North Melbourne know they’re good enough – just not for long enough.
They go into Sunday’s MCG twilight match against Hawthorn with bitter recent memories of what will happen if they drop off during games.
North were competitive in the opening three rounds of the season and nearly put Geelong away in round two.
But inconsistency left them winless until last Sunday, when they easily took care of Brisbane by 63 points.
Still, the Lions are a shell of the side who won the pre-season NAB Cup and Hawthorn are premiership contenders.
The Hawks have flexed their considerable muscle in the last three weeks with big wins over West Coast, Collingwood and Fremantle.
“We definitely have confidence, we know we can match it with them, but it’s just about doing it for the whole game,” Kangaroos midfielder Ryan Bastinac said of Hawthorn.
“When we’re doing it for three quarters we’re really good and up with (our opposition).
“When we just drop off that little bit, that’s when it falls apart.”
Hawthorn will start strong favourites, but Bastinac said North are unfazed.
“If we can do it for four quarters, we’re going to hold up against any team in the competition,” he said.
It will also be a major test for Bastinac and his fellow onballers, who will come up against arguably the strongest midfield in the league.
“It’s going to be a great challenge for us, but I think we’ve played enough footy together to hold up against Hawthorn’s midfield,” he said.
“We really want to take it to them.”
Bastinac also has a personal challenge on Sunday – kick straight for goal.
He kicked 0.3 against Brisbane, despite working on his scoring accuracy last week.
“You always like to kick goals and (last) week I was out here doing a lot of shots on goal, but I didn’t take it into the game,” he said.
“I back myself in front of goal, but sometimes it doesn’t go for you on the day.”
Apart from the win, the highlight of the match against Brisbane for North was Majak Daw’s debut.
The Sudanese-born tall utility took a big mark and kicked a goal early against the Lions, before suffering concussion that ended his game after only 20 minutes.
The Kangaroos have named in their final team for the match.
Bastinac was on the interchange when Daw opened the game with his strong mark.
“Everyone on the bench just looked at each other,” Bastinac said.
“We all said `how good would it be to be out there for his first goal’.
“It was fantastic for him … he deserves it.”