Grand Final week 2004 I had a tough decision to make.
Use my First Home Owner’s Grant for its intended purpose, or dip into it to pay my MCC joining fee. I had deferred membership offers twice previously, so this was crunch time; pay up now or forever be consigned to squinting into the sun from the Great Southern Stand.Needless to say, I paid up, collected my card and jacket pin, and a few days later, watched Port Adelaide defeat Brisbane.
Since that day, the MCC has become a place of entertainment, relaxation, socialising, and at times, solace.
On Saturday afternoon, I caught the train in to watch my Kangaroos take on ladder leaders, Hawthorn.
During the first quarter North Melbourne gave every indication the MCG, on a pleasant late winter Saturday afternoon, was the last place on earth they wished to be. Which is not a good sign for a club hoping to return in a few weeks to play finals.
Without Thommo and Browny, heart and soul players added to the ever-lengthening injury list after the Dogs’ game, and confidence broken by the rigours of the last few months, the Kangaroos were a despondent lot. They were knocked off the ball easily and when in possession, fumbled the ball back to the opposition.
Hawthorn, their cage rattled by Melbourne last round, kicked the first eight goals. North didn’t bother the scorer until time-on, and the contest was over by quarter-time.
This had 100-point thumping written all over it.
From our standing room position, members’ wing, my mate Sean and I were already discussing who should go and who should stay for next year, including the coach.
North were embarrassed into action in the second term. They ran harder and for longer, were more accountable and even attempted to kick to position when entering the 50. Drew and Gibbo kicked two each, and with the Hawks helping things by dropping their work rate, the half-time deficit was reduced to a manageable 23 points.
During the break, I caught up with my mate Daff and his crew out in the carpark for a bit of kick-to-kick and chat about the plight of North and his woebegone Tigers. We concluded our two clubs lack the necessary ruthlessness to shake middle-of-the-road-itis. Daff went even further and declared North will never win another flag due to its lack of support and influence in this uneven playing field that is the AFL.
As you can imagine, we headed back inside for the resumption of play full of cheer and optimism and climbed to the top of the Olympic Stand.
Led by Taz, who was grabbing everything he went near, and Jack, having one of his better games for a while, North kept pushing. The Hawks didn’t appear too concerned, perhaps knowing North didn’t have the goods to hurt them on the scoreboard. Whenever North threatened they fumbled or turned the ball over with poor decision-making.
This was a pretty ordinary quarter of footy, with both teams breaking down across centre-half forward. At times, play resembled a shirts and skins circle work session. The Hawks did what they had to do to keep things from getting interesting and North simply weren’t good enough to seriously challenge. For all their efforts, the margin only shortened by a few points.
North attacked again at the start of the final term, however it was all a waste of time with scoring opportunities wasted. Daw showed once more – if this was at all necessary – that he is no forward, and missed set shots. Goals to Puopolo and Cyril put an uninspiring contest out of its misery.
Final margin, 39 points.
Pushing up the hill to Jolimont Station, I contemplated the state of things at North Melbourne. The season started with such promise and visits to the MCG on sun-filled September days looked a certainty. However, now the Kangaroos look like they’ve fallen off the cliff, and in my head at least, it’s tempting to throw the proverbial baby out with the bathwater, and drop, retire or trade the lot of them. But with two rounds and hopefully a finals campaign to come, all involved at North have to focus on salvaging something from this wreck.
There will be plenty of time for judgement when this bizarre Kangas season is finally over.
Match Summary
HAWTHORN 8.4 9.7 11.9 14.12 (96)
NORTH MELBOURNE 1.0 6.2 8.7 8.9 (57)
GOALS
Hawthorn: Rioli 3, Breust 2, Puopolo 2, Gunston, Ceglar, Langford, Lewis, Burton, Hill, Birchall
North Melbourne: Petrie 3, Gibson 2, Goldstein, Nahas, Thomas
BEST
Hawthorn: Smith, Mitchell, Hill, Birchall, Gibson, Lewis, Rioli
North Melbourne: Tarrant, Ziebell, Dal Santo, Petrie, Gibson, Macmillan
INJURIES
Hawthorn: Duryea (knee/ankle), Hartung (leg)
North Melbourne: Hansen (ankle)
Reports: Nil
Umpires: Findlay, Jeffery, McInerney
Official crowd: 50,657 at the MCG