Rising North Melbourne defender Charlie Comben has buckled under fierce pressure and finally “hard launched” his relationship with Liv Taylor.

Pressure has been building on Comben to go “Insta-official” with Taylor and he finally succumbed on live radio when appearing on Nova’s Jase and Lauren show this week.

Recently, on Comben’s 200 Plus podcast, he admitted he had found himself “a lovely girlfriend”.

“(But) I don’t have to validate my relationship in the eyes of other people,” Comben said.

But that changed a couple of days ago when the radio hosts put the heat on the AFL player, who has been dating the sister of former teammate Curtis Taylor (who was delisted at the end of last year).

“I didn’t want to bring her in ... I still haven’t posted yet,” Comben said on radio.

Radio host Clint Stanaway remarked: “Oh, she’s not on the grid yet?”

Lauren Phillips was also staggered: “Oh, you haven’t had a hard launch yet?”

The hosts were then very surprised to learn that Liv had been “left in the car” while Comben did his radio slot.

Comben was then asked to bring Liv in, who revealed she had been listening on radio.

Phillips said: “You’ve never posted about her on socials, though, so this is quite an extreme soft launch, well, it’s more of a hard launch.”

Jase Hawkins then asked Comben if he was “more nervous” about Liv coming into the studio or “when you two get in the car after?”.

Comben admitted he was nervous about what would happen in the car.

“Yeah, I’ll be getting a rinsing, I think, because Liv hasn’t had time to do her make-up ...,” he said.

Liv then found her way to the studio to great fanfare from her boyfriend.

“Well, to everyone at Nova, this is a hard launch. The beautiful Olivia.”

Liv took it all in good spirits but Phillips asked her: “Do you want to kill your boyfriend right now?”

“I was actually at a cafe around the corner, and I just got it on in time,” Liv said.

“And I was like: ‘He’s not, is he? It’s not going to get brought up again?’ I was like, I already got stitched up the last time he came on with the love letter.

The love letter was about Liv’s beautiful hair, with the hosts agreeing her hair was indeed radiant.

“I’m glad we can all agree,” Comben said.

Liv said she was “very proud” of her boyfriend who has endured a tough ride since he was drafted way back in 2019.

In fact, Comben is really only arriving now as a genuine star, and has only managed 38 games at AFL level due to a horror run with injuries.

After rotten luck as junior and multiple broken bones, Comben suffered a small back fracture in 2020 which derailed his first season and was a sign of things to come.

There were more serious injuries along the way, but the wheel seems to be turning and Comben managed 19 games last season and has already played 10 this year, the second most for him in an AFL season.

“He played very good on the weekend (in the win over Richmond) and I’m excited to keep watching him,” Liv said on radio.

Comben: “She only loves me for my footy then.”

Taylor: “That’s a lie.”

Comben: “I’m only joking.”