North Melbourne Chairman James Brayshaw spoke with the club’s media department about recent developments with Tasmania.

The Tasmanian government has announced it is re-signing the Hawks for another five years to play games in Launceston... disappointed?

I am disappointed with the way some of this has been handled over the past week or so but I have known the path the Tasmanian government was going to head since late last week and as I have stated before, it's their money and their state and they can choose to take whichever path they want.

Will you still pursue the opportunity to play games in Hobart?

Absolutely. As I have said before this was our original intention before a different agenda was presented to us by the Tasmanian government. It staggers me that again the capital city of Tasmania has been ignored where AFL football is concerned; we've said we would love to play some games down there and that position hasn't changed.

You went to see the facilities at Bellerive last week ... Were you impressed?

Very ... it's a high class venue screaming out for AFL Football. The surface is unbelievably good, the football facilities are brand new and absolutely fine, the new stands offer great viewing for football and the corporate facilities are also terrific. You could play a game there this season without any problem at all.

And what about the people of Hobart ... How would they be feeling?

Gutted, I would have thought. They are absolutely desperate to get football played at the highest level in their city and they cannot believe there isn't a way to make it happen. The overwhelming vibe I got out of the place was - 'If you come down here we'll be there ... every time!’

I cannot tell you how many people stopped me in the street when I was there last week literally pleading with me to bring footy to their city. I obviously stated that as keen as we are, the decision is not ours to make.

So where to from here?

I spoke to the Tasmanian Premier at the end of last week and he indicated to me that he wanted to sit down in the coming weeks to discuss a way to make this happen. We obviously welcome that discussion; we already know that AFL Tasmania, Cricket Tasmania & the city of Hobart are on board ... So let's make it happen.

If it were to happen ... How many games are we talking?

Probably three I would have thought, obviously you rely on the AFL to fixture you down there, but three seems to be the number.

What about the comments made by the Hawks President Jeff Kennett ... Did they make you angry?

Angry is not the right word -I think more disappointed. It's strange that a club president would choose to go on record speaking that way about another club and it's certainly not something I would do.

But that relocation Gold Coast stuff is all in the past now. Why people choose to drag it back up so often says more about them than anything we are doing. For North Melbourne it’s far more important that we focus on the future.

We need to grow. We need to get more people supporting this amazing club and our people shouldn't fear growth. The bigger we get the more likely we are to give Brad Scott and his team the tools they need to win our fifth & sixth premierships; it really is that simple.

I read the other day that Collingwood CEO Garry Pert is talking about the Magpies pushing up towards 70,000 members and I thought that summed it up - even when they are the biggest club in the competition they are still looking to grow. It's the most important thing for us to do.

What about the criticism about playing home games interstate?

Please ... we are hardly the lone ranger in that space. Richmond are taking games to Cairns, Western Bulldogs and Port Adelaide to Darwin, GWS have just minted a deal to take games to Canberra and the Hawks we know are in the north of Tasmania.

The AFL has a stated aim to be the dominant code in this country. To do that they need to take their product to the people who love it. We are proudly the North Melbourne Football Club, based at Arden Street, but if we get a chance to partner the amazing city of Hobart and make that our second home we should grab it with both hands!!

Thanks for talking to us James.

Pleasure