Senior coach Darren Crocker has commended the work of his forwards after the North Melbourne Tasmanian Kangaroos booted 11 goals in Saturday's 36-point victory over Richmond.

A week on from grinding out a thrilling and gritty elimination final win that saw North hold the Cats to 14 points despite conceding 41 inside 50s, Saturday's semi-final saw the forwards efficiently exhibit their craft.

North's score of 11.8 (74) was its highest of Season 7, and it wasn't an aspect that went unnoticed.

"I gave credit to the backs last week for how well they dug in and were able to defend, and I thought our forwards were super today," Crocker affirmed.

"The way they challenged Richmond's defence (was great) and they looked dangerous every time the ball went forward.

"And I should also give credit to our midfield, Ash Riddell was super and I thought our whole midfield really stood up and that allowed our forwards to look dangerous."

The win over Richmond means North Melbourne will feature in a preliminary final as one of the final four sides, which is an achievement Crocker believed his team always had a strong possibility of accomplishing.

"Hopefully this doesn't sound arrogant in any way whatsoever, but I feel like we should be up in that top echelon, as a top-four team," he said.

"We’ve now been able to prove that, and we get a great opportunity against some really strong opposition, and the first one is Melbourne next week.

Crocker says he has high praise for Melbourne, who managed to overcome the Crows in a qualifying final last week despite a slow start.

"The Dees are a quality team and they have been for a number of years," he stated.

"They are really well coached, they’ve got really some good players and they play a strong brand of football.

"We're going to have to be at our best. When you get to this time of year and you can't have any low points or flat moments, you have to make the most of every moment and every opportunity."