Todd Goldstein and Jack Ziebell have shone again for North Melbourne, starring in a 64-point win over Carlton.
The Blues gave the Kangaroos a major fright through the middle of Saturday night's match at Etihad Stadium, but the Kangaroos steamrolled them in the last term for an 18.10 (118) to 8.6 (54) cakewalk.
Goldstein, the lock for All Australian ruckman this year, had 41 hit-outs and kicked two goals.
Ziebell made the most of Goldstein's ruckwork and stood again in the midfield with 26 possessions, while Drew Petrie kicked three goals.
Goldstein and Ziebell combined for one of the game's highlights late in the third term - a centre-bounce ruck tap from the ruckman that set up his onballer for a booming goal on the run.
North's indigenous small forward Lindsay Thomas paid tribute to Sydney star Adam Goodes in the last quarter.
After Thomas kicked a goal, he turned to the crowd, pulled aside his jumper and pointed to an aboriginal flag tattooed on his chest.
Carlton fans roundly booed North forward Jarrad Waite whenever he had the ball.
In Waite's 200th game and the first against his old club, he kicked two goals.
The Blues were much better after last week's record loss to Hawthorn, but they fell away badly in the second half.
North started and ended the game supremely, kicking six goals to one in the last quarter.
The Roos also opened with the first five goals before Blaine Boekhorst goaled on the quarter-time siren to open Carlton's account.
The Blues fired up in the second term, kicking five out of seven goals and reducing the margin to only four points just before half-time.
All the questions about the Roos' consistency were bubbling to the surface again, in a season where they started as top-four fancies but have struggled for consistency.
The Kangaroos stemmed the tide when Petrie kicked his third goal late in the second term.
Carlton kept pressing early in the third term, but made too many skill errors.
After a quiet first half, North captain Andrew Swallow laid three tackles and kicked a goal to get his side back on track.
At the centre bounce after Swallow's goal, Goldstein tapped the ball beautifully for Ziebell, who kicked accurately on the run from just outside 50m.
The two goals in the space of a minute propelled North to a decisive 30-point lead at the last change.
It was North's fourth straight win and moves it up to sixth on the ladder - although only half a game clear of ninth.
While disappointed with his team's defence in the second term, coach Brad Scott was encouraged by the second-half response.
"The most important element was our ability to respond to that (Carlton's challenge)," Scott said.
"But certain individuals, the whole team, just completely turned that around in the second half."
Blues coach John Barker was fuming about how badly his team ended the game.
He said there were positives to come out of the game and praised Marc Murphy for his leadership.
But Barker said others surrendered too easily late in the game.
"That was the really disappointing thing - there's a handful of players who are now just not displaying ... grit," he said.
"One going through the motions is too many, but at the moment I think we maybe have ourselves a handful."
CARLTON 1.2 6.5 7.6 8.6 (54)
NORTH MELBOURNE 5.3 8.3 12.6 18.10 (118)
GOALS
Carlton: Everitt 3, Casboult 2, Boekhorst, Tuohy, Kreuzer
North Melbourne: Petrie 3, Harvey 2, Goldstein 2, Ziebell 2, Waite 2, Higgins 2, Thomas 2, Dal Santo, Swallow, Cunnington
BEST
Carlton: Murphy, Cripps, Kreuzer, Simpson, Everitt
North Melbourne: Ziebell, Higgins, Goldstein, Dal Santo, Tarrant, Petrie, Wright
INJURIES
Carlton: Tutt (ankle)
North Melbourne: TBC
SUBSTITUTES
Carlton: Clem Smith replaced Jason Tutt in the third quarter
North Melbourne: Taylor Garner replaced Kayne Turner at three-quarter time
Reports: Nil
Umpires: Rosebury, O'Gorman, Hosking
Official crowd: 25,251 at Etihad Stadium
