North Melbourne's landmark deal selling home games in Western Australia is set to kick off on Sunday in Bunbury as they "host" West Coast at Hands Oval, with coach Alastair Clarkson saying it was a "no-brainer".
The Kangaroos' transition out of Tasmania begins next year, and asย of 2026,ย Clarksonย and his side will play nine games in Melbourne, with the two other "home" games played in WA.
North Melbourne's AFL team will completely exit Tasmania at the end of 2025 in anticipation of the Devils' arrival in 2028.
It is understood that the Kangaroos will receive around $2.5 million per season for the venture.
"(It's) each to their own in terms of how they generate their revenue to support their clubs, but this was a no-brainer for our football club," Clarkson said.
"We are pretty excited about making it work for our club."
North Melbourne returns from the bye after a strong showing across the past month, going down by single digits to Port Adelaide and Essendon before a drawn match against Brisbane.
Entering the second half of the season, Clarkson said the remainder of the campaign can be used as a "launch" into 2026.
"We had a pretty good four or five weeks leading into the bye in terms of competitiveness, even the Collingwood game, we were only three or four points down at three-quarter-time," Clarkson said.
"We were disappointed with how we finished that game โฆ (but) they (Collingwood) are top of the ladder for a reason.
"We would have liked to continue to play, but the rest (the bye) was probably good for us. It's a reset โฆ it is really important that we can use the second half of this season to launch us into next year."
