Brad Scott says key forward Jarrad Waite played his best game in North Melbourne colours on Saturday night.

Scott said Waite’s intensity and defensive pressure was outstanding in the 41-point win over the Cats at Etihad Stadium.

“He (Waite) kicked seven in Round 2, but I thought his game on the weekend was far better than that,” Scott told SEN’s Morning Glory.

“The way he tackled with intent on was just super on the weekend.

“He’s got the attributes to be a really good defensive player. He’s really quick and very agile. To his credit he responded to some feedback during the week and now it’s about repeating those sorts of efforts and making sure we drill it at training.“

With North now sitting at an even seven wins and seven losses, Scott said the focus for his side had to be on maintaining the form which saw the Roos overpower a Geelong side filled with Premiership stars.

“One of the criticisms levelled at us has been inconsistency and the reason you have inconsistency is because you are capable of really good performances at times,” he said.

“We’ve had a history of responding to poor performances.

“The challenge now is to make sure we’ve learnt the lessons that we’ve coached over the last couple of weeks and we take that form into the second half of the year.”

Saturday night was Scott’s first game back in the coaches box, after a month on the sidelines following back surgery. During his absence North won two and lost two, with wins over top eight sides Greater Western Sydney and the West Coast Eagles.

“There’s such a high level of expectation in this competition,” Scott said.

“Sometimes you can be tricked in to thinking we are just hopeless... when really, we beat West Coast the first week I was away in a great win, then beat GWS who were going pretty well, we ran Sydney to just over a kick, so, a half of footy against the Gold Coast can make everything seem like gloom and doom.”

Prior to the win over the Cats, Scott said the side’s senior players had been put in the spotlight, with an emphasis on producing an overall team performance.

“Our best players have tried to carry the team on their own back. In modern footy, we know it’s too difficult to do that,” Scott added.

“We need players to play their role. We want to be a good 22, not a team with some individual brilliance to get us a win.”

Meanwhile, the coach has also flagged a possible return for goalsneak Lindsay Thomas on Friday night after he was omitted from the clash with Geelong.

“He’s a really resilient character and by all accounts he played really well in the VFL and will be in contention again this week.”