Brad Scott doesn’t care how his team won, the fact his Roos beat Brisbane by three points in a tough away game at the Gabba to keep their finals hopes alive was enough to please the North Melbourne coach.
It was a hot afternoon in Brisbane and North Melbourne were unlucky not to be further ahead than the 22 points they led by at half-time.
But a strong comeback from the Lions nearly saw the home team snatch an unlikely win in the last minute of the match.
With 30 seconds on the clock and North up by just four points, Brisbane young gun Cameron Rayner missed a gettable set shot that would have handed the Lions the lead and most likely the game.
"If he kicked it, would it have been a steal for Brisbane given we were in front pretty much the entire game?" Scott said.
"In the end who cares, it doesn’t matter."
Scott said there were many ways you could dissect the game in the wake of Rayner's miss, but in the end he was pleased his team created enough opportunities to win the match.
"You can talk about Rayner's miss, you can talk about our misses in front of goal," Scott said.
"I thought that when it really mattered, a lot of our players really dug deep and that's what I'm most pleased about.
"I think there's a lot of character in our group and when they just had to find a way, they found a way.
"We can't control Rayner missing but we can control Robbie Tarrant's spoil on (Eric) Hipwood late, Kayne Turner as a forward getting up, defending basically on the last line after he slipped over, (he) could’ve easily conceded.
"They're the things that we'll take out of it."
Scott praised his team's ability to overcome a six-day break coming from a cold game in Tasmania to a hot Saturday afternoon game in the Brisbane sun.
He lauded Majak Daw's defensive efforts and the ability of Trent Dumont's ability to step up in the absence of star midfielder Shaun Higgins, with Dumont instrumental in the second quarter when the Roos scored seven goals to three.
North Melbourne's ability to find avenues to goal with Ben Brown kept to just one goal was also highlighted by Scott, with the coach admitting wins for the Kangaroos were a 'rare occurrence' when the big forward was kept quiet.
Roos fans can be assured Brown won't be seeking a trade north anytime soon, according to Scott.
"He suffered a fair bit in the heat," Scott said.
"He's a native Tasmanian who's fairly fair, and he wouldn't like me to say it, but red, and he just said… ‘one thing’s for sure, I'm never going to get traded to Brisbane because I can't play in those conditions on a regular basis’."
Scott said his team would leave the Gabba with no injury concerns.
