With apologies, I’d like to revisit an article I wrote on May 11th 2011 on the eve of this critical game for both sides, as a way to focus on a legitimate and great rivalry. Can North cement their spot in the eight, or can the Dons string together a run of good form and cling to that finals hope? Time to relive a great contest.

2001 ‘The Comeback’

North is known as “The Shinboners”, a term which dates back to its 19th-century abattoir-worker origins. The club’s motto is Victoria amat curam, Latin for “Victory Demands Dedication”. North Melbourne Football Club originated in the year 1869, when a football team was formed for local cricketers desiring to keep fit over the winter months. One thought is that the club was connected to the St Mary’s Church of England Cricket Club, now the St Mary’s Anglican Church North Melbourne, whose colours – blue and white – are reflected in the North Melbourne colours today.

Family connection. Wife’s grandfather. Horrie McEwen (2nd from right). Shinbones and streamers for the 1950 VFL Grand Final v Essendon. North Melbourne butcher shop

Essendon formed in 1871 as a junior club and has played as a senior club since 1878, and is one of the oldest clubs in the AFL. The club was founded by members of the Royal Agricultural Society, the Melbourne Hunt Club and the Victorian Woolbrokers. The Essendon Football Club is thought to have formed in 1872 at a meeting in the home of a well-known brewery family- the McCrackens- whose Ascot Vale property hosted a team of local junior players.

The word rivalry round is thrown around a fair bit. Collingwood v Carlton, Fremantle v WCE, and of course the absolute blockbuster in Gold Coast v Brisbane. Yep; riveting rivalry that one. But just down the road there is genuine, historical and traditional rivalry. The Shinboners have never fancied the blokes from up the end of Mt Alexander Rd. The 1950 Grand Final was North’s first. Their opponent was Essendon. Tough North men like McCorkell, Reeves, Jarrard and Kelly pounded Coleman. Essendon’s ‘Swampy’ Syme returned serve. That’s how it was. This was just a modern day version. Mick Martin pounding Lloyd, so Solomon and Hardwick return serve. Not much has changed, hence the historical rivalry.

Kevin Sheedy dubbed North officials, Mark Dawson and Greg Miller, ‘marshmallows’. North dubbed Essendon ‘soft’ after the 1998 finals series. Sheedy was pelted by marshmallows as his team walked off the ground that day. I suppose they were soft? Then you throw in Archer v Hird, Lloyd v Martyn, Misiti v Stevens and of course Pagan v Sheedy – something’s going to give. Mick Martyn dragged James Hird through the goal square by his hair in that final in 1998. In the wake of that match, Essendon had a meeting and showed the video to the players and the new assistant coaches – Mark Harvey, TD and myself.

Sometimes it took 5 to take the champ down

We had a week long training camp at Essendon Grammar, and Chief Executive Peter Jackson spoke to the club and coaches and said ‘Essendon must stand up’ and that all fines for melees, fights and reports would be ‘absorbed’. Hardwick, Solomon, Barnard, the Johnson boys, Barry Young, Wallis and Moorcroft were quite relieved their pockets wouldn’t be any lighter so turned their attention to North Melbourne. Then Jason Johnson steamrolled North’s Johnny Blakey with a shirtfront that made the recent Steven May and Stefan Martin hit look like a barn dance at TD’s wool shed. Quite simply, enough was enough.

To Sheeds’ credit, he did say to forget about the fringe, smaller players. No use going after young ‘Boomer’ Harvey. You have to go after Archer and Carey. And so began the most aggressive, intense, brilliant football I have seen from two sides that for many reasons- mainly historical- just don’t like each other.

In round two 1999, Essendon beat North by 35 points. In round 17 Essendon won by 26 points despite Wayne Carey kicking 10.5. Lloyd kicked 7 for Essendon. When the boys catch up, this game always comes up because we didn’t have a match up for Carey. So Paul Barnard pipes up at the meeting; ‘I’ll take the big p***k’. Barney has never quite lived that one down, 10.5 later from the Duck. Bloody funny now, wasn’t at the time. The games were starting to get nasty. However, both teams never lost respect. They played it really hard and I don’t remember any untoward reports. North won the premiership when Carlton got Essendon by a point. North cruised. Essendon sat and watched. North Melbourne laughed at us that night.

