North Melbourne have made their intentions known by submitting a request to the AFL to uphold their current Good Friday fixture between the Western Bulldogs, despite sub-par efforts the previous two outings.
With broadcasting ratings high on the AFL agenda, the importance of the match more circles around the push to raise funds for the Royal Children's Hospital, with the game introduced as a lead-in since 2016.
Outgoing North Melbounrne CEO Ben Amarfio has admittedly understood the reasoning behind his team's questioned spot in the lucrative Friday night clash.
“We get that, in where we are in our rebuild cycle and our performance. But we, obviously, plan to be a more competitive outfit next season and there is no reason why we can't put up a really good showing,” Amarfio told The Age.
“For us, it's also about appealing to the kids. We think it's an opportunity to grow our appeal to youth for our club. It's been a very successful push for us in the growth of our membership.
“We have, obviously, played the Dogs over the last couple of years, but I am also conscious our biggest crowd we have ever had [on Good Friday] was against Essendon, over 40,000. It's up to the AFL to which way they go.”
In addition to the Good Friday verdict, a decision resting solely with the AFL that will need equal time to mull over is the meeting of new Port Adelaide recruit, Jason Horne-Francis, with his former side North Melbourne.
Due to the trade deal that centred around the 19-year-old happening after the deadline for fixture requests, the Power and Kangaroos battle will be out of their control in regards to the when and where side of things.
Amarfio added a full house at Marvel is an attractive offer, "but by the same token it might be a good one for Port Adelaide. But, as I said, they would have had their request in ... that one is going to fall where it falls. It won't be engineered."
The mouthwatering proposal of the two sides butting heads is set to be must-watch viewing with a date expected to be penciled in by the AFL either by late November or early December.
