North Melbourne has welcomed life member, former club doctor and former AFL chief medical officer, Dr Harry Unglik, to the Board.

With one of the most successful sports medicine clinics in Melbourne, the Midtown Medical Clinic, Unglik specialises in sports medicine but brings extensive knowledge of general practice, with a passion for holistic health and well-being.

Unglik was the Head Doctor of the Kangaroos from 1983-2001, which included two Premierships in 1996 and 1999. He served as Chief Medical Officer at the AFL for 16 years and has been instrumental in the formation of many of the medical policies and regulations the league adheres to.

In 2014 Unglik was awarded Life Membership at the AFL.

Unglik’s experience and expertise saw him selected as an Olympic Doctor in Sydney in 2000 and All-Australian AFL team doctor in 2000 and 2001.

“It’s very exciting,” Unglik said of the appointment.

“I spent a long time there as the doctor and met some wonderful people and made some great bonds that are still very strong.

“I look forward to helping out in any way I can, with medical, strength and conditioning, rehabilitation, the sports science part of the club, which is a very important part as well as mental health. The physical and mental health of all players and staff is fundamental to the success of an AFL club.  I look forward to adding value in these areas and any other areas where I can bring my industry experience to the fore.

“I just want to see our club being successful and having been there through a successful era in the 90s, I want to see us there again, so if I can help in any way it would be a pleasure to do that.”

North Chairman Ben Buckley said the club was delighted to have Unglik back at Arden St in an official capacity.

“Harry has always been a tremendous supporter of the club and has always offered his advice and assistance when needed and we are thrilled he has accepted our invitation to join the Board,” Buckley said.

“After a thorough review of medical and strength and conditioning programs during the latter half of the year we identified the need to bring in greater expertise in our high performance program and there’s simply no one better than Harry given his vast experience and knowledge of the game and the wider industry.

“Harry will provide an enormous amount of practical and professional insights related to medical issues, and will also provide great mentorship and advice to those running our restructured medical, strength and conditioning departments.”