[RELATED: North's full draft history | Drafted: Stevens]

In the lead-up to the 2014 National Draft to be held on November 27, NMFC.com.au delves into the archives to feature some of the club’s more memorable selections.

After looking at 1988 and the selection of Anthony Stevens, we move forward to 1992, and what was a tough year on the field saw North head to the National Draft in search of improvement.

The year had seen the club win just seven games to finish 12th. 

The result saw an exodus of players, with Donald McDonald, Carl Dilena, Liam Pickering and Darren Steele among those to depart. All in all, 15 players left.

Wayne Schimmelbusch was keen to revitalize his list, and success at the Draft was vital.

Just two seasons earlier, the VFL had become the AFL, and the introduction of Brisbane (1987), West Coast (1987) and Adelaide (1991) meant competition was fierce.

All in all, 123 players were selected at the 1992 National Draft, and while more energy and resources were being put into recruitment, 54 of those never lined up in an AFL game.

In a day and age where draft picks didn’t hold the same weight as they do today, North traded Paul Spargo (75 games in seven seasons) to Brisbane for selection 6.

The draft was still very much a lottery. Pick 5 saw Sydney select Jason Spinks, described as a “highly-skilled half-forward, said to be similar in style to Gary Buckenara.”

He spent two weeks at the Swans before returning home to Western Australia, never managing a senior match.

With its first pick, North secured Robert Pyman, and with selection 23 Warren Campbell.

While Pyman clearly had talent, illustrated by his best and fairest win at Woodville-West Torrens that year, he lasted just three years at Arden Street.

Season one netted 11 games and an Elimination Final berth. Seasons two and three just five games combined. By the end of 1995, he was a Magpie after a trade that saw pick 26 (Chris Groom) end up at North.

Campbell was another who showed promising signs, albeit after a long wait. Something that is unheard of in the modern game, he remained in Western Australia for the entire 1993 season before debuting in Round 7 the following year.

With 13 goals in his first seven games, the future was bright. But football is a tough industry; without a goal in the last four games of 1994, he played just eight more games and was delisted at the end of 1996.

There was little success with the next two picks either. David Dighton (selection 38) and Matthew Moon (selection 53) both finished without a senior game.

But there was some joy to come. Having traded John McCarthy (92 games, 101 goals) to Fitzroy, North gained pick 55.

17-year-old ruckman Matthew Capuano joined the club, and would go on to play 82 games in six seasons.

He was a vital cog alongside Corey McKernan in North’s third premiership in 1996, despite registering only two disposals in the Grand Final.

With pick 83, the Kangaroos took Jeremy Silcock, who only managed to play in the pre-season campaign.

Tragically, he passed away just three years later after a holiday accident in Bali.

Next was 21-year-old forward Adrian McAdam, selected with pick 98 from the Northern Territory in the Teal Cup.

It’s hard to find a player who has made as great an impact in as few games.

Combining with John Longmire and Wayne Carey in attack, McAdam burst onto the scene with 7 goals from just 10 kicks on a Friday night at the MCG in 1993.

Bags of 10 and 6 followed in the next fortnight, and by season’s end he’d booted 68 in 17 games.

It was one of the more remarkable debut seasons. But 19 games and two seasons later, McAdam’s career was over.

"We were playing Brisbane in a pre-season cup game (in 1995) and their ruckman Damian Bourke was arguing with my teammate Alastair Clarkson. I ran past and told Bourke to pick on someone his own size and he just went whack," he recalled years later.

"It broke my jaw on both sides and after that I lost a fair bit of interest. My brother Gilbert had left St Kilda to play with Brisbane and I didn't feel very good, so I came home.

"I'd loved to have played more. I still think about North Melbourne winning a premiership in 1996 and how I could have been part of it.”

Even arguably the best to have ever played was amazed by McAdam’s talent.

"I remember kicking for goal from the boundary before training as a 16-year-old and watching Adrian kick seven out of 10 with left-foot torpedoes. I thought, 'Oh my god, he can't be that gifted'," Wayne Carey told the Herald Sun in 2007.

"His problem was always going to be sustaining his performance. Once clubs started to pay more attention to him, he needed to work harder.

"That's happened to a few unknowns who have burst on the scene and then not lasted, although none of them would have been more talented than Adrian. It might have been different for him today because clubs are better at looking after players and better at understanding the different needs of indigenous players."

McAdam tried to restart his career at Collingwood, but ultimately played just one game after that hit from Bourke. With 92 goals from 36 games, his impact would still be fondly remembered by North fans.

Continuing the exodus of experienced players at the end of 1992, 81-gamer Dean McRae headed to Sydney in exchange for pick 110. The club re-drafted Jeff Chandler, who did not play another game.

Moama’s Damon Armstrong was next with pick 113, but delisted without a game a year later, while Marty Christensen got a second chance after two games in 1992.

With the 123^rd pick in the 1992 National Draft, Christensen was the second-highest AFL Draft selection of all time (behind Brayden Lyle – 124 in the same year).

Unfortunately, he didn’t play another game.

While there were exciting times to come at Arden Street, Schimmelbusch didn't have a chance to see how the list rejuvenation panned out. After a 147-point loss in a pre-season match, he resigned as senior coach.

Enter Denis Pagan, and the rest is history.

Of North’s ten selections at the 1992 National Draft, six either didn’t play or add to their game tallies, with Capuano the most capped player with 82.

It wasn’t exactly the result the club was hoping for at the draft table, but the acquisitions of John Blakey and Dean Laidley during the trade period went some way to easing the pain. The acquisition of Pagan took things to a whole new level.

NMFC selections - 1992