Tasmanian Ben Brown has had his say on recent speculation that North Melbourne could permanently be heading to the Apple Isle.
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With the postponement of the AFL season putting several clubs under financial stress, the move has been brought up regularly over the past week but the four-time North leading goalkicker isn't keen on changing things from a Roos perspective.
"I'd absolutely love to see Tasmania have their own team in their own right and I do think that they deserve that," Brown told former Hawthorn and Carlton player Daniel Harford on RSN's The Breakfast Club.
"Obviously this COVID-19 virus has changed the whole outlook of probably the league now and we aren't really sure where that heads.
"I love the North Melbourne footy club and I think North have had to fight to stay in North Melbourne before and I think they will continue to fight for that, I think that the North Melbourne Football Club deserves to have their club based in North Melbourne as well.
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"We obviously love the Tasmanian connection and it's fantastic for us and I think great for Tasmania as well but I would absolutely love to see Tasmania be the 19th team in the league and I think that's what the people down there deserve."
Penning a touching piece for The Herald Sun detailing his personnel connection with the coronavirus and its potential effects on 14-year-old cousin Grace who is in remission following a five-year battle with leukaemia, Brown described the current football climate as "very different."
The 27-year-old is using the break from football to spend time with wife Hester and daughter Alia and as the Kangaroos sit at 1-0 after a win over St Kilda, is able to focus on his positives during the tough time.
"There's definitely part of you that misses going into the club and seeing everyone and even the staff members, I've been having conversations with a couple of staff members over text messages over the past couple of days and it's very strange for everyone.
"It was very strange for us because we played on the Sunday and it was announced on the Sunday so we just headed back to the footy club to do our ice baths to have a bit of a feed.
"Everyone was told to get together for a bit of a meeting with everyone and all the staff as well who were there on match-day and they basically told us what was going to happen.
"I think it really sunk in for me, I was chatting with one of our physios afterwards and he was saying that, 'the first thing for me is, I don't know if I have a job now' and that really sunk in that it was going to have such wide-ranging effects and a few weeks before that, I hadn't even considered that to be a possibility."
Heading into his seventh season at AFL-level, Brown has made the Kangaroos' number 50 guernsey his own, playing 70 consecutive matches in the blue and white, last missing round 21 in 2016 with a minor knee injury.
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