KING CAREY

 By the early 1990s, Friday night games appeared in the fixture just about every week and with teams now located in every capital city, the re-badged AFL was able to send Victorian teams interstate and have them feature live on TV back into Victoria.

But the preponderance of North Melbourne Friday night games at the MCG was an issue.

The Kangaroos had a small following and were a mediocre team. It was reflected in both crowd numbers and TV ratings. Seven refused to show the games earlier than 9.30pm.

Enter Wayne Carey.

The appointment of Denis Pagan as North Melbourne coach in 1993 flicked the switch for Carey and he became a superstar, a swashbuckling key forward with the best sizzle reel in the game.

The Kangaroos became the most exciting team to watch, and ratings soared.

TV viewers started to complain that the games started too late, so in 1994, Seven brought them forward to 8.30pm on a 30-minute delay.

“It was still new,” former North midfielder David King said.

“Everyone would go to work on Friday knowing it was the ‘Carey Show’ every week. It was like reality TV at its best with the big fella kicking goals and taking a young team on the charge.”

Over three successive Friday nights in the middle of 1996, Carey kicked five goals against St Kilda, 11 against Melbourne and seven against Hawthorn.

The performance against the Demons, in which he had 31 touches and took 15 marks, mainly against fellow Hall of Famer David Neitz, might have been the greatest individual performance nobody ever saw.

There were barely 20,000 fans at the MCG that frigid night and because of a clash with the Atlanta Olympics, it was relegated to Seven’s fledgling Pay-TV channel, which had an audience of only a few thousand.

King said Friday night games were fantastic to play. They would have a 20-minute recovery session the following morning and then not be required back at the club until late Monday afternoon.

“So, you can imagine what happened,” he laughed.

“It was great for us. We’d win games and then we’d be able to celebrate together and mix together.”

And he is one of many North people who still laments the club not claiming some sort of