How Kangaroos are seeking to guarantee more MCG games
North Melbourne defender Charlie Comben has put the onus on his teammates to ensure they are given more MCG opportunities after ending an eight-year drought at the venue.
The Kangaroos' tense four-point victory over Richmond on Sunday snapped a run of nine straight losses at the home of football.
Alastair Clarkson fielded six players who had never played a senior game there, while veteran defender Luke McDonald was the only one who had played in North's previous MCG win back in 2017.
Remarkably, only Gold Coast (10 times) have played fewer home-and-away games at the MCG than the Kangaroos (12) over the last decade.
The Richmond encounter was the first of three MCG games for North in 2025, ahead of clashes with Carlton (round 15) and Melbourne (round 18) after their mid-season bye.
"It's unbelievable. Running out, I had a look around and soaked it all in," Comben told AAP.
"It was only my third game at the 'G in my 38-game career.
"We don't get here a lot and we've got two more games coming up here later in the year.
"But if we keep performing and playing good footy then we're going to get fixtured here more often.
"So that's on us to start winning more games of footy and I think that's going to happen for us."
North's drought-breaking triumph over the Tigers would not have been possible without telling performances from their senior players.
Tristan Xerri was titanic in the ruck, Aidan Corr and McDonald stood up in defence, while Cam Zurhaar kicked four crucial goals.
But Comben reserved special praise for captain Jy Simpkin, whose grandmother died in the days leading up to the game.
"The one that epitomised it for me was Jy Simpkin," Comben said.
"Jy lost his grandma three days ago, so coming into the game was really emotional for him and we wore black armbands for him today.
"I thought he led from the front in the middle.
"Our leaders played good footy and that allowed us young boys underneath to follow in their footsteps."
Zurhaar played despite a nasty injury on his non-preferred left foot, which could yet rule him out of the clash with ladder leaders Collingwood at Marvel Stadium on Saturday night.
"Cam's one of the toughest competitors I've seen," Comben said.
"His foot was a balloon before the game. I was calling him 'Big Foot'.
"So for him to come out and perform like he did was awesome.
"No one on the ground would have known because he didn't tell many of the boys.
"So it was a really tough, fierce, competitive game from Cam and I'm really proud of him."
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