North Melbourne have broken through for their first win of the AFL season, downing a persistent Gold Coast by 13 points on Saturday night.

The Kangaroos clung to a six-point lead early in the last quarter but Ben Brown kicked two of his career-best six goals to help his side to a 16.11 (107) to 14.10 (94) win in front of 15,431 fans at Etihad Stadium.

Gary Ablett did his best to drag the Suns over the line. The two-time Brownlow medallist put in a stunning 45-disposal and 18 clearance performance, with 27 of those touches contested.

Brad Scott’s side hadn’t won a final term this season as they slumped to a 0-5 start, but found some composure under pressure to see off Gold Coast.

Rodney Eade’s men kept coming but his patched-up defence couldn’t get the job done.

The Suns’ back line, already undersized without Steven May and Rory Thompson, lost Kade Kolodjashnij before the game and Matt Rosa to a concussion in the second quarter.

Brown made the most of his opportunities and the dominant forward on the ground gathered 17 possessions and took eight marks on the way to his pivotal haul.

Shaun Higgins returned from injury to play a vital role for the Roos and the clever forward amassed 28 disposals and kicked a goal.

Nathan Hrovat, Aaron Mullett and Jack Ziebell were also important, with Scott Thompson doing well to limit prolific Gold Coast forward Tom Lynch to three goals.

While Ablett was head and shoulders above his teammates, Jarrod Harbrow, Alex Sexton and Michael Barlow were also prominent.

Scott still felt the Roos could have played better late in the game, but was pleased with the way they scrapped their way to the win.

“It was good reward, not just for the effort tonight, but for the first six weeks of the season,” Scott said.

“We’ve certainly played better than we did tonight, but the result went our way so it obviously makes you feel a fair bit better.

“Even though it won’t be (a game) we’ll look back on and think that we were fantastic, we did what we had to do to win.”

Gold Coast slipped to a 2-4 record with Eade left to rue missed opportunities.

“We just shot ourselves in the foot,” Eade said.

“I was really proud of their effort, proud of their courage, I thought some players were unbelievable in what they had to do against big odds.

“But we just shot ourselves in the foot with our ball use.”