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KEY DEFENDER Nathan Grima will play on at North Melbourne in 2015 after signing a new one-year deal.
Grima has been a key member of North's backline since 2010 and in recent seasons has teamed with Scott Thompson to man the opposition's most dangerous power forwards.
The 29-year-old told AFL.com.au on Friday he was rapt to extend his career at Arden Street.
In further good news for North fans, Grima will enter the 2015 pre-season in good health, having avoided post-season surgery for the first time in several years.
"I thought I could go around for another year and luckily the club thought the same," Grima said.
"I get a bit nervous if I say my body's feeling good because I'm shopping in Myer at the minute and I'll probably trip over a coat-hanger or something.
"But I'm feeling as good as I could be at the moment."
Grima has endured more than his fair share of injuries in his seven-year career at North, with knee, back and foot injuries limiting him to 86 games.
This year, Grima missed 11 games mid-season with a foot injury, but returned to play in North's final seven games, including its three finals.
When he was diagnosed with a stress fracture in his navicular bone in the early rounds of 2014, Grima thought he had probably played his last game for North.
"But with good management and a bit of good luck I was able to get back," he said.
"Although I didn't set the world on fire, I thought I earned my spot and contributed when we needed it."
Grima's performances late in 2014 were even more meritorious given he could not train during the week and had lost a lot of fitness during his time on the sidelines.
But with North's key-position depth in 2015 set to bolstered by the addition of former Carlton spearhead Jarrad Waite and the likely returns from injury of Robbie Tarrant and Cameron Delaney, Grima suspects he will have to be at his best to hold his spot in the Roos' team.
"I know going forward I probably won't get a game unless I'm 100 per cent fit, so I need to get my body right and rest up and attack pre-season like all the other guys," he said.
Injury permitting, Grima should play his 100th AFL game in 2015.
He says his primary motivation in playing on is to help North build on its finals success of 2014, but freely admits reaching an AFL 'ton' would mean a lot.
"Obviously, I'd love to play 100 games," Grima says.
"For me to play 100 would be like Jack Ziebell playing 200 – it would be a big deal for me.
"I'd love to get to that stage because it gives you your name on your locker.
"You can fluke 20 or 30 games but I don't think you can fluke 100, so I'd proudly come back in later years and look at my name on the locker if it got there.
"But if it didn't, I'd still be happy that I'd given it my best crack."
North's 2015 campaign will be bolstered by the addition of free agents Waite and Western Bulldog Shaun Higgins.
Grima is excited that players of such calibre have chosen to join North and believes they will round off the list the Roos have patiently built through the draft since 2006.
"That's the beauty of free agency, you can identify needs on your list and you can go after them without having to give up higher draft picks," he says.
"We've got into the position we are through going to the draft for a long period and we'll be able to keep doing that.
"Getting Jarrad and Shaun in, we've been able to keep building our list and not affect those high-end draft picks, so I'm sure the club is happy with that.
"And with Jarrad being 31, I all of a sudden feel young at 29, so that's a good thing as well."
