Editing North Melbourne Football Club (section)

===Golden era===
[[File:Malcolm Blight statue Adelaide Oval.jpg|left|thumb|225px| [[Malcolm Blight]] was one of the stars of the 1970s premiership era, and won both a [[Brownlow Medal]] and [[Coleman Medal]] while at North Melbourne.]]

In the late 1960s, under the leadership of [[Allen Aylett]], North Melbourne began its climb to supremacy. As part of a major recruitment drive North secured the services of several big-name stars, including [[Barry Davis (footballer)|Barry Davis]] from [[Essendon Football Club|Essendon]], [[Doug Wade]] from [[Geelong Football Club|Geelong]], John Rantall from [[Sydney Swans|South Melbourne]], and Barry Cable from [[Perth Football Club|Perth]]. In a major coup, the great [[Ron Barassi]] was appointed coach in 1973. Barrassi reversed the club's playing fortunes, taking a struggling team that was once regarded as the traditional cellar dwellers of the competition through to a golden era of success that transformed North Melbourne into one of the powerhouses of the VFL. Barassi took North to a Grand Final (losing to [[Richmond Football Club|Richmond]] by 41 points) in 1974 and brought success in his 1975 and 1977 seasons. North made five consecutive Grand Finals from 1974 to 1978<ref name="GF" />{{rp|209}} and defeated [[Norwood Football Club|Norwood]] in the 1975 national championship and thus declared [[Champions of Australia]].
{| style="margin-right:4px; margin-top:8px; float:right; border:1px #000000 solid; border-radius:8px; background:#FFFFFF; font-family:Verdana; font-size:8pt; text-align:center;"
|-
| width=200 | ''[[1975 VFL Grand Final]]'' || ''G'' || ''B'' || ''Total''
|-
| style="text-align:left" |  [[File:AFL Hawthorn Icon.jpg|16px]] Hawthorn ||  9  ||  13  ||  67
|-
| style="text-align:left" |  [[File:NMFC AFL.png|16px]] North Melbourne|| '''19''' ||'''8''' || '''122'''
|-
| Venue: [[Melbourne Cricket Ground]]
|colspan="3"| Crowd: 110,551<ref name="Lovett 2010 669">{{harvnb|Lovett|2010|p=669}}</ref>
|}

In 1973 and 1974, North's wingman [[Keith Greig]] (recruited from Brunswick Football Club, Victoria) won consecutive [[Brownlow Medal]]s; forward [[Malcolm Blight]] (recruited from Woodville Football Club, South Australia) then won the award in 1978. Doug Wade (recruited from Geelong Football Club, Geelong) won the [[Coleman Medal]] in 1974 with his 103 goals for the season.
{| style="margin-right:4px; margin-top:8px; float:right; border:1px #000000 solid; border-radius:8px; background:#FFFFFF; font-family:Verdana; font-size:8pt; text-align:center;"
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| width=200 | ''[[1977 VFL Grand Final]]'' || ''G'' || ''B'' || ''Total''
|-
| style="text-align:left" |  [[File:NMFC AFL.png|16px]] North Melbourne|| '''21''' || '''25''' || '''151'''
|-
| style="text-align:left" |  [[File:Collingwood icon.svg|16px]] Collingwood || 19 || 10 || 124
|-
| Venue: [[Melbourne Cricket Ground]]
|colspan="3"| Crowd: 98,491<ref name="GF" />{{rp|670}}
|}
Barassi remained team coach until 1980, but only a Night Premiership in that year resulted in him leaving [[Arden Street Oval|Arden Street]]. North then entered another period of decline, though Malcolm Blight kicked 103 goals to take out the [[Coleman medal]] in 1982, and another Brownlow win came through the talented [[Ross Glendinning]] in 1983. In that year, North Melbourne won a third Minor Premiership with 16 wins and 6 losses for the season, but they failed to make the Grand Final.