Birthisel resigns from North Melbourne to pursue career outside AFL

By James Kleeman

May 30, 2022

Raft of changes: Three executive staff have handed in their resignations from North Melbourne, including Benalla’s Ben Birthisel. Photo by Rodney Braithwaite

Benalla product Ben Birthisel has resigned from his position as national recruiting officer at North Melbourne amid a staff exodus at the Kangaroos.

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The club confirmed last Tuesday that list boss Glenn Luff and national recruiting manager Mark Finnigan had resigned, while Birthisel also handed in his resignation.

Finnigan has reportedly accepted an offer from Hawthorn, while Birthisel has stepped down to pursue a career in a separate industry.

North Melbourne general manager of football talent Brady Rawlings talked down the sudden exits ahead of the mid-season draft.

“We’ve had two staff members that have been approached, one through another AFL club (Finnigan) and one through a completely different industry which he’s been studying for (Birthisel),” Rawlings told Foxfooty.com.au

“Ben 100 per cent went with my blessing, I've been working with him around that and he’s in his early 30s, he hasn't had a weekend off during the footy season for 12 years, so I totally get that he'd like to look at a different opportunity.”

Birthisel worked at the club in a variety of roles in the past decade before becoming national recruiting officer in 2019.

The news comes after reports surfaced last week that players and staff at North Melbourne were growing frustrated with club management.