North Melbourne forwards coach Xavier Clarke has given an insight into the belief in the huddle at the last break despite trailing by 22 points.
While all eyes at the three-quarter-time huddle were on coach Alastair Clarkson's much-discussed interaction with youngster Colby McKercher, Clarke highlighted the confidence that permeated through the group.
“We were happy with parts of our second and third quarters, but thought we let ourselves down in some aspects.
"We said going into the last quarter, 'boys we're capable of kicking seven goals, let's take the game on and be really strong with our defence' and for that to stack up and the boys to be able to contribute to that was great.”
The Roos kicked precisely seven goals to Carlton's two to run over the top of the Blues.
There was a plethora of individual performances to behold in the last quarter for North Melbourne: George Wardlaw lifting, Cooper Trembath providing in the ruck, Jack Darling's experience coming to the fore, Dylan Stephens' smother, Paul Curtis seizing his moment and the all-round excellence of Harry Sheezel, Luke Davies-Uniacke and Jy Simpkin.
The win lifted North Melbourne to 3-1 ahead of a Gather Round clash with Brisbane, and Clarke believes their compliance and perseverance in the last quarter underlined the growing maturity.
“Listening to the commentary after the game with our players like Nick Larkey and LDU saying it's the best win they've been part of and (Harry Sheezel) saying it's the best feeling he's ever had, those things are really important for us and our footy club so if we can bottle that up, it would be huge, “ Clarke said.
“Everyone stood up, and as a team and individuals, we build some belief off the back of that and can carry some momentum.
“LDU is one of them. He can be one of the elite midfielders of the competition, and he's in the leadership group this year. For him to do what he did in the last quarter, knowing that (George) Hewett was sitting on him for most of the game, he put him to the sword and got to work. He looked strong, dangerous and took the game on.
“That's just one example of maturity, 'Sheez' is another who put the team on his back and said let's do this and George Wardlaw's pressure and never giving up second and third efforts is infectious and everyone sees that and wants to help out so I think the maturity is there, but we've still got a lot of growth in the group which is exciting.”
