There were times when it looked like the Roos' homecoming celebration could be spoilt, but Scott Gowans has praised his team's ability to withstand pressure.

The Gold Coast Suns challenged strongly all day at Arden Street, but the likes of Emma Kearney, Jas Garner and Daisy Bateman stood tall when it mattered. 

At the final siren it was 47-34, with the North Melbourne Tasmanian Kangaroos claiming their third win in a row.  

“Four points was the goal of the game, and we got them,” Gowans said after the 13-point win. 

“Until late in the last quarter the game could of gone either way, but I was pretty pleased at the result.”

With the game in the balance at three quarter-time, North opted for change. 

“We have some structural stuff that we do when the game gets like that,” Gowans said.

“And we pulled the trigger on it during that last quarter, and it worked.

“I think it gives the girls a little bit of belief that if you come up against a side like that, you don’t just have to play one way.

“You can play a different way and come out okay, and that’s a major takeaway from this game.”

Gowans highlighted his leaders' ability to step up when the game was in the balance. 

“Emma Kearney and Jas Garner were awesome, and they’re just getting better and better," he said. 

Kearney (26 disposals) and Garner (30) played critical roles moving the ball up the ground.

“Emma Kearney is a person who leads by example,” Gowans said. 

“She doesn’t have to say much to let the girls know when they need a bit of clip here or there, and that includes the coach (laughing).

“But she’s one of the types of people that when you get her in the trenches, off she goes. And I think she’s running across the ground better than I’ve seen in a long time.”

While she's one of the league's elite talents, Kearney also plays a selfless role in opening up the rest of the field for her teammates. 

“What she does is takes away attention from the other midfielders, which, combined with pressure, is allowing us to win a lot outside 50, and that’s largely due to the work rate of Kearney," Gowans said. 

“One of the team rules we have is that we take grass when we can, and I thought Kearney was in trouble after the second bounce actually. 

“I thought ‘oh no, she’s running out of gas', but she just found another leg, and she just wasn’t able to do that last year.

“I remember a night out here in the middle of winter, and there was no one else around and it was pouring rain.

“Kearney was coming through rehab, just getting herself back into footy and it was freezing and she was running laps, but so frustrated that she couldn’t run further because of the high performance team pulling her back.

“She’s an incredible leader.”

The victory all the sweeter at North’s spiritual home.

“Getting the win at Arden Street is absolutely special,” Gowans said.

“It’s a great oval to play footy on and the level of support we’ve had is massive.

“In the week leading up to the match we had a bit of a history lesson about what the ground and facilities used to look like, and we spoke to Donald McDonald and Darren Crocker.

“They spoke about the struggles that North has had to stay here, and then having this amazing facility that we’re now in … it’s really special.”

But, in true Scott Gowans style, he reflected on the win for only a few minutes before turning his sights to the next challenge.

“Next week we head down to North Hobart Oval to take on Adelaide, which should be really good,” he said.

“It’ll be a big test for us, but we love going down to Hobart, so really looking forward to it.”