VIDEOS: Sam Wright and Matt Campbell interviews | Brad Scott press conference | Ziebell match-winner | Harper great goal | Join in the Chorus | Liam Anthony's long goal | Hamish's redemption | Match highlights | Lindsay Thomas goal from boundary | Thomas courage

Can't view the videos? Visit the NMFC YouTube channel

THE EMERGING depth at North Melbourne is one of the most pleasing things to come out of its 17-point win against Geelong, Kangaroos coach Brad Scott says.

Scott said after Sunday night's win that North had been over-reliant on senior players such as Brent Harvey, Daniel Wells, Andrew Swallow and Drew Petrie in recent seasons.

But he said the win over the reigning premier showed that the Kangaroos were starting to spread the load more evenly.

"It's really pleasing that we got a really good even spread of contributions from our younger players," Scott said.

"While Wells and Harvey are just super players (and) they played exceptionally well tonight (and) Andrew Swallow had another great game, it's really pleasing that we don't have the heavy reliance on them that we once did.

"You look at the other players who had huge contributions tonight, Jack (Ziebell) in first game back was outstanding, Sam Wright's job on Steve Johnson (who kicked just one behind) - it was almost hard to comprehend that he would have done it that well."

BUY THE DVD OF THE GAME

Scott said the development of other youngsters such as midfielders Leigh Adams, Ryan Bastinac and Ben Cunnington meant that North could be competitive when Harvey, Wells, Swallow and key forward Drew Petrie, who kicked one behind on Cats defender Harry Taylor, weren't dominating.

Scott paid tribute to the outstanding form of defenders Michael Firrito and Scott Thompson this season, and Luke Delaney's strong performance on the Cats' emerging star forward Tom Hawkins, who kicked three of his four goals in the final quarter. He said the trio's efforts would make it harder for key-position players like Nathan Grima, Lachlan Hansen and Robbie Tarrant to get back in the team - another good sign of the Kangaroos' growing depth.

Scott also lauded small forward Lindsay Thomas' effort to run back with the flight of the ball on the wing as Cats defender Andrew Mackie converged on him at the four-minute mark of the second quarter. Thomas did not take his eyes off the ball and managed to knock the ball forward to Harvey, who set up a Leigh Adams goal that maintained North's early momentum.

"(It was) absolutely team-lifting stuff and I couldn't be happier for Lindsay," Scott said.

But as pleased as he was, Scott wasn't getting carried away with the win. He acknowledged that it would build his players' self belief, but suggested that would count for nothing if they could not maintain such form throughout the rest of the season.

"You know it gives them belief in what we're trying to do, but what we have to do is show that on a consistent basis and we haven't been able to do that yet," he said.

"Hopefully over the next month, two months, three months, we'll show that we can do it on a consistent basis.

"Our focus has never been on just worrying about top-four sides, our focus is on playing the style of footy that's going to be competitive against them.

"I've always said ... we'll beat the top-four sides when we are a top-four side. Now we're not there yet, we've got to show that on a consistent basis. But we're certainly working towards it."

The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the AFL or its clubs.

VIDEOS: Sam Wright and Matt Campbell interviews | Brad Scott press conference | Ziebell match-winner | Harper great goal | Join in the Chorus | Liam Anthony's long goal | Hamish's redemption | Match highlights | Lindsay Thomas goal from boundary | Thomas courage

BUY THE DVD OF THE GAME