NORTH Melbourne coach Brad Scott has hailed Andrew Swallow as one of the "genuine stars of the competition", while predicting a bright new era for the Kangaroos is on the horizon.

Speaking after his team's 47-point victory over Adelaide at Etihad Stadium on Sunday afternoon, Scott said Swallow's 39-possession performance was fantastic, with his 17-possession, 10-clearance first quarter up there with the best individual quarters he had seen.

"He was absolutely fantastic… against some really good, quality inside midfielders from the opposition," Scott said.

"I rate Scott Thompson, (Brent) Reilly, (Richard) Douglas and (Rory Sloane) and these guys pretty highly, so it was outstanding."

But Scott said Swallow, who turned 24 on Thursday, had been well supported by fellow midfielders Jack Ziebell, Daniel Wells and Levi Greenwood against the Crows, and could expect to receive even more support in the future seasons from promising youngsters Shaun Atley and Kieran Harper.

"Some of the things Shaun Atley was able to do today gave a glimpse of what a good player he's going to be. And Kieran Harper just oozes class and the more we can get the ball in his hands the better.

"So when you start to look at some of these players that are coming through … I think it's an exciting time for North fans.

"People have asked me constantly where is the next Brent Harvey coming from and I always reply there isn't another Brent Harvey, there’s only ever going to be one.

"But we do have some really exciting talent that are going to excite North fans for a really long period of time."

Scott was pleased North was able to finish the Crows off in the second half of Sunday's game after taking a 23-point lead into half-time. The Kangaroos ran away from the Crows with a 10-goal-to-six second half, after having lost three times previously this year when leading at three-quarter time.

"We've been in winnable positions in the past few weeks and haven't been able to break the opposition's back," Scott said.

"In a way we've given them enough hope to think that if they get a roll on they can get back in the game so it took us a while to do that.

"I was really pleased with the way the players fought it out for four quarters. It was probably the best four-quarter performance of the year."

Scott was less glowing when the subject of North's recent habit of conceding goals with 50m penalties was raised. Against the Crows, the Kangaroos gave away two almost certain goals after conceding two 50m penalties in the space of less than six minutes in the third quarter.

While Scott did not take issue with the penalty Ziebell conceded at the 11-minute mark of the third term, when he tackled Ricky Henderson from behind thinking the Crow had run off the mark, he was not prepared to cut defender Scott Thompson the same slack.

Thompson conceded a 50m penalty to young Crow forward Jack Gunston after he delayed giving the ball back to Gunston and then threw it towards the umpire. Scott said Thompson had had a "brain fade". 

"I've said to him, 'You need to keep concentrating in that situation'," he said.

"There's no point me asking what he was thinking because he wasn't really thinking anything. So he needs to think."