North Melbourne has made a stark turn-around from last week’s "disgusting" loss to Collingwood, interim coach Darren Crocker says.

The Roos squandered a 39-point half-time last week against the Pies, leading coach Brad Scott to declare it "as disgusting a performance as I've been involved with since I've been at North Melbourne".

Scott, now couch-ridden after mid-week back surgery, was forced to hand over to assistant Crocker on Sunday who described the tough win over West Coast at Blundstone Arena as nothing short of "super".

"I told the boys that everyone involved with the club, the footy department, are super proud of their efforts today," Crocker said.

"The boys bounced back after a pretty disappointing loss last week and they should be proud of themselves and their effort."

North was granted an exemption during the week that allowed Scott to ‘coach from the couch’ and Crocker said the senior coach was in regular contact by text message, and the unconventional system worked well.

"Brad was well aware as to what was getting spoken about in the box," he said. "It worked pretty well. He was able to text in from time-to-time with his thoughts and from my perspective it wasn’t distracting at all.

"It probably just goes to show again how much everyone is banding together to make this a real team effort over this time Brad’s not around."

While Ben Brown booted three goals and provided a valuable tall target alongside the impressive Drew Petrie, it was classy utility Shaun Higgins that led the way in attack for North with four goals, including the sealer during a frantic final term.

The former Bulldog finished with 22 disposals, including three clearances and six tackles, and Crocker was quick to praise the new recruit for his efforts.

"Without individualising too much, he was super important to us," he said. "He brings an element of real class, composure, but also the ability to get forward and get to the fall of the ball. Winning the contested ball at ground level is really important as well."

With their season back on an even keel at 5-5, the Kangaroos face both Sydney sides ahead of their bye and Crocker said he’d be looking for even contributors as the Roos try to build momentum in what has been a rollercoaster season.

"That’s where we want to get to as a group, is that every week we turn up and you can be relied upon as an individual to contribute to the team’s performance," he said.

"This is the start. We need to build momentum from this game and get the ball rolling. We spoke about the belief that comes from just putting the evidence out on the park.

"Again, 91 tackles, super today. The effort in the contest, the ability to put the opposition under pressure. If we bring that every week we’re going to be a really hard team to beat.

"They’ve got to take a lot of belief out of that and really get the ball rolling for our season."