North chairman Ben Buckley has poured cold water on talk of a partial relocation to Tasmania in a revealing interview with Fox Sports News’ AFL Tonight.
In a strong and reassuring statement to North supporters in Victoria, Buckley declared the Roos have no plans to increase the number of home games they play in Hobart and will remain based at Arden St while he was at the helm.
“I can firmly say that under my leadership, North Melbourne will always be headquartered here at Arden Street," he said.
“We’re committed to our heritage in North Melbourne.
“It’s a very strong and successful partnership we’ve had with the community for many, many years.’
“We’re comfortable with playing three games in Hobart, we’re very supportive of growing football in Tasmania in partnership with the Tassie government and Football Tasmania and the AFL. But at this point in time we don’t see any need or have any great desire to play any more games.’’
Speaking about the club's reported pursuit of several high profile Free Agents, Buckley said the football department was simply following a clear directive.
“Certainly as a board we have encouraged the football department to think boldly and aggressively about the way they go about putting a competitive team on the field,” Buckley said.
“We set that challenge to them towards the end of last season. They came back to the board with a clear very strategy and a very clear agenda about what they wanted to achieve over the next three to five years. The board endorsed that.
“It’s not an either-or option,” he said.
“We can certainly go forward and go forward strongly if we’re not successful in attracting other players from other clubs.’’