It's the North Melbourne Tassie Kangaroos - that was the message from Roos' Managing Director and CEO, Carl Dilena, who proudly announced the name of the club's new AFLW side at Blundstone Arena in Hobart on Thursday morning.
“It’s meant to reflect the joint venture's nature, so you’ve got both names represented,” Dilena told the Tasmanian media contingent.
Dilena said North had formed a formidable alliance with the Tasmanian Government and AFL Tasmania to present a win/win proposal the AFL couldn't possibly refuse.
“We’re so excited about the news yesterday, being awarded an AFLW licence. It’s been a long working progress and a lot of work has gone into submitting the licence and behind the scenes with talent development”, he said.
The newly established partnership will also be reflected on the North Melbourne uniform.
While North will predominately wear its traditional royal blue and white stripes for most outings, for games on the apple isle a newly designed jumper featuring the North Melbourne Kangaroo on a map of Tasmania will be rolled out.
“This is a great partnership," Premier of Tasmania Will Hodgman said.
"It’s something we have been working on for some time. It’s an arrangement that serves very well the opportunity for young Tasmanian girls and women to be involved at all levels in this great game in Tasmania, but most important it gives them line of sight of playing in a national league."
Dilena said broadening the talent pool and bringing players up to AFLW standard will be the immediate focus for North.
“We’re aiming for half the list [to be from Tasmania] as soon as that can be achieved," Dilena stated.
"But that doesn’t just happen overnight, you need to build that talent base.”