North Blog

The North Melbourne Football Club will embark on its 153rd season in 2022 and although the club has an extensive and rich history, the current state of the playing group has us all extremely excited about what the future holds.

Jy Simpkin, Jaidyn Stephenson, Luke Davies-Uniacke and Tarryn Thomas have pleasantly surprised the AFL community and look set to lead us to greatness.

“[Simpkin has] all the qualities of a potential future club captain.”

Casey Mccarthy – Zero Hanger

Down forward, Nick Larkey has bags of seven in the bank – and is capable of more – while the young Ben McKay is holding down the fort at the other end.

We also welcome new recruit Callum Coleman-Jones from Richmond who can take a big grab and although the club says goodbye to Robbie Tarrant, we can’t help but hide the grin off the back of C-J’s arrival.

With so many of these young guns taking the field at once you’d have to be crazy to not want to join North Melbourne in their ‘Bound for Glory’ in 2022. Click on the link below to purchase a membership before our season kicks off…

https://membership.nmfc.com.au/

“But why should I buy one?” Well, if the playing group hasn’t already convinced you then some big-time contests will. And that’s why we’re here, to take a look at four highly anticipated matches that will take place next season.

1. North Melbourne vs. Essendon

It’s no surprise that the Shinboners have a beef with every club, but the Roos and Dons have a particularly bitter rivalry.

From an almost-merger in the pre-VFL era to Drew Petrie’s ‘Frank the Tank’ celebration in the 2014 Elimination Final, the two clubs have always produced unforgettable moments, albeit sometimes for the wrong reasons from a North Melbourne perspective.

Nevertheless, we’re certain to face the Bombers again in 2022 but North find themselves on an unfavourable streak. The last time the Roos managed to overcome the Bombers was back in 2016 and ever since then it’s been all Essendon.

Ben Rutten’s side swept North in 2021 but despite being drastically outplayed in the first meeting, David Noble’s troops almost pulled off an unlikely win eight weeks later when they met for the second time.

I’m sure our boys will come out firing when the two clubs meet again…

2. North Melbourne vs. Hawthorn

This will be a battle of the rebuilders.

Hawthorn seem to be going down that sort of path at the moment, and as for North Melbourne, we’ve gotten the hardest year out of the way and look ready to explode.

But that’s not to say this won’t be a tight tussle. The Hawks and Roos have played their fair share of close bouts and that’s what fans received when they met in 2021. Unfortunately for Hawthorn, they became North’s first scalp in what played out to be a Tassie thriller.

With both squads loaded with young talent, make sure to note this one down on the calendar.

3. North Melbourne vs. Western Bulldogs

We still want revenge…

The 128-point drubbing we suffered at the hands of the Dogs on Good Friday will be a tough memory to forget but the fact we improved by almost 100 points when we met the Dogs the second time was a terrific sign.

Having an extremely young midfield against one that was stacked with Treloar, Bontempelli, Smith, Hunter, Macrae, Dunkley and Liberatore was difficult to combat but now, with Cunnington back, Phillips and Powell prepared and potentially Jason Horne-Francis in the squad, I wouldn’t be surprised if we whip the Bulldogs by an unimaginable margin. I’m being facetious of course… but still.

We’ve got this to fuel the fire as well -

4. North Melbourne vs. Melbourne

The Demons are unquestionably the benchmark of the AFL right now and their 2021 Grand Final victory was as empathic as they come.

So, it’s fair to say this one is going to be a massive test for our relatively young side but there’s no chance in hell we’re writing off Cunnington and Co.

North stuck with Melbourne for a large portion of their 2021 meeting but a fourth quarter blitz from the Dees saw them run away 30-point winners.