20 years old, in his 24th game, and best-on-ground in a semi-final win in front of almost 75,000 people at the MCG; this was Jesse Smith’s finest moment in AFL football.

The 2007 Semi-Final against Hawthorn sparks fond memories for the former Kangaroo.

Now coaching the Yarraville Seddon Eagles in the Western Region Football League in addition to being a personal trainer, Smith talked to NMFC.com.au about the historic victory.

“Obviously finals are hard to win and it had been the first final we’d won since the semi in 2000,” he said.

“Growing up as a North supporter I knew there was a fair gap in wins and even now, North hasn’t won a final since 2007, so it’s very hard to do.”

It’s easy to forget just how far the Kangaroos rebounded in the course of just six days. The previous Sunday, they’d been beaten to the tune of 106 points by Geelong. Only one player had more than 17 disposals and the criticism came thick and fast in the week following.

“For the first few days (after the loss) all the players felt pretty embarrassed,” Smith explained.

“Obviously we’d got pumped the week before and everyone was tipping us to go out in straight sets.

“There was a fair bit of pressure, but we’d always been able to rebound after a loss and particularly a big loss.”

A look through the 2007 season backs up Smith’s claim. Heavy losses to West Coast (66 points) and Adelaide (46 points) were backed up by wins the next round.

Even a loss to Brisbane was followed by a quality performance against the Eagles, at the time one of the premiership favourites.

“We were a pretty proud group and we still had a lot of senior players at that point.

“The coaches really tried to get to us to bring some pride into our performance and just to respond. We were still confident that we could win the game.”

While the loss against Cats put the spotlight well and truly on the Kangaroos, finishing fourth in the home and away season gave them another chance. A chance to atone.

“We didn’t really review the (Geelong) game too much because we might have been there all day,” Smith joked.  

“In football when you get belted and you have the double chance, you don’t really stew on it too much.

“If that was our last game of the year, it would have definitely left a sour taste in our mouth. We had to focus on our next job.

“In the last couple of days leading up (to the Semi Final), the result from the week before was put behind us. It was about really preparing for Hawthorn in the back half of the week.”

The Hawks had finished fifth after the regular season, but had to come from behind to beat eighth-placed Adelaide in an Elimination Final.

With an in-form Lance Franklin (7 goals against Adelaide) at its disposal, Hawthorn was desperate for finals’ success after some lean years.

On a Saturday night at the home of football, the stage was set.

“It was a game where I got a little bit more midfield time and some time on the wing,” Smith recalled.

“I’d played half-back for most of the year because I didn’t really have a pre-season.”

But it may have never happened. Battling through pain for the best part of the 2007 season, he simply got on with the job required.

“Playing down back (previously) wasn’t a bad thing for me, because I was playing with an injury for pretty much the whole year and it made it hard to run as hard as I would have liked.

“Towards the back end of the year I tweaked the ankle a couple of times so it was starting to give me a lot more grief than it had earlier in the year.

“I’d missed the second last game of the year after my ankle got jammed in a tackle and considering it wasn’t good in the first place, it was playing on my mind a little bit (in the final).”

To have such an impact under duress was a remarkable effort.

Largely thanks to Smith’s run and carry, North was able to move the ball with ease and jump out to an early lead.

“I really enjoyed the role and I was just trying to run as hard as I could for as long as I could. I definitely felt it the next morning, but I was pretty happy with how it all went.”

As the Kangaroos maintained control, the focus started to shift ever so slightly away from the football.

During 2007 and 2008, Hawthorn’s ‘unsociable football’ was a regular talking point. Unsurprisingly the semi-final was a spiteful one, with several players on the receiving end of some questionable tactics.

But North wasn’t going to be rattled.

“After we got a jump early, I’m not sure whether it was a plan by them (the Hawks) to rough a couple of players up.

“It clearly didn’t work, and it definitely seemed that we had the ascendancy and were first to the ball for most of the night. Even a couple of times when they’d got back within a goal or two we were able to extend it and reply straight away.

“From the group’s perspective, most of it clicked on the night. We didn’t get sucked in to what they were trying to do and just worried about what we were trying to do.”

Not only did Smith and his team-mates adjust to their opponent’s tactics, there was also another variable to take into account; the crowd.

Heading into the finals’ series, the largest crowd North had played in front of for the year was 48,501 It was then greeted with 77,630 in the Qualifying Final and 74,981 in the Semi Final.

“Being at the MCG, both those crowds were different to what we’d been used to throughout the year. The noise factor was a bit different and something that we probably needed to adjust to,” Smith said.

“Over the year, you could hear your team-mates out on the ground and in those finals, sometimes you just couldn’t hear anything at all.”

Nevertheless, the Kangaroos overcame everything that was thrown at them. Dean Laidley’s team broke away late in the last quarter to win by 33 points.

Smith finished with a career-high 27 disposals and 5 tackles in a performance many experts labelled ‘match-winning’.

“There was excitement and relief at the same time. No-one wants to go out in straight sets and the top four teams are always playing in prelims, so you wanted to be one of those.

“There was also a real feeling of accomplishment because it had been a while since the club had played in a preliminary final, since 2000.”

It was a memorable night in more ways than one for Smith. North’s best player, headed to a Preliminary Final, but also witness to one of the finest moments in finals history. 

Aaron Edwards’ first quarter mark will be a part of highlight reels for years to come.

“I was at the same point at the other end of the ground when he took the mark, and it actually looked even bigger at ground level,” Smith added

“For everyone in the stands looking down at it, I was on the ground looking up as he jumped.

“It was massive from where I was.”

North supporters watching the game on television, listening on the radio or lucky enough to be at the MCG will always remember the victory fondly.  

“He (Smith) was clearly best on the ground that night. That was a night when I thought this guy’s going to be a superstar,” Shinboner of the Century Glenn Archer recalls.  

It wasn’t to be as injuries ultimately cost the youngster a long AFL career, but September 15, 2007 will go down in history as a magical moment for both player and club.

North Melbourne 14.9.93 defeated Hawthorn 8.12.60

Goals: Aaron Edwards 4, Brent Harvey 4, Shannon Grant, Hamish McIntosh, Scott McMahon, Drew Petrie, Andrew Swallow, Daniel Wells
Leading disposals: Daniel Wells 28, Brady Rawlings 27, Adam Simpson 27, Jesse Smith 27