Ryan Bastinac is 27 and has played 162 games over 10 seasons in the AFL, but he could be excused for feeling a little like a teenage debutant on Sunday afternoon.

In his fourth season with the Lions after six seasons at North Melbourne, Bastinac will play against his former club in Melbourne for the first time.

With family and friends in the Marvel Stadium crowd to balance out any North fans with long memories keen to give him a hard time, he’ll also be looking to remove a statistical oddity from his career record.

Bastinac has had a win against every AFL club except North after having finished on the losing side in each of his three games for Brisbane against North at the Gabba.

In 2016, in just his second game in Lions colors, the free-running midfielder copped a 34-point loss to North before a 51-point loss in 2017 and a three-point loss in Round 20 last year, when Cam Rayner missed a late chance to win the game.

Bastinac, who enjoyed a 6-2 record against Brisbane as a North player and has played 75 AFL games at Marvel Stadium, will head ‘home’ to play this weekend a revitalised figure after a standout off-season.

Having managed only two AFL games last year in Round 5 and Round 20 he set himself for a massive summer campaign to win back his spot, and after two eye-catching performances in the JLT Series has been rewarded at selection by coach Chris Fagan.

He had 14 disposals in the Round 1 win over West Coast last weekend, which was one of the club’s best wins of the past decade.

But it’s been a mixed time at the Gabba for Bastinac after a stellar career at Arden Street.

He played 121 of a possible 139 games at North, including 83 in a row from mid-2011, and had three top 10 finishes in the North B&F – equal 9^th in 2020, 8^th in 2012 and 6^th in 2013.

It was considered a coup when he was lured to Brisbane on a four-year contract starting in 2016.

He played all 22 games in 2016 under Justin Leppitsch and finished 7^th in the Merrett/Murray Medal just 10 votes behind 2^nd-placed Mitch Robinson.

He started 2017 in the seniors, playing Rounds 1-2, but was dropped in Round 3. Recalled in Round 5, he was dropped again in Round 6 and spent four weeks in the NEAFL.

He won back his spot in Round 10 and held it for the rest of the season, but he spent most of the 2018 season on the outer.

A product of the Dandenong Stingrays in the Victorian U18 competition, Bastinac was drafted by North Melbourne at #21 in 2009.

Among those chosen after him were Geelong mid-field ace Mitch Duncan (#28), gun Hawthorn forward Jack Gunston (#29), Melbourne All-Australian ruckman Max Gawn (#34), Sydney’s Sam Reid (#38) and current Brisbane teammate Allen Christensen (#40).

It was the year in which Brisbane invested heavily at the trade table, bringing in Brendon Fevola, Andrews Raines, Xavier Clarke, Amon Buchanan and Brent Staker from opposition clubs before drafting Callum Bartlett (#27), Ryan Harwood (#47), Jesse O’Brien (#73), Bryce Retzlaff (#84), Matt Maguire (#91) and Tom Rockliff (Pre-Season Draft).

Bastinac will find himself opposed to as many as 15 former North teammates on Sunday, including four players who played with him in his first game in Round 1 2012 – captain Jack Ziebell, Scott Thompson, Todd Goldstein and Sam Wright.

The Lions will head to Melbourne this weekend looking to turn around a disappointing record against North since Brad Scott, a dual Brisbane premiership player, took charge in 2010.

Scott has enjoyed an 11-3 win/loss record against his former club, and has won the last six meetings between the sides.

The Lions’ last win over the Kangaroos was by three points in Round 15 2014 at the Gabba when the side included only five players still at the club – Dayne Zorko, Stef Martin, Dan McStay, Lewis Taylor and Ryan Lester.

The home side had led by 33 points 10 minutes into the third quarter that day but could manage only six behinds from that point on as North kicked the last five goals.

It was the Jonathan Brown farewell game, with the club legend did a lap of honor at halftime after retiring mid-week following repeated head knocks. 

The home side, 17th on the ladder, did the retiring champion proud with a gutsy win over the 7th placed Kangarooss.

Rain in the second made it a dour affair, and the Lions kicked only two second half goals after a match-winning burst in the second quarter, when they added 7-3 to 1-2.

Pearce Hanley (34poss) collected three Brownlow votes while Joel Patfull at centre half back was a rock in a Brisbane defence under seige in the second half, and McStay made a debut to remember in a game in which the Lions won only one quarter - the second.

And who kicked the final behind of the game, which left North just short of a win? Bastinac.