A trip to GMHBA Stadium for a clash with the Cats is next up for the Kangaroos, who will continue their push towards a third win for the season.

North Melbourne's first game coming out of the bye was a tale of two halves, with interim senior coach Brett Ratten's side taking the fight to the Crows in Adelaide for the opening two terms before being overwhelmed after the main break.

The Cats are coming off a thrilling Friday night draw with Sydney and will look to keep in touch with the top eight after being nudged out a month ago.

The opposition

A wasteful Swans outfit saw Geelong return to Victoria with two premiership points following the sides' Round 16 clash.

Standout individual performances from Gryan Miers (27 disposals, seven score involvements, three goal assists, Tom Atkins (18 disposals, 11 tackles) and Zach Tuohy (28 disposals, eight rebound 50s) almost saw the Cats claw their way to victory.

Although they haven't quite tapped into the form they displayed through their premiership-winning season last year, Chris Scott's men remain tough to overcome at Kardinia Park. The Cats have defeated Sydney (R6), Adelaide (R8) and Melbourne (R15) at their home ground this season, with their loss to GWS in Round 11 being the outlier.

Running hot

Since returning to the senior team in Round 12, Tarryn Thomas has been able to have a positive impact despite the Kangaroos' string of losses.

The 23-year-old is averaging just under 21 disposals per game and has booted six goals from his four appearances this season, including three against the Giants in Round 13 and two last weekend against Adelaide.

He came away from the Adelaide Oval with 23 touches, three marks and six score involvements in addition to his pair of majors and will look to continue building on the form he's displayed this Sunday.

What the coaches have said

North Melbourne interim senior coach Brett Ratten post-game v Adelaide: "To lose a game by 60-70 points and be -30 in tackles is not a great stat to have. From that point of view, we've been trying to work on a few things, we looked at what we need to keep doing as a team before the bye, and we had a growth part to it as well and tackling was one of the main points (coming out of the bye). Adelaide outworked us … and when we got the ball they tackled us very well."

Geelong coach Chris Scott post-game v Geelong: "From a coaching perspective it just feels like we played poorly and let them have the game they wanted it to be for too long … Two points is better than none and none is probably what we deserved for large parts of it."

Last time we met

 Geelong 21.18 (144) def. North Melbourne 5.2 (32), Round 16 at GMHBA Stadium

It was all Geelong when the Roos and Cats went head-to-head in Round 16 last season.

Despite losing Aaron Hall and Kayne Turner early, North Melbourne rallied in the first term to trail by just four points at quarter time, but the Cats quickly moved through the gears to record a crushing 112-point win.

Luke Davies-Uniacke fought hard in the engine room and finished with seven clearances, seven marks and a game-high 36 possessions, while Jy Simpkin gathered 27 touches of his own.

Big Cat Jeremy Cameron proved difficult to stop, ending the night with four goals, 10 marks and 30 disposals.