Round 1 1998

N.Melbourne v West Coast
Round 1, 1998

Gehrig in action. Photo: aflphotos.com.au

Date

Fri, 27 March 1998 (7:40 PM EDT)

Venue

MCG

Attendance

27,150

Result

Lost by 2

Score

NM 15.13.103 - 15.11.101 WCE

Brownlow

3 D.Kemp (WCE)
2 G.Archer (NM)
1 J.Ball (WCE)

Ladder

9th

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Rivals West Coast and North Melbourne played out a nailbiter at the MCG to open the season. The Eagles had a two goal lead at the final change but went down by a couple of points, with Adam Simpson kicking the winning goal. Ben Cousins kicked two goals from 27 possessions and Glen Jakovich took the points in his battle with Wayne Carey.

Summary[]

		1/4 time		1/2 time		3/4 time		Final
North Melbourne		4.4.28		9.7.61		11.10.76		15.13.103
West Coast		2.4.16		7.7.49		13.10.88		15.11.101

Goals: Ball 4, Cousins, Gehrig, Heady, Ph.Matera, Braun, Morrison, Turnbull

Best: Pe.Matera, Ball, Cousins, Braun, Gardiner, Ph.Matera, Banfield

Injuries: McKenna (groin)

Milestones: Banfield 100th game, Schofield 50th game, Read AFL debut

Named sides[]

	West Coast				Kangaroos
B:	22.Stone	7.Gehrig	17.McKenna	B:	8.Scott	4.Martyn	11.Archer
HB:	30.Pe.Matera	27.Jakovich	24.Worsfold	HB:	34.King	5.McCartney	28.Pickett
C:	33.Ph.Matera	9.Cousins	13.Wooden	C:	13.Pike	10.A.Stevens	30.Welsh
HF:	2.Kemp	50.Turnbull	1.Heady	HF:	15.Abraham	18.Carey	6.Grant
F:	18.Evans	11.McIntosh	26.Ball	F:	23.Groom	24.Sholl	26.Bell
R:	19.Gardiner	6.Banfield	21.Schofield	R:	16.Capuano	12.Blakey	3.Rock
I:	10.Braun	28.Lewis	42.Morrison	I:	14.Anderson	37.Simpson	17.Freeborn
	36.Read				21.Hewitt
E:	29.Donnelly	5.Lovell	39.Waterman	E:	45.Cochrane	20.Mellington	38.D.Stevens

New: Phil Read (East Fremantle)

From the papers[]

The Sunday Age[]

"For any Eagles supporter watching the North surge over the last 10 minutes, there must have been a sense of inevitability about the result once the Roos drew within a goal.

The winning goal - a left-foot snap from Adam Simpson that bounced about 20 metres and was brilliantly shepherded by Martin Pike - was fluky, but as Pagan later put it, luck is what is left over when you persist.

North lost control of the match early in the third quarter until early in the last term, during which the Eagles booted five unanswered goals. The Eagles' sudden loss of momentum in the last quarter might be attributed to their softer lead-in to the first round (compared with North's Ansett Cup campaign) and Malthouse seemed to say as much afterwards."^[1]