LEVI GREENWOOD and his teammates wanted to achieve something special for four key North Melbourne men – interim coach Darren Crocker, the retiring Shannon Watt, 200-gamer Brady Rawlings and 50-gamer Scott McMahon – this round.

And what eventuated was a gripping five-point win over St Kilda at Docklands on Sunday. The hard-at-it young Roo said it was an important day to acknowledge the contribution of these men.

"When I first came in, I didn't have a win for seven games, so this is our best win all year, so it's fantastic to get over the line Brades, Watter and Scotty McMahon in his 50th," he told kangaroos.com.au.

"We just wanted to have them at the forefront of our mind before the game and during the game and just for Crocks as well – he's been such a great coach for us since he took over.

"[The new coach, Brad Scott] hasn't really been talked about too much, but we've just acted as though it's no different and next year we'll come in and have a new coach, but for now we've got Crocks."

Greenwood, who arguably played his best AFL match yet with a quelling performance on silky-skilled St Kilda midfielder Nick Dal Santo, relished the opportunity to play on one of the Brownlow Medal contenders.

He collected 11 disposals and kept Dal Santo to nine touches.

"I came off a bad week last week and I just wanted to try my hardest, get a good win and have a good game. I just stuck with him the whole day and didn't give him an inch," Greenwood said. 

"It's good [because] you get around the action a lot, so you're always in it, even though you're not winning the ball all of the time.

"You're getting tackles and if they don't get a touch for a quarter or they only get two or three touches a quarter, it's a great feeling itself. It feels like getting 30 touches myself."

But the match-up may not have occurred had St Kilda not made a late change.  

"I thought I was going to be playing on Lenny Hayes before the game, but he pulled out, so an hour before the game started, I found out I was playing on [Nick] Dal Santo," Greenwood said.

Now with 10 matches to his name since making his AFL debut in round five this year, Greenwood feels he is starting to make inroads in his promising career.

"I was struggling at the start of the year and got a couple of games, but didn't do a whole lot, but now that I've come in I've got a spot I can creep in," he said.

"I'm finally getting a few games under my belt and starting to take a few scalps as well, which is good."