North Melbourne star Harry Sheezel says young Roos excited for WA stint ahead of West Coast Eagles clash

North Melbourne star Harry Sheezel says the young Kangaroos are looking forward to bonding on their 10-day stint in Western Australia.

The club sold two of its home games for the next two years to the WA Government, with one game to be played at Hands Oval in Bunbury and the other at Optus Stadium.

It means North Melbourne will temporarily relocate mid-season, with the team heading west later this week ahead of their bottom-two clash against West Coast at Hands Oval on Sunday before they tackle Fremantle in Perth six days later.

The decision has met with plenty of criticism given North Melbourne’s on-field struggles, but Sheezel said they were going to use the trip to bond as a group.

“That’s our job. We play football wherever we’re told to play and I’m really excited for this opportunity,” Sheezel told SEN.

“To go away with your best mates for two weeks and live together, playing football in Perth in the middle of winter in Melbourne which isn’t the same.

“I am looking forward to getting over there. We’ve got a nice, young group who are really close and connected, so I’m sure it will be a lot of fun. The focus of the trip is to go over and get two wins. That’s the No.1 priority.

“Perth will hopefully we nice weather. You get to train with your mates and stay with them.”

Sheezel and the Kangaroos will get into Bunbury on Friday morning before they train on Saturday. They will stay in the South West until Monday before relocating to Fremantle ahead of their clash against the Dockers at Optus Stadium on the Saturday night.

“We’ve already played a game there in the pre-season so we already know what it’s like, the hotel we’re staying at and the ground as well,” Sheezel said.

“We’ve had the practice run there, we’ll train there on Saturday morning so we’ll stay in Bunbury from Friday until the Monday morning after the game and then we’ll drive up to Perth and stay in Fremantle for the next week before the Freo game.”

Despite sitting 17th on the ladder and facing another bottom-two finish, Sheezel said the Kangaroos had improved in 2025.

“That’s not up for discussion. Based on the way we’re playing, how we’re way more competitive in games, I think our percentage is much higher than it has been in recent years,” he said.

“At the end of the day we don’t want to be winning — what, we’re on track to win what four games this year?

“I’m confident we’ll win way more than that and have a good second half of the year. We’ve been building slowly, a lot slower than we would’ve liked.

“This year we’ve started to see a bit more consistency. Not necessarily over four quarters in games but week-to-week more consistent against opposition.”