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North Melbourne coach Brad Scott believes his team is still short of the competition's best despite now having beaten each of the top four teams following Friday night's win over Hawthorn.  

The Kangaroos have notched wins over the Hawks, Port Adelaide, the Sydney Swans (at the SCG) and Fremantle (at Patersons Stadium) in a rollercoaster season that also saw them lose to the battling Brisbane Lions last week. 

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Rather than draw confidence from Friday night's win, Scott said he would not take anything for granted, believing beating the reigning premiers was worth no more than the club's other victories this season.  

"We've beaten the top four sides but we're not a top-four side," he said post-match. 

"All the inconsistency stuff, I'm not going to argue against that, that's fact. 

"You can look at it from the point of view of we've maintained a record of not being beaten twice in a row this year, but we don't want to hang our hat on that. 

"That's to be expected of a proud club … we still face the challenge of ups and downs."

A key to victory on Friday night was the form revival of key forward Drew Petrie, who booted 5.1 in a dominant performance opposed to Brian Lake. 

Scott challenged Petrie on his leadership in the wake of last week's shock loss to the Lions, and was pleased to see immediate results.

"We don't talk about too many things that we speak about behind closed doors … but I did have a talk to Drew about his leadership last week," Scott said.  

"I wanted him to stamp his authority and take responsibility. 

"Last week, should he have tried to pass the ball in the last couple of minutes or should he have kicked the goal? I think he should have kicked the goal. 

"People have accused some of our players of being selfish in that regard. But I think that’s what leadership is. When the responsibility is yours and you've got to stand up in the moment, you stand up." 

Petrie and Lake clashed in the third quarter, with Lake pinning Petrie to the ground in a lengthy hold with his hands around his throat. 

It's an incident that is sure to attract the Match Review Panel's attention, with Petrie appearing to claw at Lake's face as he fought to get free. 

The incident occurred at the start of a six-goal run for the Kangaroos.  

"I didn't see that incident as being the spark that got us going," Scott said.  

"I've been told about it since … I didn't go down and talk to him (Lake) if that’s what you're referring to.

"I was most concerned that we didn't give away a silly free kick in response to anything that happened."

Scott said he had no issue with criticism of his team – and veteran Brent Harvey – from Hawthorn champion Dermott Brereton on Friday, saying "that sort of stuff is why we get paid to do what we love".   

"I don't think he gets too caught up in it but I'm sure he would have been aware of it," Scott said of Harvey, who Brereton labelled selfish.  

"I don't take any of it personally, maybe I should but I don't, and we certainly don't talk to the players about it.

"If that sort of stuff is going to motivate them, then they're in it for the wrong reasons. 

"In this day and age with social media, I knew about it at 2am. Honestly, if you take too much notice of that stuff, you take your eye off the ball."