North Melbourne didn’t quite get the result on Saturday afternoon, but Rhyce Shaw couldn’t be prouder of his team’s performance.
Coming up against the second-placed Brisbane Lions, the Roos lined up with 11 players under 23 years of age and 11 with fewer than 30 games to their name.
Despite its inexperience, North pushed the Lions all the way to the final siren, ultimately falling short by a solitary point.
"We certainly are, as a coaching group and as a club, really proud of that performance," Shaw said.
"I think our fans should be as well.
"I was really pleased with the guys' attitude this week. It must be very difficult for them to keep rocking up each week, but they just continue to do it."
Shaw said the Roos returned to the way they wanted to play, after a disappointing loss to Melbourne last week.
“We haven’t been getting the results and we’re disappointed with losing today, but I’m really proud of the guys and the way they went about their footy today,” he said.
“To come out here and just play to the plan, play with great effort and play the way we want to play as the North Melbourne Footy Club was really pleasing.
“That’s the standard for us moving forward.”
North’s emerging youngsters showed encouraging signs, with the likes of Luke Davies-Uniacke, Jack Mahony and Jy Simpkin among those to impress.
“We just kept at it and we’ve kicked four goals in the last quarter to their (the Lions') two,” Shaw said.
“I thought we had a lot of momentum in that last quarter, and that’s a really pleasing sign for us.
“Especially when you’ve got those younger guys out there, they can have a tendency to drop off, but our guys didn’t. They actually started thriving on it, which was pleasing.
“We didn’t get the result, but guys started to really take control and I was really pleased with some of the efforts.”
Shaw said North had taken a risk-free approach with Robbie Tarrant, who was a late withdrawal due to a calf injury.
The Roos take on Collingwood on Monday week (August 24) at the Gabba.
