbourne's 1999 premiership team reads: Winston Abraham, Glenn Archer, Martin Pike. Though Abraham and Archer remain household names, Pike is the most decorated of the three defenders, winning four premierships across his 247-game career at four clubs.

It nearly never happened.

After two seasons at Melbourne and despite a best-and-fairest at Fitzroy, Pike found himself unemployed when the Lions merged at the end of 1996. Brisbane, and other clubs, wouldn't touch him because of a disciplinary rap sheet that had seen him narrowly avoid jail for a string of drink-driving offences.

Pike later described his own career-jeopardising decisions as "pure stupidity". But Pagan believed in second chances.

"I can still remember interviewing him at his house," Pagan says. 

"There were eight empty, big bottles of beer on that coffee table. But I really warmed to him. And I said, 'You know what, Marty, you might be with us for five minutes, five days, five weeks, five months. It's gonna be determined by you.'"

A rugged half-back flanker, Pike arrived at Arden St at pick No.42 in the 1996 national draft.

"Martin was so versatile, so resilient. He could play half-back, he could play wing," Pagan says. 

"Quite a tall rangy sort of player, and what a good football brain. 

"One of the things that I really liked about him was how tough he was. No one ever put anything over him. Football is war without weapons and you've got to be strong at it, and he was very strong."

Pike would play 81 games for Kangaroos, including the 1999 premiership. Remarkably, his disciplinary record under Pagan remained clean as a whistle - his only discretion coming after a state game, when he represented South Australia.

"He was a very good player for us," Pagan says.

"And in the finish," he adds wryly, "after being a Premiership player and really playing his part, we decided that what was best for him was that he moved on. He went to Brisbane and played another three premierships. So that was a masterstroke by Denis Pagan."

2. 'He would murder them up and down the wing'

No conversation about North Melbourne's best draft bargains is complete without mentioning Shane Clayton. 

A lightly-built son of a former umpire, Clayton started out with Pike at Fitzroy. Though he was one of eight Fitzroy players to move north after the merger, his career nearly foundered after he fell out of favour at Brisbane, playing only five further games.

At the 1998 draft, Kangaroos recruiter Neville Stibbard rolled the dice with the draft's very last pick, selecting the 20-year-old winger at No.90. 

The Clayton who arrived at Arden St was "a very quietly-spoken young man," Pagan says.

"At the start of his time at the club he didn't have a great deal of confidence in his own ability and he might have made a few mistakes. But he could really run."

From quiet beginnings, Clayton would make a growing impact. He played every game in the 1999 premiership season on his way to 99 games in North Melbourne colours, along with 51 goals.

"He would murder them up and down the wing," Pagan says.

"He became very important to us because of his ability to run and to link up. He was creative and he played as a very important platform in that premiership team."

3. 'A perfect role model'

Craig Sholl's highlight reel, says Pagan affectionately, "could not have been a DVD in any way whatsoever".

Having earned six state guernseys as a defender, Sholl hit a crossroads in 1995, dropping into the reserves during a poor season. When spearhead John Longmire was injured for the following season's opener, Pagan threw Sholl into attack. It proved a masterstroke, turning the game and reinventing Sholl as a forward. After spending so long in the backline, the story went, Sholl knew what defenders hated.

"Craig had a lot of confidence in his own ability but as he matured and got older he really blossomed," Pagan says.

"As a player he was so talented and versatile. He started off on the wing, played half-back, and then virtually went to our full-forward line. If you watch the '96 Grand Final, he leads out of the square.

"Around the club, the boys used to love taking the mickey out of him. He'd get terribly embarrassed. If the coach asked him a question … it was like he already knew he was going to say the wrong thing, and then the boys wouldn't let him hear the end of it.

"But he was such a likeable guy … and really had his head screwed on. A perfect role model for anyone that came to the club."

Sholl's 235 games at North Melbourne included 165 goals and two premiership medals, including one for 1999. Fittingly, in the final game of his transformed career the following year, he kicked seven goals.

"The role that he played at North Melbourne was very hard to quantify," Pagan says. "I don't think his highlight reel could have been a DVD in any way whatsoever, but from my point of view, he was outstanding."

Read more

• 10 moments that delivered the 1999 premiership
• Your 1999 memories: 'We decided to drive down Lygon St'