Watching the football with my sister

Dear Justin,

Let me apologise for being so slow to reply. But what a fortnight it has been for North Melbourne! First a good win over Sydney, of which we were able to watch half together, followed by the defeat of Ess'tn - a less impressive performance, perhaps, but a more satisfying win. And we find ourselves in the eight, with Carlton and Melbourne in the next two rounds.

Suddenly we look like a decent side. Our midfield has a good combination of ball-getters - with Harris, Swallow, Simpson and Grima - and faster, skillful players like Wells and Harvey. Our no-name defence is looking ok, with Firrito and Gibbo doing the job, Pratty having fewer brain fades than previous years, Arch being Arch (I loved that 50 he gave away this week), and Smith coming in and looking a million dollars. And as for our forward line, people just keep bobbing up and doing to the job - Petrie, Brown, Grant, Boomer, Campbell and of course Edwards (more on him later).

I've had the chance these past two weeks to watch the footy with my sister Em. As you know, Em and I became fanatics together in the early to mid 90s, including going to training (when no one else in the world seemed to) and watching Denis coach the under 19s at Arden St. Watching with Em is a reminder of how much football has changed - for starters, Glenn Freeborn no longer wears 17, nor Mark Lisle 1. Also, she noticed how negatively we barracked, as if expecting to lose - whereas in the mid to late 90s we always thought we'd win. That's true, although if she'd lived through some of our last quarter fadeouts of late, she might change her style. And, without sounding like a 3AW talkback caller, footy is softer these days (Glenn Archer excepted).

Anyway, watching the footy on TV at home on Friday, we found a new favourite, wearing Darren Crocker's old number (As an aside, it's nice to have someone worthy of the jumper again - no offence to John Baird and that lumpy young forward... what was his name?). Although Edwards started slowly, once he got going he was very important... it's great to have someone who can mark the ball again. She started to call him 'Sticky', as in Sticky Fingers. I like it.

No doubt being at the game was great. After the Sydney game there was plenty of spontaneous singing of the club song, as there has been in previous years when we've beaten Essendon. No doubt the same thing happened on Friday.

Speak soon,

Dan