North Melbourne coach Brad Scott has labelled his team’s suffocating win over West Coast one of its most complete performances of the season.
The Kangaroos only managed to retain eighth position on the AFL ladder with their 38-point victory over the deflated Eagles, but drew within four points of second-placed Hawthorn.
While North has a much lower percentage than some of the higher-placed teams, its run home gives it a great chance of finishing inside the top four.
North Melbourne faces only two current top-eight teams in its remaining 12 games.
However, Scott was quick to quash talks of a top-four finish.
"I have a lot of confidence in my players," Scott said.
"Some would say you fall in love with your own a bit too much, but I have got enormous respect for the sides that sit in the top four, in fact the top eight, top 10 at the moment.
"We have shown against the good sides that we can compete, but I can see all of the areas that we have to improve.
"We are capable of doing it at times, but the good sides do it all the time, regardless of circumstance, and that's what we're working towards."
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While a hamstring injury to Lindsay Thomas was a piece of bad news to come from the game, Scott said there was plenty of good news on the horizon.
Robbie Tarrant would soon return to action in the VFL and Nathan Grima would also likely be fit to play in the coming weeks.
But he warned Grima would have to fight for his spot in the team because North’s defenders were "terrific" against West Coast.
"I think Mark LeCras is up there with the smartest and most damaging small forwards, but he plays almost as a key forward at times," Scott said.
"To throw the [LeCras] challenge to Luke McDonald in his first year and his 10th game was a bit of a risk, but I think we all saw by the way Luke McDonald attacks the contest - going back with the flight of the ball in the last quarter was team-lifting stuff - that shows his character.
"So we're prepared to throw him those big jobs because we know it won’t overwhelm him. And Kennedy and Darling are terrific players as well, so you add the smalls around and they're really dangerous, so we were really pleased with our defensive performance."
Scott also said Andrew Swallow was starting to return to top form.
North Melbourne has now won important matches against West Coast, Fremantle, Port Adelaide and the Sydney Swans this season, but let itself down in other games.
“Consistency is what we're looking for and I'm seeing a lot of good stuff in what we're doing but I'm still seeing plenty we need to work on," Scott said.
"We're striving to get better and it's a real even competition. Melbourne showed that against Port Adelaide this weekend.
"I have maintained that all year. We’re going to have to improve in the second half of the year to compete against the good sides."
