NORTH Melbourne expects to have its full player list in Ballarat for a two-day AFL community camp on Thursday and Friday.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Captain Andrew Swallow (Achilles tendon) and the emerging Majak Daw (knee), who have been the Kangaroos’ major off-season injury focuses, will join teammates and the coaching panel headed by Brad Scott in the city.
This is the club’s sixth consecutive community camp in Ballarat, but it will be marquee recruit Nick Dal Santo’s first. Dal Santo, who joined North Melbourne as a free agent in the off-season, is scheduled to visit Waubra Primary School and Gordon Football Club as part of activities.
The key change to this year’s two-day program will be the absence of an intra-club practice match, which has attracted up 2000 people in the past.
The Kangaroos have dropped this hit-out given the closeness of the camp to its first fully-fledged pre-season game.
North Melbourne will return to Ballarat on Saturday, February 15, to meet Carlton in the opening round of the new-look NAB Challenge at Eureka Stadium.
Community organisations, football clubs and schools will be the focus of the Kangaroos’ visit, primarily on Thursday.
Jack Ziebell, Swallow and Daw, in his role as an AFL multicultural ambassador, will visit Australia Post in Central Square on Thursday from 3pm.
Primary school visits are Beaufort, Buninyong, Creswick, Creswick North, Haddon, Magpie, Miners Rest, Waubra, Smythesdale, Snake Valley and Ballarat Clarendon College.
Senior football club visits are Sebastopol, Ballarat, Creswick, Gordon, Newlyn, Waubra, Smythesdale, Learmonth, Hepburn, Ballan, Clunes and Dunnstown
Community visits will include Ballarat South Seniors’ Club, Meals on Wheels, ‘Social, Activities, Interest, Leisure, Support’, White Ribbon Young Ambassador program, McCallum Disability Services, Dragons Abreast and Ballarat Community Garden.
A superclinic for a group of primary schools at the City Oval will be a highlight of Friday.
david.brehaut@fairfaxmedia.com.au