Murray Kangaroos Football Club, officially nicknamed The Kangaroos, was an

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

club which competed in the

Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football league in Australia serving as one of the second-tier regional semi-professional competitions which sit underneath the fully professional Australian Football League (AFL). It ...

between 2000 and 2002. The football club was a

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acces ...

between the

North Melbourne Football Club The North Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed the Kangaroos, is a professional Australian rules football club. The men's team competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), and the women's team in the AFL Women's (AFLW). The Kangaroos also ...

and the

Ovens and Murray Football League The Ovens and Murray Football Netball League (O&MFNL) is an Australian rules football and netball competition containing ten clubs based in north-eastern Victoria, Australia, Victoria, the southern Riverina region of New South Wales, Austral ...

and served as North Melbourne's reserve side. The Ovens and Murray region was formerly zoned towards North Melbourne, and the club enjoys good support in the area.

History

Following season

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

, the AFL Reserves Grade was terminated leaving AFL clubs without a place to field their reserves players. The Kangaroos, together with the

launched their own stand-alone VFL club in the Victorian Football League called the Murray Kangaroos. The club's home games were split between

Coburg City Oval Coburg City Oval (also currently known as Piranha Park due to naming rights) is an Australian rules football and cricket stadium located in Coburg, Australia. It is home to the Coburg Football Club in the Victorian Football League, and the Cobur ...

in Melbourne, and Lavington Oval in Albury-Wodonga. The side was made up with players from the Kangaroos, and topped up with players from the Ovens and Murray League offering a second chance to footballers who had missed out on the draft. At the end of 2002, The Kangaroos disbanded the club citing pressure from the AFL, and cost-cutting measures (the club cost around $100,000 a year to field). North Melbourne instead decided to align with the

Port Melbourne Football Club The Port Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed The Borough, is an Australian rules football club based in the inner-Melbourne suburb of Port Melbourne. The club was founded in 1874 and has been competing in the Victorian Football Association/Leag ...

in a short-term deal.

Honour roll

Coach

*2000 – Ross Smith *2001 – Paul Hamilton *2002 – Paul Hamilton

Best and Fairest

* 2000 –

Stuart Cochrane Stuart Cochrane (born 20 July 1978) is a former Australian Football League (AFL) and South Australian National Football League (SANFL) footballer who played for the North Melbourne, Port Adelaide and Central District Football Clubs. After bei ...

* 2001 – Mark Hilton * 2002 – Adam Lange

Leading Goalkicker

*2000 –

Kent Kingsley Kent Kingsley (born 26 September 1978) is a former Australian rules footballer for the North Melbourne Football Club, the Geelong Football Club and the Richmond Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). A full forward, Kingsley wa ...

34 goals *2001 –

Leigh Harding Leigh Harding (born 26 April 1981) is a former Australian rules footballer in the Australian Football League. He currently serves as an Offensive Skills coach at the Brisbane Lions, and also as an assistant coach of the Lions' NEAFL reserves ...

53 goals *2002 –

Rodney Tregenza Rodney Donald "Rod" Tregenza (born 16 January 1979) is a former Australian rules footballer. Originally playing for the South Mandurah Football Club in the Peel Football League (PFL), Tregenza was a member of 's squad for their first season in ...

54 goals

VFL Club Records

*Highest score: 26.18 (174) v Essendon, Round 9, 2002, Windy Hill *Lowest score: 5.9 (39) v Sandringham, Round 16, 2000, Lavington Sports Ground, & 5.9 (39) v Coburg, Round 18, 2000, Lavington Sports Ground *Greatest winning margin: 96 points v Essendon, Round 9, 2002, Windy Hill *Greatest losing margin: 93 points v Coburg, Round 20, 2001, Coburg City Oval *Lowest Winning Score: 13.10 (88) v Preston 9.12 (66), Round 16, 2001, Lavington Sports Ground *Highest Losing Score: 17.14 (116) v Box Hill 22.13 (145), Round 5, 2002, Box Hill City Oval, & 17.14 (116) v Preston 18.14 (122), Round 11, 2002, Coburg City Oval

References

{{North Melbourne Football Club Australian rules football clubs established in 2000 North Melbourne Football Club Former Victorian Football League clubs Australian rules football clubs in Melbourne Australian rules football clubs disestablished in 2002 2000 establishments in Australia 2002 disestablishments in Australia