Brown to face North in his Demons debut

© Brendon Thorne/AAP PHOTOS Ben Brown’s first game for Melbourne will be against his former AFL side North Melbourne.

Key forward Ben Brown will debut for unbeaten Melbourne against his former AFL club North Melbourne.

After having knee surgery in February, Brown has worked his way into form during three games in the VFL and will slot into the Demons side for Sunday’s clash at Hobart’s Blundstone Arena.

Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin said the 28-year-old deserved his chance and would boost Melbourne even further after the club’s best start to a season in 56 years.

“We’re going to play Ben Brown, that is something we will do,” Goodwin said.

“We think we can improve our team and he deserves a spot so we’re going to pick him.

“He’s had three weeks of really strong footy. He’s ready to play after a really big training block and we think he can make our team better.”

Brown missed most of the 2020 season through injury before arriving at Melbourne from North via a trade last year.

The fortunes of the two clubs could not be more stark, with Melbourne shooting into premiership contention while the Kangaroos are winless as they embark on the biggest rebuild in their history.

“It’s ironic that it’s worked out like that (his first game against North), it certainly wasn’t planned that way or not why we selected him” Goodwin said.

“We selected him because we think he’s ready. We’re not afraid to make these moves, even though we’re performing strongly.

“We think there’s an opportunity here where we’ve got a player in form and he can make our team better.”

Brown booted 287 goals in 130 games for the Kangaroos since his AFL debut in 2014.