North Melbourne will play two games at Hobart's Bellerive Oval from 2012, the Tasmanian Government and AFL announced in Hobart on Tuesday afternoon.

AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou said the deal, together with the four games Hawthorn plays at Launceston's Aurora Stadium each year, would help satisfy Tasmanian's desire for local AFL matches.

"We are really pleased to see more AFL football in Tasmania," Demetriou said. "We know the football community has been pushing hard for more games and we know Tasmanians want more AFL content, not less.''

Read more at AFL.COM.AU ....

(The BackPageLead story, Kangaroos All Set for Hobart, written in July last year, had the Kangaroos playing four games in Hobart. This was what the club and AFL wanted but they were stymied by a combination of Jeff Kennett's belligerence, former Premier David Bartlett's lily-liveredness and James Brayshaw's inexpert deal-making. The story can be found by clicking on here .....)