The bye is a valuable chance to draw breath and analyse who and what has worked for North so far this season.

Despite the 6-6 record heading into the week off, there have been several standouts.

NMFC.com.au looks at several statistical categories and explains how the Roos rate in comparison to the rest of the league.

Score involvements

In what has been an excellent first season at North, Higgins ranks inside the AFL top 10 for score involvements.

To do so while ‘only’ having kicked 22 goals shows the former Bulldog is setting up his teammates frequently. Higgins leads the club in score assists with 15 – a total of 10.5 indicating the quality positions he is hitting with his disposals.

Inside 50’s + Rebound 50’s

Combining inside 50’s and rebound 50’s illustrates the players who are valuable at both ends of the ground. Sam Wright’s ability to dispose of the ball with quality off both feet has made him a vital piece of the North Melbourne line-up.

Wright is another who ranks in the AFL top 10, sitting behind only Heath Shaw, Bachar Houli, Jack Steven, Danyle Pearce, Robert Murphy and Isaac Smith. Of the six, only Murphy comes close to the balance that the Roo has of inside and rebound 50’s.

Minutes played

At 37 years old Brent Harvey still shows no signs of slowing down. To have played almost 90 per cent of game time is a herculean effort and one which very few non-key position players reach.

Perhaps even more impressively, Harvey’s output hasn’t dropped off late in games, even with the high minutes on field. He averages 6.2 disposals in fourth quarters, behind only Ben Cunnington (6.6) at the club.

Intercept marks

Although he missed the first five games of the season while recovering from off-season surgery, Hansen’s marking ability took no time to return.

Change the ‘total’ to ‘average per game’ and Hansen ranks fifth in the AFL this season for his intercept marks. His 3.3 is well higher than his 2014 rate of 2.1.

Intercept possessions

While intercept marks are decided in the air, intercept possessions come mainly from general play – along the lines of turning over opposition handballs and dispossessing players in tackles.

Scott Thompson has excelled in this respect; even with the task of stopping one of the best forwards every week, the defender still ranks eighth in the AFL for intercept possessions.

Centre bounce involvements

It should come as no surprise that this quartet leads the way for the Kangaroos. It’s a steep drop off to Ryan Bastinac (133), also the only other Roo to be at more than 100 centre bounces this season.

The return of Nick Dal Santo will see some more flexibility added to the setup, while Trent Dumont could see more time if he graduates from the substitute position.

Minutes per possession

Any number under four minutes per possession is right in the upper echelon of the competition. Dal Santo just qualifies in limited time so far this season, with Cunnington and Swallow just on the other side of the mark.

Tom Mitchell, Nathan Fyfe and David Armitage lead the AFL with a rate of 3.3 minutes per possession. Dylan Shiel also ranks inside the top 15, which further illustrates the excellent tagging job Ben Jacobs performed on the Giants’ midfielder in Round 12.