North Melbourne’s victory over West Coast could act as a catalyst for the side to move onto bigger and better things in the future, with a young North outfit holding its nerve to collect the four points on Monday night.

An away trip to Perth is one of the most difficult prospects in the AFL, with a long flight and raucous home crowd often getting the better of travelling sides.

But North’s players stood tall.

“We knew coming across it’s never an easy task, I think I’ve only won here once in my five or six years at the club,” Jy Simpkin told Fox Footy.

“They’ve (the Eagles) been under the pump a little bit through the media and the rest of it, so we knew they’d come out firing and I’m just so proud of the boys to get up.

“We’ve come a long way since the start of the year and I think the last month we’ve been able to wrestle the momentum back through our games.

“To do it in the last quarter when they’re coming home, the crowd’s going crazy for them … just super proud of the boys.”

After a difficult start to the season, results are starting to turn North’s way, but that hasn’t come without hard work from every member of the playing and coaching staff.

Wins at any level, let alone in the AFL, don’t come easily, and Cam Zurhaar credits improvements on the training track with North’s upturn in form.

“I feel like we’re a new team out on the track, our training standards are through the roof, we’re training well and now we’re starting to produce some great footy,” Zurhaar told Fox Footy.

“It’s just encouraging that everyone’s stepping up and it’s pretty simple, everyone’s just playing their role. It’s nothing crazy, everyone’s just doing their job.

“It’s a huge challenge coming over here, especially with the crowd who are very hostile and credit to all the boys everyone just played their role, we played a four-quarter game and ended up getting the result.

“We’re just playing the brand we want to play, take risks and move the ball through the corridor which opens up the forward line dramatically.”

As a young player with just 23 games under his belt, Curtis Taylor has been one of many North players to step up in recent weeks.

People say losses build character, however getting the job done in a tightly contested game in front of a roaring Eagles crowd will see North’s young players stand tall according to Taylor.

“We’ve been building the last couple of weeks … the young guys, myself included, to experience a win like that and know we’re on the right path and get a bit of reward for effort,” Taylor told North Media.

“We’re building character and knowing what it takes to play the footy that stands up. Obviously today we did that and it was worth it.

“We spoke about it last week after the Doggies game how much it does mean to come over here and beat West Coast no matter what form they’re in. It’s such a tough trip to win on the road and to win that one was super special. 

“It’s definitely one of the best wins I’ve been a part of.”

Much of the pre-game discussions were centred around Todd Goldstein and the potential breaking of the AFL’s all-time hitout record as he closed in on Aaron Sandilands’ career total of 8502.

Goldstein not only broke the record, but played a crucial role in North’s victory, kicking two goals, including the sealer from the goal square.

“It’s something I’m obviously pretty proud of, my longevity just to be able to get close to that. It probably hasn’t quite sunk in yet,” he said.

“I think the euphoria of winning the game and getting such a good team win is probably the main focus at the moment but I’m sure it’s something I’ll look back on over the off-season or as the career winds down.

“For us the way we’ve improved over the first 16 weeks and probably our performances since the bye, everyone’s really bought in and everyone’s done a lot of work on educating the whole team on how we want to play.

“It’s a credit to the whole organisation and the way we all treat each other.”

The improvement of Jaidyn Stephenson has arguably mirrored the improvement of North since the bye, with the number two playing an integral part in his team’s best performance of the season.

Collecting 38 disposals and kicking a crucial goal, Stephenson says his personal performance is down to the trust the team is building in each other.

“It’s more just my teammates around me. They have confidence when they give me the ball and hopefully I can deliver for them,” Stephenson told Fox Footy.

“We’ve come a long way in such a short period of time. Obviously the start of the year we didn’t start too well but the last four weeks after the bye we’ve just been awesome. 

“It (the crowd) was very West Coast biased, but we all fought through and worked hard. It was unbelievable.”