Adelaide was set to provide a stern test for the Kangaroos. The reigning premiers had won seven of their last nine games and it took a superb comeback by North earlier in the season to overcome the Crows.
Wayne Carey was in a rich vein of form, having kicked four bags of five or more goals in the previous six weeks. He was met by Peter Caven and the two battled it out from siren to siren.
PRESS PLAY above to watch the highlights | YouTube
With a 43,297 strong crowd of parochial Adelaide fans looking on in what was billed as ‘the match of the season’.
The intensity was high early in a signal of what was to come. The Crows’ defence had been the best in the league for the year, but after North started slowly it found a way through the vaunted back six.
Denis Pagan’s team conceded the first three goals and trailed by 19 points half-way through the first term, but David King, playing through the midfield provided the spark and alongside Carey helped the Kangaroos kick six out of the last seven goals.
If it wasn’t for inaccuracy North could have established a sizeable lead, but its inability to kick straight threatened to haunt the team for the entire night.
After 10 goals between the sides in the opening term, the game slowed right down in the second term. However, for the first half of the quarter it was still on North’s terms. The Roos kicked the first two goals and what was a 19-point deficit had quickly turned into a 30-point lead.
Then, sensing the game was slipping away, Adelaide picked up its intensity around the contest and through the middle of the ground. What had been a stronghold for North evened out in the last few minutes before the long break.
The Crows kicked the last goal of the second term and the momentum had swung.
The inaccuracy that plagued North seemed to transfer to the Crows in the early stages of the third quarter. One goal from their five scoring shots looked to have prevented any chance of a comeback. When Shannon Grant kicked a superb snap goal half-way through the term, North’s lead approached five goals once again.
Adelaide lacked a marking target inside 50, but used stoppages around the forward half to get back into the game. Three quick goals to its smaller players brought the margin back within six points at the final change. North had only kicked three goals since quarter and the challenge all of a sudden appeared immense in hostile territory.
It was time for Carey to stand up and he did so like so many times throughout his career. Out-marking Caven to start the term, Carey kicked truly from long range. Then, in perhaps a more impressive feat, he won a hit-out from a ball-up straight into the path of Corey McKernan, who converted on the run.
But once again, just as it appeared North had shaken the Adelaide challenge, the game tightened up. The Crows responded with three consecutive goals of their own and after a tight struggle, North led by just three points with less than eight minutes remaining.
McKernan’s second goal gave his team valuable breathing space. The Crows locked the ball inside their 50 metre arc, but three behinds and a Tony Modra out of bounds proved costly.
Forcing the ball forward, an exhausted Carey knocked it into the path of Peter Bell who converted one of the toughest shots of the night and seal the win. Despite kicking 14 goals and 21 behinds, North was better when it mattered most.
Adelaide 4.3.27, 5.5.35, 9.10.64, 13.14.92
North Melbourne 6.9.45, 8.12.60, 9.16.70, 14.21.105
Goals
Adelaide: Goodwin 2, Modra 2, Thiessen 2, Vardy 2, Edwards 1, Jarman 1, McLeod 1, Smart 1, Stevens 1
North Melbourne: Carey 5, King 2, McKernan 2, Abraham 1, Archer 1, Bell 1, Grant 1, Harvey 1
Brownlow Medal
3 – David King (NM), 2 – Wayne Carey (NM), 1 – Andrew McLeod (Ade)
