It was by no means a glamorous victory for the North Melbourne Tasmanian Kangaroos in last Saturday's elimination final against Geelong.

But despite finishing behind in key metrics such as possession, scoring shots and inside 50s, the Roos managed to keep the Cats at bay in enemy territory and superstar midfielder Ash Riddell said the nail-biting, two-point win was a massive spirit-lifter as they look to continue their finals run.

"It gives us enormous confidence," Riddell told RSN.

"I think earlier in the year against Brisbane and Richmond we had the stats in our favour and lost, so it's probably the first time we've had one of those wins where everything has gone against us.

"There's definitely things we need to work on leading into Richmond but just to be able to grind out a not-pretty win will hold us in good stead going forward."

North Melbourne's defence found itself under the pump for the majority of the clash, conceding 41 inside 50s, but Riddell said she was pleased with the team's defensive structure and overall resilience.

"Our defence held up so well," she mentioned.

"The ball was getting pumped in left, right and centre so credit to our defenders and our whole structure.

"There were some crucial contests towards the end of the fourth quarter where our defenders came forward and impacted the play which slowed Geelong down, so I think that's something to be really proud of."

It was a full team effort that saw the Roos book a semi-final berth, and the growth of the squad is something Riddell believes has translated into moments of success in Season 7.

"That's probably where our biggest improvement has come this year," she said.

"We're so even across the ground, in recent years we have relied on our top-end talent to get us through some games but some of the names that have improved remarkably (this season) are holding us in really good stead.

"I know we finished eighth (on the ladder) but we don't really feel like an eighth-placed team, we feel like we can contend with those top-four sides, so we're definitely looking forward to this week."

The Roos will clash with the Tigers on Saturday afternoon at the Swinburne Centre as both sides look to progress to a preliminary final, and having drawn with Richmond just over a week ago, there a plenty of aspects from that game that Riddell and the Roos can build on.

"We won a lot of the stats that game, I think we had +15 or so inside 50s, so similar to Geelong on the weekend but we just couldn't get the job done," she said.

"We didn't have (Emma) Kearney or Kim Rennie rucking for us, so structurally that hurt us a bit, but we'll have them in the side this weekend.

"When we did play them last time we were caught off-guard a little bit in the first quarter and our pressure was a pretty poor, but the next three quarters we played really well."