North Melbourne captain Jack Ziebell wound back the clock on Saturday afternoon, with five goals against Sydney in a dominant display as a third tall.

The skipper’s haul was an equal career-high, and was bundled up with a flashy lookaway handball to give Kayne Turner an open goal.

Sydney appeared nonplussed, likely having expected the veteran Kangaroo to line up behind the ball, and conceded multiple free kicks as he broke away to lead.

Ziebell later shared senior coach David Noble’s reasoning behind the move.

"I had a chat with Nobes earlier in the week, and he thought it just helped us structurally, a little bit," he told North Media after the match.

"To bring the ball a little bit more directly to the forward line, and I’ve obviously played a lot of footy down forward. Fortunately we were able to put a few goals on the board.

"The teammates around me like 'Larks' (Nick Larkey) and (Cam) Zurhaar just about played a hand in every one of my goals this week, and I’ve got them to thank for it."

Despite the success of the switch, Ziebell may well return to the backline for the Good Friday SuperClash with the Western Bulldogs.

"The other guys like 'Kayne-o' (Turner) and 'Marns' (Jack Mahony) have been in there all year and are doing a really good job," he recognised.

"I didn’t really know too much about the forward line structure, I’ve been doing a lot of stuff down back, so those guys really helped me settle down there.

"I’m not sure where we’ll play this week, but we’ll figure that out when we have a chat with the coaches."

The captain hopes his players can build on the 11-point defeat to the Swans, rather than be content to have put in a competitive performance against a contender.

"It was a really positive sign to see a good response, but it shouldn’t take a really poor performance to get us going," he warned.

"We worked hard on the track (last) week and we performed relatively well on the weekend, without getting four points.

"That’s got to drive us to really improve. These standards we’re setting right now, we have to continue that week-in, week-out.

"We have to make this consistent. That’s going to be our challenge."

The next match will be North Melbourne’s fifth Good Friday SuperClash, and third against the Western Bulldogs. Luke Beveridge’s team has stumbled to start the season at 1-3, but can’t be underestimated having featured in last season’s Grand Final.

"This is one of the most important games of the year, put football aside," Ziebell affirmed.

"The Good Friday Appeal is one of the greatest causes you can play a game of footy for … there are plenty of kids in there who need our support and help.

"We’re fortunate enough to play a game of football on that day. To help to raise as much money as we can is an absolute privilege.

"For us as players, we understand we’ve had some pretty poor performances over the last few years. Off the back of the last two games, we’re really trying to embed the way we want to play.

"We want our fans to turn out in big numbers on Good Friday, support a great cause, and hopefully watch our team develop, put forward an effort like today that we can be really proud of, hopefully push the Bulldogs all the way and get the four points."