Boomer goals and Dons trail by 69 points in 2nd Quarter

In 2000, we met twice. In round 13 Essendon won by 49 points, with Lloyd kicking one goal. That day we had 17 goal kickers. Then to the 2000 qualifying final and the most efficient, ruthless, brilliant team performance I have witnessed. Remember, North were no mugs. This was a brilliant opposition coached by a master in Denis Pagan. Essendon kicked 31.12 to North’s 11.7 with Grant, Carey, Blakey, Bell, Archer, Simpson, Colbert, King, McKernan, Stevens and Pickett. The marshmallows (us) were back in the game. So off the back of an emphatic premiership, Essendon met North in round one of the 2001 season and recorded an 85-point humiliation of our great rival. No Carey and a young Drew Petrie having his first run. At some stage, North were going to say ‘enough is enough’, if they hadn’t already.

We were back at the MCG in round 16. There were 52,000 people in attendance. Both teams were ready to go again. In the first quarter North, led by their running brigade and the marking power of Rocca and McKernan, kicked 12.1 from 19 inside 50’s. No zones, no floods, no congestion at stoppages, just one-on-one and they were brilliant. Unstoppable, quick and efficient. There was no panic from us in the coaches’ box, that’s my first memory. Pride was on the line; ‘We are not going to let these blokes beat us’. We had the confidence in the group to win from anywhere. There weren’t too many positional changes, but Sheeds did set a plan to be back with six goals at half time. Keep chipping away. persevere, never give up, keep backing yourselves – they were the recurring themes. It was a very relaxed quarter-time huddle.

Essendon kicked 10.1 to 4.0 in the second quarter to trail by 21 points at the long break. Game on. The 3rdquarter was unbelievable with Essendon kicking 7.4 to North Melbourne’s six straight. The margin at the last change was 14 points. Quarter by quarter, contest by contest, moment by moment. We never accepted what was going on. Unbelievably, Essendon finished with 8.1 in the last quarter to North’s 3.5 and in the process recorded the greatest come from behind victory in the game’s history. On the surface, it appeared as if it was Matthew Lloyd’s day as he kicked nine straight. How do you beat that? Try Jason Johnson in the centre – 31 possessions, 4 goals, 6 tackles, 10 Inside 50’s, 13 clearances. McKernan got 5, Rocca 4 and a young Boomer Harvey got 27 possessions and kicked 3 goals.

Mick Martyn v Matthew Lloyd was always some contest

The next week North got beaten by the Brisbane Lions by 21 points and Essendon lost to Port Adelaide by 7 points. You don’t come back from that encounter. North missed the finals and Essendon hobbled to a Grand Final against the next super power in Brisbane. Both North and Essendon were out on their feet.

So the 2001 game is not a game in isolation. It was the culmination of a number of years and games played brilliantly between two great, proud clubs. It took its toll. North missed the finals that year and again in 2003, while Essendon continued to hang around the finals action. But both teams were never the same again. It’s interesting to look at both club’s records after that game. They probably didn’t have much more to give. Today’s game is quicker, more physical, better skills, more athletic, more strategic, the players are fitter. So they tell me. Now go and watch the videos of North v Essendon games between 1998-2002.

It DID NOT get any better than Archer v Hird

North have been superb this year, and have not played to the script of being in the bottom 4. They sit in the 8 with 32 points and a percentage of 117. The ‘more talented list’ (that word talent bobs up again) at Essendon is 2 games and 24 percent off that pace. Wasn’t it supposed to be the other way around? These two teams are not in the ball park as far as the ability great teams of the 90’s and 2000’s had, but this game is every bit as meaningful and intense. Arden St, Windy Hill, MCG or Etihad. It matters little. A Mt Alexander Rd special. This is a genuine rivalry, not a Mickey Mouse marketing ploy to pump up some sort of rationale on indecent spending in northern markets.

This is pure football….a couple of ‘clubs of the people’.