Brady Rawlings says the opportunity to work closely with Rhyce Shaw, and the backing from a former teammate made him feel at ease in his return to North Melbourne.

Speaking on an episode of NMFC On Air, Rawlings said Glenn Archer was a huge advocate for Shaw.

“I’ve known Glenn since I was 17 and we were sharing lifts into training,” Rawlings explained. 

“I spoke with him (Archer) a lot over that period (before he joined the club), when he was working closely with Rhyce and with myself as well. 

“We know each other really well, so to have the comfort of him saying ‘You two will work really well together’, gave me a lot of confidence.” 

Rawlings’ return to Arden St was confirmed while Shaw was interim coach, in what proved a challenging time. 

“Rhyce had a lot on his plate at the time, interviewing for the role and obviously getting the team up each week, and juggling that with his young family,” Rawlings said. 

“I was in a period where I couldn’t work (contracted at West Coast) which made it a lot tougher on Rhyce, and for him to be able to deal with all of that was an unbelievable effort.

“It just goes to show what type of bloke we have as our senior coach.” 

The full NMFC on Air episode with Rawlings will be available on Thursday, February 13.