North Melbourne CEO Ben Amarfio has praised the club’s loyal members, with 38,667 standing by the club in unprecedented times throughout 2020. 

“We are extremely grateful for the support we have received from our members this year,” Amarfio said.

“We’ve always known we have a uniquely passionate and generous membership base but we have been overwhelmed by everyone’s incredible resilience and generosity in what has been a difficult time.” 

The Kangaroos retained a remarkable 97% of its members from 2019, despite COVID restrictions preventing fans from attending games. 

“It has been an extremely challenging year for everyone and for so many members to stick by our club at a time when we needed them most is really humbling. 

“Our members weren’t afforded the opportunity of seeing a game in person this year but they stood by us and we are extremely grateful for their devotion. 

“I know our players can’t wait to have our members and fans cheering them on at games and we hope that occurs in the not too distant future.”

Amarfio said the club has an exciting future and urged fans to show patience and enjoy the journey. 

“No doubt, it has been a disappointing year on-field but we’ve seen a lot of growth in our younger players,” Amarfio continued. 

“We have a thorough plan for our future and we are confident we’re heading in the right direction.

“We have some incredible young talent on our list with five Rising Star nominations in the past two years.

“We’ve watched players like Luke McDonald, Jy Simpkin, Luke Davies-Uniacke, Tarryn Thomas, Curtis Taylor, Bailey Scott, Ben McKay, Kyron Hayden and Nick Larkey take great steps forward and we’ve introduced exciting young talents like Jack Mahony, Flynn Perez and Tristan Xerri.

“When combined with the prospect of selecting a new breed of fresh talent from this year’s National Draft and hopefully keeping our stars on the field more so next season, we are certainly feeling buoyant and hopeful about the future and we know there are good things to come for our members. We are looking forward to rewarding their faith in us.”