A month after North Melbourne’s AFL season looked on the brink, coach Brad Scott is confidently predicting the best is yet to come.

The Kangaroos have bounded back into the top eight on the back of four-straight wins and a dramatic percentage boost.

The jury is still out on North – they only led struggling Carlton by four points late in the second term on Saturday night at Etihad Stadium.

But a dominating second half propelled them to a 64-point win and more momentum as the finals loom.

They will come out of round 18 half a game inside the top eight and with a healthy percentage of 107.2.

It is far removed from round 14, when the shock 55-point loss to Gold Coast left them 11th and their percentage at just 92.2.

“Our best footy is ahead of us – I said that last week (and) I’m still convinced of that,” Scott said.

“We still have some areas that we can get better.

“I’m most pleased with the platform we’re building in terms of our level of performance.

“We know what we’re in control of (and) if we get that done, it will keep us competitive in most games.”

While Scott was disappointed with North’s defence in the second term, he said the most important thing was that they fixed the problem.

He added the second-quarter lapse, plus some surprise results across this weekend, were important reminders for the Kangaroos.

“Our players probably tried to take a few liberties (in the second term) and when you don’t defend the way you should, you give the opposition an opportunity,” he said.

“The results over the weekend would tell you that.

“Every team in the competition can play.”

North’s next opponent, Melbourne, showed that with an upset win over Collingwood earlier on Saturday.