North Melbourne dealt Port Adelaide a shellacking last weekend, and have rightfully received plaudits for that result. It was a promising sign for a club and a coach who have spent years now anchored to inadequacy.
As a consequence of that victory, the Kangaroos once again are presented with the opportunity to achieve something that has eluded them for almost exactly three years - back to back victories. That is a damning encapsulation of this club's plight, as is what star midfielder Harry Sheezel said in the wake of the win.
"I think all 17 teams have been bogey teams for us for the past five years," Sheezel told ABC Sport.
Against that backdrop, Sunday evening's rendezvous with the West Coast Eagles becomes even more compelling. In order for the weekend's win to mean anything, Alastair Clarkson's troops simply must defeat, and convincingly, the other club who have spent much of this decade as an ornament of the AFL ladder's lower rungs.
Talk of turning points and genuine progress will again be drowned out by the bemoaning of another false dawn if the Roos fail to replicate the heroics of their first outing of the campaign - and so they should.
The side vanquished by the Kangaroos under Marvel Stadium's roof, the Power, have endured a week of prickly questioning, after new coach Josh Carr conceded that the Roos may not have received the requisite respect from his side. Carr did not shirk the responsibility of appropriately preparing his troops, physically and mentally, for a game of AFL football, irrespective of the opponent.
Carr may have found his first week of in-season coaching difficult to navigate, but a loss against a similarly under-siege Essendon outfit this weekend would almost certainly instigate a week even less comfortable.
The Bombers were pitiful in team defence and largely uncompetitive in their first outing of the season, conceding 40 scoring shots and a score of 145 to Hawthorn. Conventional wisdom had the Bombers struggling again this season, but given the very same flaws that rendered Brad Scott's men winless in last season's final 13 fixtures were still very clearly perceptible in their 14th straight loss. Pundits predictably piled on.
The Power, back amongst the creature comforts of home this week, are rightfully favoured to win. If they cannot do so, the gloss of a new coach's tenure will surely scuff, and Zak Butters' mind may meander further.
And then there are the simmering tensions in Moorabbin.
An off-season underpinned by eye-watering financial investments in talent already theirs, and otherwise, changed attitudes from the top down. An ingrained, generational inferiority complex was replaced with a chest-beating haughtinesss and promises of a new era.
After two games, the Saints' footballing identity is yet to truly reveal itself. A dour loss to Collingwood in Opening Round derailed what the faithful had penciled in as the commencement of a new St Kilda. A lack of cohesion between the engine room and the forward line meant that despite a significant advantage in inside 50s, the Saints were impotent.
A week later, the pendulum swung too far the other way, as the Saints fell to an upstart Demons side in a shootout. There was reckless abandon from both sides with ball in hand.
This first fortnight has cracked 'cuddly' Ross. The Saints coach appears as combative, impatient and irritable as he ever has. Staring down the barrel of an 0-3 start, nasty narratives about his inability to coach talent may override years of plaudits for maximising subpar playing lists.
It feels about the right time for a 'Ross the Boss' masterclass. St Kilda will be ready this weekend, and they'd want to be. Backs to the wall, being dragged from pillar to post on talkback radio and panel shows, while being underdogs, on the road. The script is written. Can GWS spoil the party?
