Frank Goode

Frank Goode was born on 19 December 1939. He grew up in country Victoria and played his early football with Moe and Heyfield in the Gippsland region, which became his original team in the records of the Victorian Football League.

His link with North Melbourne began in 1958, when he played one game for the club's Under 19s. Details of his family background and schooling have not been widely published.

Goode joined North Melbourne's senior list partway through the 1961 season and made his VFL debut in round 18, on 26 August 1961, against St Kilda at Junction Oval. He became North Melbourne player number 537. Standing 183 centimetres and weighing 83 kilograms, he was used at first as a versatile utility.

His best football came in the second half of his career. When the club's champion full-forward John Dugdale was injured in the mid-1960s, Goode was moved to the goal square and seized the opportunity. He was North Melbourne's leading goalkicker in 1965 with 38 goals and again in 1966 with 49.

Injury cut his career short. He had surgery early in 1967, played his last senior game in round 5 that season, against Fitzroy on 13 May 1967, and was injured again in 1968. When a second operation failed, he gave the game away at 28. He finished with 73 games and 107 goals for North Melbourne. Club and football history sources also note that he retired in order to travel overseas.

Goode then turned to coaching. He coached North Melbourne's Under 19s and was senior coach of Sandringham in the Victorian Football Association in 1971 and 1972. He later became an assistant coach at Footscray, and in 1981 he took charge of the senior team for one match in place of Royce Hart, a loss to Melbourne. That single game gave him a place on the list of VFL senior coaches. He also served for five years on the AFL Tribunal.

Goode kept a lifelong connection with North Melbourne. In 2007 he was appointed president of the North Melbourne Past Players and Officials Association and, at the same time, joined the board of the AFL Combined Past Players and Officials Association. The club said he became the conduit for many former North Melbourne players who sought help from the association, whether for financial or health reasons.

Details of his family life have not been made public in the reports of his death.

Frank Goode died on Monday 19 October 2026, aged 86. North Melbourne announced his death the same day in a tribute titled Vale Frank Goode, describing him as a two-time club leading goalkicker and a servant of the club long beyond his playing years. The place and cause of death were not made public.

The club said its AFLW players would wear black armbands in his honour in their next match, against Adelaide in Hobart. Funeral arrangements had not been announced at the time of the club's tribute.

Goode's two seasons as North Melbourne's leading goalkicker, in 1965 and 1966, place him on the club's honour roll of leading goalkickers, and his single game in charge of Footscray in 1981 places him among the league's senior coaches.

His lasting legacy at North Melbourne, though, is his work for its former players. As president of the past players and officials association from 2007, he helped many former teammates and their successors find support when they needed it. The club recognised that service by making him a life member in 2022.