One of North Melbourne’s best defensive performances in 2014 came against West Coast, and more of the same will be required to topple the high-flying Eagles on Sunday.

Through nine rounds of 2015, West Coast is the highest scoring team in the competition and the only one to crack the 1,000 point mark. It has done so through one key forward option and an ensemble cast that is fit and firing.

With the retirement of Dean Cox last season and the injury-enforced absence of Jack Darling this year, Adam Simpson and his coaching staff have had to re-shuffle the forward setup.

Josh Kennedy has responded to the increased responsibility as the main key forward with a blistering first half of the year. He is leading the Coleman Medal by six goals, and also on track to blow away his previous season high tallies of 61 and 60 goals in 2014 and 2013 respectively.

After Kennedy’s 37 goals, the new-look forward line becomes clear. The rest of the top five goal kickers for the Eagles contain exactly zero players certainly cannot be classified as a key position forwards.

Out of Josh Hill (20 goals), Jamie Cripps (17), Mark LeCras (17) and Luke Shuey (12), the tallest is Hill at ‘only’ 185 centimetres. It’s a huge difference to previous seasons, where Cox (203cm) and Darling (191cm) would spend the majority of their time down forward.

However a key facet of their offensive game plan remains from 2014, and that is the ability to score heavily off opposition turnovers. Despite missing the finals last season, the Eagles still ranked in the top five for their efficiency after gaining possession.

When North Melbourne travelled to Perth last season to face the Eagles, it came away with a 38-point victory, holding the home side to only 5.7.37 from turnovers. This was despite wet conditions meaning the disposal efficiency was lower than its normal mark.

Arguably the key to holding West Coast to such a low score was holdingkeeping Kennedy goalless. It hasn’t happened since – indeed it still remains as the only time the Eagles’ forward hasn’t kicked a major under Adam Simpson’s watch.

It points to a larger situation that provides a clear hint on how important a firing Kennedy is to the structure of West Coast’s forward line. The Eagles have very rarely been able to cope when the 27-year-old is held quiet by opposition defences.

Since the start of 2014, Kennedy has kicked two goals or less on 15 occasions. The Eagles have only won four of those games. In the 14 games he has kicked three or more, West Coast has lost only once.