Predicting how far North Melbourne will fall had become a blood sport and the Kangaroos' stunning response at Etihad Stadium on Sunday – while tempered by the end – was equally brutal.

North, playing two men down, held off a fast-finishing Hawthorn by 28 points, 14.14 (98) to 11.4 (70), to claim the prized scalp it craved and needed to thrill coach Brad Scott.

"Today had a bit of everything. (We were) fantastic offensively and defensively early, and you're only able to do that if you've got really good contest effort, which we did," Scott said post-match.

"We knew at half-time that Hawthorn are a very dangerous side and that they would respond.

"Unfortunately, we lost a couple of guys (Shaun Higgins and Ed Vickers-Willis) in the one passage of play and that certainly compounded what was happening. Hawthorn were very accurate in front of goal as well.

"I thought it showed character and fight, when we were clearly running out of legs, to not only stem the tide, but to push back the other way and score ourselves."

After leading by 57 points at half-time, North was left desperately hanging on after three quick-fire Hawthorn goals to start the second half preceded two Roos going down with sickening concussions within seconds of each other.

Shaun Higgins firstly ran into Ryan Burton with ball in hand – with the Hawk opting to bump instead of tackle – then Ed Vickers-Willis hit the deck in the same passage.

Vickers-Willis managed to eventually run from the field, but a stretcher was required to remove Higgins, whose wife gave birth to the couple's first child in the early hours of Sunday.

Neither player returned and Higgins was taken to hospital, leaving North Melbourne short on soldiers as an inspired Hawthorn launched some belated rearguard action with a six-goal-to-one third term.

The Hawks' stunning resurgence, after a dismal first two quarters, threatened at one stage to be the game's biggest-ever comeback from a half-time deficit.

The record was almost half a century ago, when Collingwood stunned St Kilda from 52 points down at the main break.

Hawthorn entered the contest ranked second in the competition in clearance differential compared to North's lowly 17th, but none of that mattered in the early going.

Ben Brown (four goals, by early in the second term), Jarrad Waite (3.5) and Jack Ziebell (two) wreaked havoc as the Roos' surprise clearance dominance was matched by their ability to deny the Hawks possession.

They led the clearances 11-6 at quarter-time and 24-14 by the main break – and won them 37-25 at the final siren – and Robbie Tarrant (20 disposals, 16 marks) and Scott Thompson (20, 11) brilliantly led their stout defence.

Arden St's resident tagger Ben Jacobs also finally blunted Mitchell's influence, restricting him to only 19 touches and three clearances while winning 19 and seven himself.

Tough onballers Ben Cunnington (30, six clearances and six tackles) and Trent Dumont (23) were also outstanding in the initial onslaught.

The 35-point quarter-time buffer was reminiscent of North's famous takedown of previously unbeaten Adelaide in Hobart last year, but this time it had to hang on.

Luke Breust (five majors) and Liam Shiels, who kicked two of the first three goals in the third quarter, ignited a bitterly disappointing Hawthorn outfit, while James Sicily (28) hung tough in defence.

Shiels (lower back spasms) later joined the walking wounded.

Once the Hawk roll started, especially with the Roos' fewer playing numbers, it didn't look like stopping – and they got within 19 points on a Jack Gunston goal only eight minutes into the last term.

But a steady Zurhaar set shot followed by Waite's third secured a memorable North Melbourne win.

Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson was effusive in his praise of the Roos.

"We played against a pretty good opposition and I think the footy world might give a bit more credit to and maybe we should as a footy club, too," Clarkson said.

MEDICAL ROOM
North Melbourne: Shaun Higgins and Ed Vickers-Willis both suffered concussion in heavy collisions seconds apart in the third quarter and took no further part. Vickers-Willis was able to run from the ground and reported feeling "fine", but the Roos' doctors ruled him out. Higgins remains at the Epworth hospital under observation, but coach Brad Scott said we was "coherent in the rooms". "He remembered that his wife gave birth this morning, so that was a good result. He's had an eventful day … the early signs are promising, but we won't know for sure until they've done all the necessary tests."

NEXT UP
The Kangaroos will try to win three matches on the trot for the first time since claiming the opening nine games of 2016 when they host Port Adelaide on Saturday afternoon. 

NORTH MELBOURNE 7.5  11.9  12.11  14.14 (98)                  
HAWTHORN  2.0  3.0  9.2  11.4 (70)           

GOALS
North Melbourne: Brown 4, Waite 3, Ziebell 2, Zurhaar 2, Atley, Hartung, Dumont
Hawthorn: Breust 5, Gunston 2, Shiels 2, Impey, Smith 

BEST 
North Melbourne: Tarrant, Cunnington, Jacobs, Ziebell, Brown, Dumont, Macmillan
Hawthorn: Breust, Smith, Sicily, Henderson 

INJURIES 
North Melbourne: Higgins (concussion), Vickers-Willis (concussion)
Hawthorn: Shiels (lower back)

Reports: Cameron Zurhaar (North Melbourne) for rough conduct on David Mirra (Hawthorn) in the second quarter
Umpires: Dalgleish, Stevic, Gianfagna 
Official crowd: 27,981 at Etihad Stadium