Another week, another important milestone for the Club, its members and fans to celebrate. 

Ahead of Libba's 250th game against the Kangaroos, Senior Coach Luke Beveridge spoke to the media. 

Here's what he had to say. 

On Libba’s milestone:

“He’s grown up a hell of a lot. 

“I mentioned last night the first thing I realised when I started was how much his teammates loved him, how much our people here loved him, how much our supporters did.

“The way he plays the game, with no corner given and the confrontational aspect of Aussie Rules and how he flies the flag as often as he can.

“I think it wears him down sometimes, it takes away from some of some his explosive and strong traits when he needs to provide that attention and stand up for his teammates which he is always prepared to do.

“He’s had two knee reconstructions which are significant period of times out of the game and to continue to endure and play influential football, it’s a real credit to him.

“As much as we celebrated Marcus’ 250th game last week, we really look forward to celebrating Tom’s on Thursday night.”

On Contract Discussions with Libba:

“Tom’s got a desire to go on, I believe.

“Ours is matching that - there’s no doubt.

“With our more experienced guys who start to get into their 30s, there’s a process of collaboration between managers and Sammy Power who looks after those conversations on behalf of the Club. I think something like that isn’t too far away.”

On-field performances and not slowing down:  

“It doesn’t surprise me, it’s in his DNA.

“It’s how Tony played, always willing to take on the tough task for the team. Whatever that task might be, so it hasn’t surprised me. I think over the years, he’s gotten better and better at the defensive side of the game.

“We saw him chase down Brad Hill at the start of the season and just that reaction to turnover and that willingness to get into defensive space because of the sacrifices he knows he needs to make for the team. That’s something that’s grown in his game.

“He’s such a pivotal midfielder in our ranks but he needs others around him to make sure that they share the load that he’s undertaken under the journey. We saw a bit of that last week.”

On the Sydney game:

“We saw the positives in it in regard to the situational aspect of the game.

“We dropped half-a-dozen games in similar circumstance where in those games we’ve held some control at different times and then we’ve had a quarter where we’ve really lowered our guard. In this competition whether its opposition who are up the pointy end of the ladder or below you, you can’t drop your guard.

“We felt like, especially in our defensive 50m, we gave up too much score through probably the accountability stakes. Ultimately, we were really buoyed by the fact that when Sydney came at us and they headed us, got in front of us on the scoreboard, our players were able to keep their composure – change the momentum of the game again and then ultimately, get over the line.

“It was a real arm wrestle with that nine-point margin being there for a significant period of time.

“Really proud of the boys to be able to pull it off.”

On North Melbourne and this week's challenge: 

“They’ve been pretty good.

“Clarko mentioned that they’ve had a good month-and-a-half to two months.

“Whether it was an anomaly last week – we know that Hawthorn are a very good side. Hawthorn are a very, very good contested stoppage side and, as Alastair said, that’s where they felt that Hawthorn got the better of them.

“We’ve got that reputation too that we’re reasonably strong through the stoppage and through the contested side of the game, even though the Sydney team got the better of us last week in those KPIs, we know that North Melbourne are going to want to tidy that up and come with an aggression around the ball.

“They’ve got that period of reasonable form that they can leverage off and remind themselves that they’re capable of testing anyone. We need to be ready for that on Thursday night.”

On spreading the load and players stepping up: 

“It is pleasing because, for the boys in particular that had a say in the outcome with their personal influence and made their stamp on the game. And, it also, sends a message to the whole group that you take a responsibility, you’re trusted with it, you’re capable of it all, you can do it. Whether you’re a bigger name or a recognised match winner, it doesn’t really matter.

“If you play your role and you play it to the enth degree like some of the boys did, to provide that stability and – ultimately, some special things in the game, it means anyone can step up.

“During periods where you’re just expecting the usual suspects to do it, we need to make sure that we think more broadly than that.

“It was really encouraging for us as a Club and for the team.”