When die-hard North Melbourne supporter Paul Harrington purchased the opportunity to play paintball with 20 Kangaroos’ players at the club’s Gala Auction Night, it’s safe to say he wasn’t truly aware what he’d gotten himself into.

Today it was d-day and the long-time fan was to come face-to-face with the likes of Lachlan Hansen, Daniel Pratt, Hamish McIntosh, Scott McMahon, Lindsay Thomas and Matty Campbell on the Melbourne Indoor Paintball battlefield in Port Melbourne.


Harrington invited 19 other people along for the once in a lifetime opportunity including workmates, friends and other loyal North supporters.

“This is a chance for us to pay the players back for some poor efforts out on the field,” Harrington joked to kangaroos.com.au.

“All those missed chances, bad tackles and heart stopping moments will come back to haunt them today we hope.”


While draftee Ben Cunnington, sporting a freshly shaven head (see video above), was champing at the bit, it was a different story for Hamish McIntosh who was about to learn that wearing shorts was a bad idea.

“I thought we’d be given overalls for this…but apparently it’s not the case,” McIntosh said.

“I borrowed some shorts from Nathan Grima on the way here and they couldn’t be shorter. My legs are going to be a real target for the boys I reckon.”

Scott McMahon saw McIntosh’s misfortune as an opportunity to expose him in the arena. “It’s going to be a bit like Ned Kelly. We’ll aim for those long legs and bring the big fella down.”


When the battle began, it was all out war and the casualties began to pile up.

Scott Thompson left the first match with a nasty welt on his rib cage after Daniel Pratt fired from close range.

“It was Pratty for sure. The match was over and he nailed me. None of my teammates told me he was there so I’m pretty dark on them. There’s no team strategy out there it’s just open slather,” Thompson commented.

“It hurts a fair bit when you get hit. I wish I had some protective clothing or something. It stings badly for a couple of seconds, but you can’t worry about it because you’re too concerned about copping another barrage.”

Thompson would have his revenge and it came in the way of a shot right in the Pratt’s neck.

The pain was enough for McIntosh to consider throwing in the towel “I’ve had enough. This isn’t fun at all. I keep getting hit and I’m thinking I might just leave Nathan and Luke (Delaney) to get a cab home. We’ve still got forty minutes left and I don’t want to play anymore.”