The Kangaroos will host the Western Bulldogs on Good Friday and questions are being asked about whether the Kangaroos deserve the marquee fixture.
Put simply, they don't.
They are 18th on the ladder and have been uncompetitive in both their games this season and were for most of 2020.
Good Friday footy is only in its infancy and if it is to to become the traditional blockbuster the AFL are hoping for it's fair to assume that won't happen if the Kangaroos are a permanent part of the game in the near-future.
When the fixture debuted in 2016, the Roos and Dogs met in front of 47,622 fans. The following year the pair brought in 42,814 before the Dogs were replaced by the Saints and the crowd dropped to 33,966.
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Essendon played in the last edition of the game in 2019 and that saw the crowd jump to 48,278.
Only one of the Good Friday games has been memorable and that was way back in 2017 when the Dogs beat the Kangaroos by three points.
While high 40,000 something crowds are not a number to shrug at, there's no doubting that that is likely ceiling for a North Melbourne home game.
But imagine for a second that game is given to Carlton - a team who were originally considered for the slot. Imagine Carlton vs Western Bulldogs or St Kilda at the MCG. Immediately the crowd numbers (at 100% capacity) look comfortably north of 50,000 people.
Or what if the AFL give it to the Western Bulldogs to host, remove North Melbourne and leave the game at Marvel? Yes the crowd numbers will look very similar but the football will be much more entertaining and the games will mean more to the season.
That straight away makes the spectacle all the more important, at the moment it has the feel of a charitable handout to a struggling team.
The argument could be made somewhat on this logic that Carlton don't deserve the season opener considering they haven't won one since 2012.
But that game brings 80,000 to the MCG every year without fail no matter who is the home team and the TV audience is monstrous every year.
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Brisbane legend Jonathan Brown put it on the agenda on Monday night.
โ(North Melbourne) needs to appreciate the occasion on Friday and what it stands for," he said onย Fox Footy.ย
โYou donโt have the game forever. Brisbane Lions lost the Easter Thursday game on the back-end of my career because we werenโt performing on that big occasion. We lost it, but the Lions won it back after a few years because of performance.โ
North Melbourne aren't making the idea of sitting down to watch the footy on Good Friday - a day where almost everything is closed - a must-watch event.
Especially when the Adelaide Crows host the Gold Coast later that night. Heck, if I'm picking one of the two games to watch it'll be the Adelaide vs Suns game.
North fans will point out they have won their fair share of Good Friday games and haven't been walkovers to the teams they have shared the occasion with. But the fact is this North Melbourne team is nothing like the team which last played on Good Friday.
This team has offered very little for well over 12 months now and you don't get the feeling their young side isn't up to rising for the occasion, especially given the opposition.
An average losing margin of 55.5 points so far this year to go along with an average losing margin of 31.2 points in 2020 when there were shortened quarters.
They simply aren't competitive at the moment and if the AFL are genuine about making this fixture a permanent, long-standing attraction the game needs to be entertaining now. Especially after the financially destructive 2020 COVID season.
If the Kangaroos are five goals down at quarter time or 10 goals down at half time you can bet all your Easter chocolate that families across the country will turn the TV off and wait for the later game.
North coach David Noble says that the club deserves the game and the talk of them losing their spot is off the mark.
"I don't understand them," he said.
"The club fought really hard to get that. It's now not a standalone game, as it was when it was initially established. If that's the case, then all marquee games should be opened up โฆ Anzac Day, Good Friday, Dreamtime.
"If you're going to just single out us, then I think that's unfair. I've heard some of the reports in the media. But we cherish this game, we respect this game and we'll fight to keep this game."
There's no doubting it would be harsh to remove North Melbourne from the game they essentially birthed, but they don't have the base other big clubs do to hold a spot when playing poorly.
In Carlton's monster rebuild their membership base has continued to rise, they went from 56,005 in 2018 to 64,269 off the back of a two-win season.
North Melbourne dropped form 42,419 in 2019 to 38,667 in 2020, Collingwood and Essendon never fail to sell out the MCG on Anzac Day - no matter what time of the week they play or how each team is going.
If Essendon were sitting winless on April 25th there would be no doubts around that spectacle. Even if the AFL don't get their wish of 100% capacity there will be no tickets left come the first bounce. The same faith can't be placed in North Melbourne.
The AFL would be best served removing North Melbourne and letting this game flourish before allowing the Kangaroos to eventually feature and maybe host the game once again.
