Nine rounds into the season, and we sit 17th on the ladder. We’ve watched one win, and eight losses, and to say we’ve all experienced a great deal of frustration is an understatement. 

When I wrote to you earlier this year, I outlined the five areas of long-term focus for the Board: sustained on-field success in the men’s and women’s programs; improvements to our balance sheet; embedding ourselves in the Arden Precinct; our club culture; and our members. 

Over the year, I’ll provide regular updates that address each of these areas as appropriate. Today, we’ll focus on football and members – the two reasons we exist as a club.

Returning to our on-field results – is this where we want to be? Clearly not. As a football club, our primary objective is to win, and that’s what we set out to do every week. But if I look at it in terms of the bigger journey we are on, there are some positives and a whole lot of learnings to dissect.

When the club embarked on our aggressive list management program at the end of the 2020 season, we took the decision to hit the draft hard. As a result, we have taken 10 National Draft selections over the last two years, the equal-most across AFL clubs in that time. Our list now contains eight first-round draft picks aged 25 years or under. 

This season we’ve seen the AFL debuts of Jason Horne-Francis, Miller Bergman and Paul Curtis, while Hugh Greenwood and Callum Coleman-Jones have played their first games for the club. We were thrilled to see Jason earn a Rising Star nomination in round seven.

David Noble and his coaching group are getting to work on building a physically and mentally healthy football program that will deliver sustained success.

Nobes and our GM of Football Performance Daniel McPherson have been through this process before at Brisbane and Melbourne respectively. They were there when things were tough, they saw success built from the ground up and know that it takes time. There’s nothing in football that will surprise or shake them. They are committed, confident and clear in where we are heading and how we’ll get there.

They are working hard to educate and implement a game style that is selfless, that will be exciting to watch for our supporters and is capable of being successful in finals. It is a work in progress.  

In terms of our women’s program – there’s a lot I can’t say as the AFL is still finalising the details for the upcoming season, which we expect to start at the end of August. It’s safe to say, however, that we’ll have some exciting news on the list management front in the coming days and weeks. The coaching and playing leadership group, led by Darren Crocker and Emma Kearney, are plotting a huge pre-season. They’ll be ready whenever the League says we need to be ready.

And so, to our members. As I write, we’ve passed 47,000 members – another new record for our club. It’s a phenomenal achievement, particularly considering both the on-field performance, and the lack of opportunity to go to games in the first half of the season. The team has travelled to Brisbane, Sydney, Hobart (twice) and Perth and played only two home games so far in Melbourne.

We can’t thank our members enough for their support during this phase of the club’s on-field development. I’m constantly reminded about why I love this club so much when supporters reach out to tell me or other members of the Board to say they are in for the long haul. And that’s been backed up by those wonderful numbers.

I also know the players have missed playing in front of our members. We are all looking forward to the remainder of the season when we play nine of our last 13 games in Victoria (including one in Geelong), and two at our home away from home at Blundstone Arena in Hobart.

With the team being more visible in Melbourne these next few months, we’ll continue to strive to be a club that is accessible to its members and supporters, and for you to receive a personalised and happy experience every time you engage with us. Ben Amarfio and his team are working on a number of initiatives that will enhance our ongoing connection with our people. It’s in that spirit that we again invite our members and supporters to submit questions for Ben, Nobes and our GM of Football Talent, Brady Rawlings, to answer next week about the progress of the club so far this year.

Finally, to all of you – this journey is hard, but we are North Melbourne, and hard journeys are our bread and butter. I’m confident in our playing group and our coaches, our CEO, our Executive team and our administration, and above all else, in our members. We’ll get through this the way we always do – together.

Go Roos and see you at the footy!

Sonja