It all started with the club confirming its interest in Nick Dal Santo at the beginning of the free agency period. Just a couple of days later, Luke McDonald was selected with pick 8 in the father-son bidding meeting, clearing the way for the son of Donald to arrive at North in the 2013 National Draft.
Despite it being the highest ever pick for a father-son selection, McDonald wasn’t feeling any pressure.
"At the end of the day it's just a pick whether that's pick eight or pick 100. When you get to the club everyone's treated the same. I'll just take it in my stride and work hard from the get go."
October 7 brought the 2013 Syd Barker Medal count and with that a host of announcements.
Ben Cunnington re-signed with the club until the end of 2017, with Lindsay Thomas committing until the end of 2016. On the coaching side, John Donehue was appointed as a part-time tackling coach, while Ben Dyer arrived from Claremont as a development coach.
In the night’s main event, Daniel Wells and Scott Thompson tied for the prized award. It was Wells’ second best and fairest and Thompson’s first.
The announcements continued. Geoff Walsh was announced as the new director of football. The former CEO of the club returned after seven years at Collingwood and the news was hailed by Chief Executive Officer Carl Dilena.
“Geoff is without a doubt, the most sought after director of football in the competition and to entice him back to North Melbourne is a tremendous coup for our club.
“Geoff’s decision to return, further enhances our position as an exciting place to be with enormous upside and potential.”
Two days later, Leigh Tudor was officially confirmed as senior assistant coach, returning to the place where he started his AFL career.
“I really loved my time at Sydney but it was time to come home for family reasons and I’m thrilled to be coming back to where it all started,” he said.
“I respect the way North has gone about it over the past few seasons and they’re clearly on the rise so I can’t think of a better place to be, it’s exciting for sure.”
All-Australian full-back Scott Thompson was another to extend his contract to the end of 2017, while Collingwood legend Gavin Brown joined the club as senior development coach.
On the 16th of the month, the 2014 membership campaign was launched. With the tagline ‘We Will Rise Together’, North Melbourne set its sights on a club-record 40,000 members.
On the last day of the free agency period, North got its main man by signing Dal Santo to a three-year deal.
The 29-year-old stated he was looking forward to the challenge in his first media conference in the royal blue and white.
“It’s something I felt I needed – a new challenge, a new group of guys to get to know and play some football with,” he said.
“There are some highly talented young guys (at North) who are exciting and led by some talented mature guys. So to be a part of that is something I look forward to.”
Unfortunately there was also some departures from Aegis Park. Luke Delaney was traded to the Saints, while Brady Rawlings took up a role at West Coast to be alongside former team-mate Adam Simpson.
Ben Mabon, Jordan Gysberts, Will Sierakowski and Ayden Kennedy were delisted, along with rookies Ben Speight and Cameron Richardson.
To finish the month, the 2014 home and away fixture was released. For North it was highlighted by five Friday night games, the highest number since 2001.
