News Injuries & Suspensions

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Carlton
Thanks for all of that , all I could find was that North paid $ 60k to Sydney for Horse and $ 10 k for Carey as the "steak knives" , by the time Sheedy enquired about Carey the deal had been done.

Things could have been so different
Yep, that money is probably about right. I suspect Swans had not seen young Carey and horse pay a whole lot and were more excited by the money. Actually sounds like decent money just for some kids that may or may not ever make it back then.
 
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Yep, that money is probably about right. I suspect Swans had not seen young Carey and horse pay a whole lot and were more excited by the money. Actually sounds like decent money just for some kids that may or may not ever make it back then.

I will add this in here as I reckon Greg Miller might cover some of this in this podcast..
https://omny.fm/shows/the-greatest-season-that-was-93/episode-2-north-melbourne

Just a month out from the 1993 season North Melbourne were in tatters, the so-called next big things had stalled. A bad 1992 and now a 147 point thrashing in the Pre-Season Fosters Cup by the Crows saw coach Wayne Schimmelbusch sacked with just weeks until the season proper started. So how did a club that had no money, no coach and no captain turn it all around within 6 weeks to be top of the AFL ladder and the new glamour team of 1993 . We talk to North Melbourne football supreme Greg Miller about the events of 1993 and how its legacy turned North Melbourne into the team of the 90s.
 
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@OzRulesFootball , found this article

Back in 1987 the draft was still very much in its initiation phase. Selections were somewhat of a lottery, with metropolitan zoning restricting clubs to choose from country Victoria or interstate.

Thus begins the fascinating story of Wayne Carey’s recruitment to North.

Carey hailed from New South Wales and played for North Wagga in the Riverina League, meaning he was actually zoned to the Swans. But of course that wasn’t to be.

Sydney Recruiting Officer Greg Miller watched him as a 12-year-old representing NSW, which may not have had happened had his local club started a fundraising drive for Carey to make the trip to Darwin.

It was a young lad named John Longmire that was the star of the carnival, but that’s another story in itself.

After spending all his life in Wagga, Carey and his family moved to Adelaide when he was in his early teens.

A skinny kid, he played for Mallala’s under-18 side as a 14-year-old and then got a run with SANFL team North Adelaide’s under-15s.

He plied his trade at centre-half-back but also had stints at the other end of the ground and aged 15, he played his first SANFL reserves game.
This kid had talent, but he was understandably nervous.

“**** (his brother) told me what to expect; how they’d probably try to target a 15-year-old in his first game,” Carey recalled in his autobiography The Truth Hurts.

“Although I had teammates, and senior players among them, sticking up for me, I was still scared. But it didn’t stop me wanting to get the ball.

“Even though I had this lunatic (Central Districts player Jed Lawton) running around trying to belt me, I got a few kicks and don’t remember shirking an issue, despite being petrified.”

It was this fearlessness that proved one of his strongest assets in the years to come.

Perhaps it was fate that five years after watching him as a 12-year-old, Miller again watched Carey in 1987 during a representative school game in Adelaide; this time as North’s recruiting officer and football manager.

Most eyes were on highly-rated youngster Hamish Stewart, who Carey played on. The future North champion was awarded man of the match.

As luck would have it, Miller was the only recruiter at the game and later joked he was disappointed Carey got the award as it would make it harder to keep him under wraps.

Of course, there was still the problem of zoning and even living in Adelaide for two years, Carey was tied to Sydney under a 36-month rule.

Nevertheless, North stalwart Ron Joseph was called upon to have a look at Carey. His reports back weren’t exactly glowing.

But Miller persisted and found a way to move the 17-year-old to Melbourne – he would worry about getting a clearance later.
Carey though, wasn’t convinced.

“When I was playing in Wagga, my whole dream was to play for North Wagga and that’s all I thought I would ever do. When I went to Adelaide my dream changed; I started thinking that I might be able to play SANFL, which I thought was almost as good as VFL,” he recalled.

“In my mind, North Adelaide and Glenelg were every bit as strong as probably the bottom half of the VFL. So my one goal was to play SANFL footy.”

Miller though was hell-bent on landing Carey, and even more so the real star of the deal, Longmire.

Bumping into Sydney CEO Ron Thomas at the then VFL House in Jolimont, a transfer fee was agreed; $60,000 for Longmire and $10,000 for Carey.

Minutes later, Miller bumped into Essendon coach Kevin Sheedy in the lift who asked him about this “Wayne Carey” just as North’s $10,000 transfer fee arrived at VFL House.

Sheedy was too late - the deal was done.

“I was just the set of steak knives thrown in (in the Longmire deal),” Carey said.

“I was now a North Melbourne player. It was a series of events that shaped the rest of my life and helped seal Greg’s reputation as a great administrator.”
 
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Better news than I had hoped really, at least he's not missing the rest of the season.
Good news for Brisbane as well, important player for them in the run in to the finals.
sen1116 reporting that Zorko could play this week, but will Fagan risk him this week with finals on the cards.
 
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