There’s a first time for everything, and today is The Shinboner’s inaugural North Melbourne mailbag.

Before the first bounce on Sunday it’s important to set a bar for what I’ll be expecting from 2022.

When Josh Kelly’s eight-year extension at GWS was announced on Tuesday evening, my instinctive reaction was ‘happy with that’. That was immediately followed by something along the lines of, ‘am I insane being happy with Josh Kelly not at North Melbourne?'

At the halfway point of North Melbourne's season, it feels like a natural time to reset and reflect on what we've learned so far.

It's hardly revealing a state secret in saying North Melbourne won't be playing deep into September this year, which makes it the perfect time to throw things at the wall to see what sticks.

Just a little bit has happened since the end of North Melbourne’s 2020 campaign. Coach change, significant list changes, essentially a whole remodel.

With a remarkable 11 delistings, a quarter of North’s list disappeared in one fell swoop. To cut this deep, this early appears to mean plenty more wheeling and dealing to come.

Throughout North Melbourne’s last month, the common thread – apart from four losses – has been ball movement. Or to be more accurate, the lack of.

The fun part about the early stages of AFLW is watching how the on-field product evolves from infancy to fully rounded competition.

With two Marsh Series clashes and one scratch match in the books, it’s time to take stock and look ahead to North Melbourne’s season opener against St Kilda at Marvel Stadium on March 21.