NORTH Melbourne met with the AFL on Monday to begin formalising its application for a priority pick.
It's understood a Kangaroos team, led by CEO Ben Amarfio and their head of strategy James Gallagher, held talks with the League on Monday afternoon to kickstart the official process for requesting draft assistance.
It comes just six days after North Melbourne parted ways with senior coach David Noble for poor performance, having won just five of his 38 games in charge of the Arden Street club.
Amarfio had revealed at Noble's departure press conference last week that the Kangaroos would "be aggressive in acquiring more talent" and said it had "started informal conversations about mechanisms to bring more talent to the club through priority picks and such".
However, Monday's meeting marked a formalisation of those discussions as North Melbourne continues to seek ways in which to fast-track its ongoing list rebuild.
Saturday's upset victory over Richmond in interim coach Leigh Adams' first game in charge was just the club's seventh win from its last 54 games dating back to 2020.
It is currently anchored to the bottom of the ladder with a dismal 2-15 record this season, facing its second consecutive wooden spoon and its sixth straight campaign without finals football.
Gold Coast was the last club to receive draft assistance as a result of poor performance in 2019, securing picks No.1 and 20 in the 2019 NAB AFL Draft, then pick No.11 in the 2020 draft and pick No.19 in the 2021 draft. That came after the Suns had secured just seven wins from their previous two seasons, as well as going nine campaigns without September action.
Carlton received an AFL assistance package giving it the ability to pre-list two state league players in 2018, having won just eight games in two years and having gone five seasons without finals football.
Meanwhile, Brisbane received a priority pick at selection No.19 in 2016 after winning seven games in the two seasons prior and having gone seven consecutive seasons without finals action.
North Melbourne is currently the overwhelming favourite to already take the No.1 pick into this year's national draft, having recruited Jason Horne-Francis with the first selection last season.
However, it is not currently slated to hold another pick inside the draft's first three rounds after trading its second-round selection to Richmond in a deal for Callum Coleman-Jones last year and its third-round pick to the Western Bulldogs.
North Melbourne is currently undertaking a review of its football department, led by former club chief executive Geoff Walsh, and must replace both its coach and two senior members of its list management team after recruiting boss Mark Finnigan and head of player personnel Glenn Luff sensationally quit the club in May.
