A last-gasp goal from the Demons has seen them deal North Melbourne its first loss of the 2024 VFLW campaign in a tight contest at Arden Street Oval.

After being neck-and-neck with Casey for most of the day, Roos forward Renee Tierney capitalised on an opportunity close to goal as time ticked away in the fourth quarter to put her side in front with seven minutes left.

However, it wasn’t to be for the home side as moments later, Casey's Jo Lin marked and kicked the eventual game-winning goal to overcome North Melbourne 5.4 (34) to 4.7 (31).

"I thought it was a disappointing result for us in the end," VFLW coach Brett Gourley told NMFC Media.

KANGAROOS v DEMONS Full match coverage and stats

"We were able to make a couple of little adjustments and edge our way back into the game, getting it to look a little more like a North Melbourne-style game."

"The girls fought it out right until the end, to hit the front with a few minutes to go was really pleasing, unfortunately we just couldn’t hold on today."

A first-quarter onslaught that included a run of four-straight majors from the Dees saw them skip out to a 15-point, but a Zara Flannigan goal on the brink of the quarter-time siren helped shift some momentum back towards the home side.

The Roos went onto hold Casey goalless for the next two quarters with defenders Mara McSweeney (12 disposals, six tackles) and Nicole Hales (13 disposals, four rebound 50s) doing well to halt the Demons, but Gourley's group struggled to convert any of their own inside 50s into scoreboard pressure.

North Melbourne had a handful of chances late to hit the lead and create a buffer but stout defending from the Demons allowed them to remain in the game, and seal a three-point win down the other end.

Tough onballer Audrey Rhodes played a massive role, following up her stellar start to the season by collecting a whopping 25 tackles to go along with one goal, 25 disposals and seven clearances.

"Looking at a lot of the key stats, we stacked up fairly well, but Casey's outside game was really good today. They were able to switch the ball and change lanes really well and I felt like they were able to get us that way," he said.

"(The Demons) were able to generate numbers behind the ball, their wings pushed back really hard to defend and then we just couldn’t play our game off the back of some strong contest work.

“We’ll get to work this week, and hopefully we’ll fix up some of the things we’ve spoken about during the game.

“The effort to improve in-game and adjust our game style slightly was really good, we just unfortunately couldn’t get over the line today."

NORTH MELBOURNE     2.3    3.5    3.5    4.7  (31)     
CASEY DEMONS            4.0    4.1    4.2    5.4  (34)     

GOALS
North Melbourne: Tierney, Rhodes, Flanigan, Dojiok
Casey: O'Neill 2, Lin 2, Williams

BEST  
North Melbourne: Rhodes, Barba, Di Cosmo, McSweeney, Tierney, Flanigan