The Kangaroos will head to Blundstone Arena for a second crack at the Gold Coast Suns on Saturday, with hopes of snapping their extensive losing streak.

A second-quarter lapse against the Tigers last weekend saw North Melbourne concede six straight goals before falling by 29 points at the MCG.

Alastair Clarkson's side will host Suns who will also be looking to cap their season off on a positive note after missing out on finals.

The opposition

Winless in its last three outings, the Suns – like North Melbourne – will want to send their 2023 campaign off with a victory.

Their extra motivation could come through the recent acquisition of three-time premiership coach Damien Hardwick, who will lead the club in 2024 and beyond after 14 years at Richmond.

He would have liked what he saw in the opening term at Heritage Bank Stadium against the Blues last week, as the electric Suns linked up exceptionally to take a 6.5 (41) to 1.2 (8) advantage into the first break. Things fell apart after that though, and despite showing some grit late, Carlton managed to snatch the four points.

Sam Flanders has proven to be a quality ball-winner since returning to the Gold Coast line-up in Round 15 and could warrant some attention from a Kangaroos perspective, while defender Charlie Ballard is an ever-present intercepting threat.

The team

Tall defender Kallan Dawson has gotten the call to play his first game of the season. He featured in the final four games of 2022, but this represents his first opportunity since.

Joining him is fellow defender Miller Bergman for his first game since Round 16, and mid-forward Charlie Lazzaro who shone in the VFL win last weekend.

Jack Ziebell (retired), Luke McDonald (injured), Dan Howe (omitted), and Blake Drury (omitted) come out of the side, with Saturday's tactical substitute to be either Howe, Drury, Aiden Bonar or Lachie Young.

What the coaches have said

North Melbourne coach Alastair Clarkson on Thursday: "(The players are) competitive beasts and so am I. We want to win, so we'll be putting the best team out there that we can. We went through some vision about how we can defend the ground better, we didn't do it as well as we'd liked against Richmond ... so we're just continuing to work on our game."

Gold Coast interim coach Steven King on Wednesday: "Any time you finish the season, obviously you want to win the premiership, but when you don’t you want to go out on a high and you don’t want to put in a poor performance because that lingers for a long time. We're playing some pretty good footy at the moment and I want us to get better this week."

Last time we met

North Melbourne celebrated club champ Todd Goldstein last time out against the Suns, with the smooth-moving ruck bringing up 300 AFL appearances as a Kangaroo.

Gold Coast spoiled the party at Heritage Bank Stadium though, claiming a 43-point Round 6 win.

Recently retired midfielder Ben Cunnington was arguably best-on-ground for the visitors with 27 disposals and eight clearances to his name at the final siren, while Goldstein himself tallied 33 hitouts and 14 touches working against Suns co-captain Jarrod Witts.

Gold Coast forward Ben King proved difficult to contain booting five goals, while Lachie Weller and Noah Anderson collected 28 disposals each with the latter extracting the ball from stoppages eight times.

North Melbourne has broken a 20-game losing streak with a career-high nine goals from Nick Larkey inspiring the Kangaroos to a 35-point upset over the Gold Coast.

The Kangaroos didn't hit the lead until early in the third quarter before powering ahead to win 20.12 (132) to 14.13 (97) on Saturday afternoon at Blundstone Arena.

The result lifts the club off the bottom of the ladder into second last, meaning they will forego the No.1 draft pick, pending the result of the West Coast and Adelaide clash on Saturday night.

The Kangaroos could still finish last and keep the top pick if the last-placed Eagles topple the Crows.

Larkey passed his previous career-high of seven with a set shot close to goal in the final quarter after earlier keeping North Melbourne in the contest during a bright Suns' start. 

He picked up three goals in the all-important third quarter, as well as two goal assists for the match and 21 disposals. 

Larkey, who has mounted an increasingly strong case for All-Australian selection with 20 goals in his last three games, iced the match with his ninth moments before the final siren.

It was the first time the Kangaroos - wooden spooners in 2021 and 2022 - have scored more than 100 points this year and just their third win of the season. 

The Suns finish the year with nine wins and in 15th position on the ladder. 

North Melbourne's Bailey Scott and Sun Matt Rowell were busy, finishing with an equal game-high 33 possessions. 

KANGAROOS v SUNS Full match coverage and stats

Gold Coast had a 26-15 lead at quarter-time after kicking the first three goals of the match, two of those off the boot of Sam Flanders. 

They slotted the first three of the second term before the Kangaroos hit back with a run of four, which included three to Larkey who also set up Curtis Taylor.

Tempers flared after Rowell crunched North Melbourne's Jy Simpkin in a legal tackle, with the Suns taking a six-point lead into the main break.

North Melbourne hit the lead for the first time early in the third quarter courtesy of an Eddie Ford goal and surged to an 85-63 lead heading into the last term.

Roos put tanking talk to bed
If this week's discussions about the Kangaroos 'tanking' was gaining any traction, they put it to bed once and for all against the Suns. North was a game clear at the bottom of the ladder after West Coast claimed a third win last weekend, which meant if the Roos were to lose again on Saturday, they would secure one of the most hyped No.1 picks in history in Harley Reid come November. But North was clearly having none of it, with the Kangaroos now avoiding a third straight wooden spoon - if West Coast lose on Saturday night - with the morale-boosting win.

Another day, another Sheezel milestone
Harry Sheezel added another feather to his cap in what has been nothing short of an extraordinary first season. Just last week he collected an equal career-best 37 touches to surpass Nick Daicos for the most disposals ever in a debut season, and after starting the day on 593 touches, he clocked the 600-disposal milestone during the opening quarter against Gold Coast. He finished with an impressive 29 disposals at 93.1 per cent efficiency. It's been some debut year for the 19-year-old, who is one of the favourites to take out the this year's Rising Star award. 

Larkey looms large
A week after booting a bag of six goals - and five the week prior - Nick Larkey ended his season on a high with a career-best nine-goal haul against Gold Coast. It takes the Roos spearhead's season tally to 71, and firmly puts his name in the All-Australian conversation. Larkey's remarkable accuracy and consistency stands out above all else - he has a 70.5 per cent goal accuracy and averaged 2.8 goals per game this season, which both rank as elite.

NORTH MELBOURNE    2.3     7.6    13.7    20.12 (132)
GOLD COAST                4.2     8.6    10.9    14.13 (97) 

GOALS
North Melbourne: Larkey 9, Ford 3, Curtis 2, Corr, Greenwood, Howe, Simpkin, Taylor, Tucker
Gold Coast: Rosas 3, Casboult 2, Flanders 2, Chol 2, Atkins, Davies, Fiorini, Miller, Swallow

BEST
North Melbourne: Larkey, Simpkin, Sheezel, Thomas, Scott, McKay
Gold Coast: Flanders, Ellis, Rowell, Rosas, Miller

INJURIES
North Melbourne: Taylor (leg)
Gold Coast: Nil

SUBSTITUTES
North Melbourne: Howe (replacedTaylor in the third quarter)
Gold Coast: Atkins (replaced Lemmens in the third quarter)

Crowd: 4,416 at Blundstone Arena