Shinboner Spirit has always been hard to define or describe but North Melbourne has begun work to make finally make it something tangible.

When Brad Scott arrived at the end of 2009, he felt the term Shinboner had been hijacked and used to describe the club as poor and battling. He felt that it’s true spirit “had been lost”.

“I really felt coming in that we needed a fresh start, that we needed to park the term Shinboner until we could redefine it in the team’s image and redefine it for our supporters so we could once again wear it as a badge of honour,” Scott told the Herald Sun.

After several workshops and surveys involving a cross-section of club employees, players and fans, North Melbourne has pinpointed and identified a set of guiding ideals befitting of Shinboner Spirit.

They are "belonging, being real, being bold and never being beaten".

For James Brayshaw, having Shinboner Spirit is "a way of behaving, the way you carry yourself".

"That’s really the work – OK I’ve got my own version of it, which is different to Brad (Scott’s) which is different to Boomer (Harvey’s) which is different to Keith Greig’s… so we’ve all got to have our input and hopefully at the end of it we have come up with something that is meaningful to everyone,” said Brayshaw.

"I always say the great Glenn Archer is Shinboner of the Century much more for what he did off the field than what he did on it.

"That’s what a lot of people don’t understand - they think he has been voted Shinboner of the Century because he is the club’s best player – that is not the case at all.

"It is because of the way for over 20 years at the club he carried himself, treated people, the respect that he has shown the game, his teammates, our fans and the opposition.

"There is much more to it than just getting a kick – or breaking a leg."

"The Shinboner Sprit is never take your eye off the ball - go as hard as you possibly can at every contest," Archer said.

"Being bold and brave – I think that is something that when you walk into this club, it is a given, you have got to have it."

Brayshaw also used an interaction he had with a loyal supporter a few years back as inspiration.

"We had a lovely chat for about five minutes, and at the end of the discussion, as she was heading off, I said, ‘if you don’t mind me asking, what is it that you love about the club?’ and she sort of looked up and thought for a second and said, ‘oh, I don’t know … Shinboners, never beaten’ and then she just turned away," Brayshaw said.

"And I thought, never has anyone said a sentence that encapsulated what this club means more than this beautiful old lady."

Scott said the club is "taking the Shinboner Spirit, making it tangible, and holding everyone accountable to that".

"We have put the players and staff through a number of workshops and really made it clear to them what is expected of a North Melbourne person and what the Shinboner Spirit means," Scott said.

"Not just something that is spoken about with reverence but is tangible day to day.

"It is our culture and culture is something that you can’t take for granted. It is something you have got to continually nurture."

Jack Ziebell believes the principles can be found in the way the team plays.

"We play our football very boldly – we don’t wait," he said.

"We take the game on pretty aggressively."

Dual premiership coach Denis Pagan is a firm believer in Shinboner Spirit.

"If you didn’t work hard, you wouldn’t be successful," he said.

"If you weren’t prepared to give everything you’ve got, the club wouldn’t be successful."

Off the back of the work done on Shinboner Spirit, the club has launched its 2015 tagline ‘Get Real’.

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"I think our membership campaign this year highlights it really well – Get Real – is what we’re about. We are a real football club," Scott added.