Many of the North Melbourne players had a rare chance to relax with the team’s first and only bye of the season.

NMFC.com.au quizzed the Kangaroos’ players on how they spent the weekend off.

Nathan Grima
“I stayed up on the Gold Coast for a couple of extra days with some of the lads for a bit of extra recovery and rest. I actually went to Dreamworld one day and went on all the big rides so that was good fun. Patch Adams (Leigh Adams) and I did that, but Liam Anthony was too scared to go on a couple of the rides because he’s a coward.

“I went down to Hobart on the weekend. My girlfriend and I are from Tassie so we went down there for a couple of days but the weather was pretty bad so we didn’t really do much. We just kicked back, relaxed and recovered ready for this week.”

Brent Harvey
“I actually got away with the family up in Trentham. We’ve got some friends up there so we stayed there for two days and did absolutely nothing and that was the best part about it.”

Ryan Bastinac
“After the Gold Coast game I went back to Adelaide. I have a close friend over there that I go and see every now and then. Also on the weekend one of the boys had a 21st that I went to. Then I went to watch some local footy back in Narre Warren where I’m from and watched a few friends play.”

Shaun Atley
“We didn’t do too much. I went down to Mornington with my girlfriend and did a high-rope course which was pretty fun. I don’t know if I’m allowed to do it but we were strapped in so it was pretty safe.”

Scott McMahon
“On Tuesday and Wednesday we went to Falls Creek. I took the wife and the nearly two-year-old there. There was no snow which was disappointing, just a bit of man-made snow. We stopped there for a couple of days, threw snowballs at the children, then on the weekend we did nothing... just a relaxing day at home. I’m feeling very refreshed, and ready to go for the weekend.”

Aaron Black
“I just relaxed, sat around the house and did a bit of cleaning. That was about it. I was going to go up to Western Australia but we are playing the Dockers there this weekend so I’ll just get a few friends to come up to Perth, watch the game and see a bit of family up there.”

Jack Ziebell
“I stayed up in the Gold Coast. We played Saturday night and I flew back on Tuesday to Melbourne. It was nice to stay up there for a few days and hit the beach. Unfortunately the weather wasn’t great but it was good to have a break.”

Daniel Wells
“I just stayed home with my family. I’ve got a little daughter (Laudate) who’s four years old and she was a bit sick so we didn’t do much at all. My wife and I went to a party for Aaron Davey on Saturday night. We had a good night out.”

Aaron Mullett
“After the game on Saturday, I stayed at the Gold Coast until Wednesday and we had a little get-together with the boys and we went to some of the theme parks.

“We went to Dream World on Tuesday so I just got away from footy for a bit and stayed at a nice little hotel. The weather wasn’t too good which was disappointing. Then we came home and trained Thursday and Friday.

“On the weekend I went back home to my dad’s which is just in Ringwood and watched my brother play football.”

After a disappointing loss against the Suns, the players enjoyed the opportunity to recover and look ahead to the second half of the season.

The task doesn’t get any easier upon their return though. This week an in-form Dockers’ outfit looms large, with the trip to Perth making the challenge even tougher.