Kangas keen to see how far they've come against Hawks
North Melbourne's defence appears to have had its own version of a resurrection at Easter.
When Carlton kicked 24 goals on Good Friday earlier this season and thrashed the Kangaroos by 82 points, Alastair Clarkson and his coaching staff decided enough was enough.
Improving North's defensive work had rightly been a focus in the pre-season. Clearly, a lot more work had to be done.
So they re-doubled efforts after the Easter debacle and the upset win over Carlton last weekend showed the fruits of those labours. The Blues were restricted to 73 points and Toby Pink kept Charlie Curnow goalless.
North have conceded more than 100 points only once in their last nine games.
While always wary of false prophets, Clarkson is upbeat about what might be possible when they face an even bigger test - Saturday's match against Hawthorn in Launceston.
"In the last seven or eight games we have been a lot stronger in that space and it's had us in games," he said.
"The real test for us will be against a really, really good opponent this week, whether we can hold up defensively again."
Hawthorn, like Carlton, will be a litmus test of how far the young Kangaroos have come.
North fell away badly at the end of last season, losing to the Western Bulldogs by 96 points and then to the Hawks by 124, also in Launceston.
It was their biggest losing margin since early in the 2021 season.
This will be the first time they play Hawthorn since that debacle. It's also worth noting that Clarkson, arguably the most competitive beast in the AFL, is yet to coach a win against the club where he masterminded four premierships.
"It's very, very similar - the last time we played Hawthorn, we got absolutely walloped. We didn't have much to play for, they had everything to play for," Clarkson said.
"We just fell away really badly, but we're really keen, just like we were last week against Carlton, to see how far we've progressed.
"We know we had to do a lot of work on stiffening up our defence. We were just leaking far too many goals in the early part of this season and indeed the last two games last year.
"We just got belted in that space."
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