AARON Black never wanted to leave North Melbourne despite battling homesickness last year.
The West Australian key forward had a breakthrough season in 2013, kicking 33 goals in 18 consecutive games after breaking into North's team in round five against Hawthorn.
But off the field Black was missing family and friends in Perth. Particularly, his mum Lyn, dad Doug, sisters Nicole and Amanda, nieces Summer and Ella and nephews Ben and Mason.
With six-year-old Summer the oldest of Black's nieces and nephews, the proud uncle felt he was missing out on seeing them grow up.
Black told AFL.com.au he was open with North about his homesickness throughout last year, regularly speaking with coach Brad Scott.
At the same time he was missing home, Black was feeling more and more settled at North.
Off the field, Black, drafted at pick No. 25 in 2009, had long enjoyed being part of North's close-knit core of youngsters, especially those from the 2008-10 drafts.
By the middle of last season, he was starting to feel at home on the field too.
Lingering groin soreness had disrupted Black's first two seasons at Aegis Park and in 2012 he struggled to break into North's forward line when the three-pronged attack of Drew Petrie, Lachlan Hansen and Robbie Tarrant was stretching opposition defences.
Black, 192cm, played just four games in those three seasons, but in 2013 he soon signalled he was a star in the making with his speed and agility at ground level.
More modestly, he says that after playing 10 or 11 consecutive games he felt more and more comfortable on the field and sensed he had cemented his spot "a little bit".
But as North fans salivated over how good Black might become by the time the Roos' list matured, Fremantle threatened to spoil the party.
Sensing Black was open to a move home despite being contracted at North to the end of 2014, the Dockers pounced at the end of last season, trying to tempt him back west with a lucrative long-term offer.
Freo's offer might have been enticing, but North convinced Black he could successfully juggle football and family life in Melbourne.
"North were really good. I told them throughout the year how I was feeling and I would regularly chat with 'Scotty'," Black said.
"At the end of the year North came to me and put an offer forward about how they could help me, how they could help my family to get over here and see me a bit more, and how I could go home in the breaks.
"I never wanted to go home. It was just about getting the things outside of the contract sorted, which would help me out, help the family out and just make me feel more comfortable in Melbourne.
"Luckily it all worked out. I got what I wanted and hopefully North got what they wanted."
The Roos got what they wanted for another three years, their new contract tying Black to Aegis Park to the end of 2017 – a long-term tenure only enjoyed by two other Roos, Ben Cunnington and Scott Thompson.
Black is just as happy, having planned a roster with his family where they will take turns to visit him in Melbourne every six weeks or so.
His next visitors will be Nicole and her children, Summer, Ben and Ella, in March.
"I think it's probably more exciting for me to see them than for them to see me," Black joked about his nieces and nephews. "Half the time they forget who I am."
Having recommitted to North, Black is excited by what the future holds.
"The majority of the playing group are in their fourth, fifth, sixth years, we've all come up together and the way we see it is that if we keep improving and pushing each other the only way is up," Black says.
"I can just see that it's all starting to click and hopefully this year and the next couple of years we can really push for top-four."
Black has not missed a training session this pre-season, his former groin issues a distant memory.
It is the forward's third consecutive full pre-season and one of his main focuses has been improving his contested marking.
His goals next year are simple: to play all 22 home and away games and hopefully finals, and to keep improving.
"I don't sit there and say I want to kick 'x' amount of goals or anything like that," Black says.
"I can't afford to just go off last year and cruise through pre-season, thinking I'll stroll through to round one.
"There are always going to be blokes underneath you who want to play in your spot, and we've got a lot of key forwards. So I've got to keep on improving on everything from last year."
