There were many brilliant individual performances throughout Wayne Carey’s career, but his 11 goal haul in round 17, 1996 could perhaps be regarded as his finest.

The Roos sat third on the ladder and were set for a fourth consecutive finals appearance, while their opponent Melbourne's existence was in danger with a merger with Hawthorn on the cards.

The Friday night clash between the Roos and Demons attracted just 21,000 fans to the MCG and a banner displayed by the Melbourne cheer squad highlighted the battle ahead reading: "We were threatened, we were told: no talk of mergers, with the brown and gold".

Two goals in the opening minutes saw Melbourne take a surprise lead, but North's big men quickly asserted their influence on the game with three goals to Carey and two to McKernan helping the Roos secure a 19-point lead at the first break.

Late in the term Carey already had pulled down five telling marks and was already onto his second opponent - the experienced Shaun Smith moved forward and youngster David Neitz was handed the arduous task on the number 18.

Neitz could do little to quell the damage that was being done by a rampant North captain and another three goals to Carey in the second quarter blew the lead out to 48-points.

Double and triple-teaming Carey didn't help the situation either and in a remarkable third quarter, Carey netted four goals.

Carey kicked his 61st goal of the season and was also setting up scoring opportunities to his team mates with a brilliant hand-off to Anthony Rock late in the game.

North romped home with a resounding 113 point victory - McKernan finished the match with five goals and Peter Bell had four but they were overshadowed by their captain.

Carey's figures of 22 kicks, nine handballs, 15 marks and 11 goals will go down in history as one of the greatest ever individual performances.

"There was a lot of games like that with Wayne. Every four weeks he'd put on a show like that," Glenn Archer fondly recalled.

"I was very lucky to play so many games with him. I had the best seat in the house on the half-back flank. It was just one of those nights where every time you got the ball you'd just put it near him and he'd mark it. He was in the zone that night."

While North Melbourne suffered some hiccups in the following weeks, it went on to beat the Sydney Swans in the Grand Final and the premiership flag returned to Arden Street for the first time since 1977.