Premiership Roo is seeing signs of life at Arden Street

North Melbourne premiership player Shannon Motlop is seeing promising signs at his former club.

Motlop has been keeping a close eye on the rebuilding Roos and has been buoyed by what he has seen in 2025 under Alastair Clarkson.

“I’m really watching North Melbourne (closely),” he told SEN.com.au.

“I barrack for North Melbourne still.

“Even though they’re at the bottom, you can just sort of see they’re making improvements.”

Motlop singled out young star Harry Sheezel and the club’s direction under four-time premiership coach Clarkson as the reason for his optimism.

“I’m pretty excited, you know, Sheezel’s a star,” Motlop exclaimed.

“They’ve got some good young kids and they’ve got a great coach.”

With the Kangas recently winning their first game at the MCG since 2017 against Richmond, Motlop may just be correct about the exciting future.

“I’m really excited to see them kick into gear,” the 1999 premiership forward said.

“Hopefully they can get a bit better. I think they’re onto something and I think something could develop there.

“It might be a couple of years, but they’re moving forward at last.”

While his heart lies with the Roos, Motlop had a clear view on who’s most likely to take out the premiership this year.

“In a nutshell, I think Brisbane are pretty strong,” Motlop revealed.

“They look like they could probably do it again. But you never count Collingwood out.”

However, Motlop was less convinced by one of this year’s most hyped sides.

“A lot of talk about Carlton,” he said.

“But I think they might not make finals. I think they’ll have a better run later in the year.”

When Shannon’s not following the AFL, he is channelling his passion and drive into building Aboriginal Community Harvest, a company that empowers Aboriginal communities to harness the abundance off their land. Thanks to a recent capital injection from Aboriginal Investment NT, Shannon is well-positioned to grow his business and begin exploring opportunities in international markets.