North Melbourne Chairman James Brayshaw spoke with the club's media department regarding the club's discussions to play games in Tasmania.

JB, thanks for your time.

You have confirmed the club is in discussions to play games in Tasmania. What is the latest?

Firstly I'd like to make it clear that we were approached on the basis that Tasmania wanted more football content than they are currently getting and they also wanted football played in Hobart as well as Launceston. We said we would be happy to look at playing seven games a year in Tasmania but some very important 'non-negotiables' needed to be adhered to.

What non-negotiables were they?

That it be established from the start as a long standing partnership...a seven to ten year deal and that as part of the deal, an academy be set up with direct links to Arden St so the best young players in Tassie get access to the best coaching in preparation for a crack at the AFL, that we get a stand-alone team in the VFL topped up with players from Tasmania to again provide that 'pathway' to the AFL, that we hold camps annually, community programs and you know...make it a genuine partnership which would be mutually beneficial.

But most critically, we had to ensure that we protect our Melbourne members and supporters by guaranteeing, with the AFL ,that they get access to eleven games every year courtesy of their members ticket, that we spend $2 million finishing the ground and completing our home at Arden Street and through this arrangement get the club free of debt by the end of 2013.

As long as those things can be confirmed we think it’s a fantastic opportunity.

What are the potential advantages of an arrangement like this for our club?

As a club we need to grow. We fought hard a few years back to keep North Melbourne in Melbourne, we have worked tirelessly to re-establish our home at Arden St and as I said; now we must grow. We need more members, more supporters, more attendees when we play, more people watching us on TV. If we are going to win our fifth & sixth premierships we have to grow, it's that simple.

If you look just at Hobart, they have two hundred thousand plus people - all football mad, they have never had a game in that city and it's the capital of the state! Imagine turning even half of them into North Melbourne supporters and turning Bellerive into a Kangaroos' fortress...I think that's something that's really exciting.

We need to constantly be looking for ways to make this club bigger and better and also keep in mind that two new teams are coming into the competition...things are going to get tougher in the corporate world as more clubs compete for the corporate dollar.

Some people will view a deal like this, if it happens, as a precursor to relocation. Is that a fair assumption?

I would have thought if this administration has done nothing else, it has proven that re-location isn't what we're about.

This is about securing the long-term future of our club, and make no mistake, a deal like this will ensure the Kangaroos become a powerhouse of the competition.

We have stated clearly that Arden Street is our home and we are North Melbourne, in fact we have spent millions of dollars proving just that. The AFL has stated repeatedly that they want 10 teams in Victoria and no-one attached to its Commission or management has any desire to re-locate us or anyone else and the Tasmanian people know these discussions don't involve re-location. I think that's your question answered!

There has been talk of a stadium development in Ballarat, did the club consider that as an option?

As I said we need to look at opportunities to grow. We have a great relationship with the city of Ballarat and while we have explored it, there just isn’t the infrastructure there to support AFL games at the moment.

What is the club doing to grow our supporter base and membership in Victoria?

For a start I think we are providing our members and supporters with a pretty compelling product - the boys this year were fantastic and the round 22 game against Melbourne showed everyone, against the club everyone says has the hottest young list in football, that while we were actually younger on the day, we beat them in a real shootout and entertained everyone in the process ... that's what this team promises . The Kangas are on the move and an entertaining product will always get you more support on match day.

We give our supporters more access to our players than any other club in the competition...you know, open trainings with signing sessions for our fans, the most open media policy in the AFL, including interviews on television and radio involving our players an hour before they play - no other club does that.

And this year we have made it faster and easier to become a member with revamped packages that every supporter should love.

If we are playing home games interstate, will our members have access to games in Melbourne?

As I said, if we partner Tasmania and play games down there, our board and management have guaranteed that our Melbourne members will get to see, every year of any deal signed, eleven games in Melbourne with their members pass and the beauty of that is the games they will see will almost always involve another Melbourne based club.

So not only will our members get to see us play eleven times guaranteed, they will get to see us play most of those eleven against Richmond, Carlton, Collingwood etc which will be great for our Melbourne members and supporters.

I understand there is a level of concern out there, but our supporters need to have faith in us as a board and administration and understand that everything we do, is for the betterment of this great club. If we don't look to expand and grow now, then we will be left behind very quickly.

I hope our people can see the upside of this potential deal and continue with us on the journey toward our next premiership.

Thanks again James