NORTH Melbourne might not have been intending to send a message to the rest of the competition, but the Kangaroos’ performance against Brisbane was loud and clear. In a grand final rematch on the road, the Roos put Brisbane to the sword with a 10.5 (65) to 5.6 (36) victory, leaving plenty wondering if there is even a loss in North Melbourne’s future.

Brisbane coach Craig Starcevich described his players as “pretty brave” for never giving in despite the Roos building a 20-point lead by half-time and then blew out to six goals by the final change. Booting the only major of the last term, the Lions managed to cut the deficit back to 29 points, but Starcevich was well aware of the “gap” between the two teams.

“I take out of it what everyone else in the comp is taking out of it,” he said. “We’ve just played a really, really good team, the gap’s about the same as it was at the end of last year from our perspective. I thought our crew were pretty brave just to keep fighting on, they didn’t throw it in.”

The premiership coach described it as a “brutal day” with both sides losing a couple of players. North will wait on both Taylah Gatt (ankle) and Vikki Wall (arm) went down for the victors, while Natalie Grider (concussion) and Ellie Hampson (shoulder) will miss time for the Lions.

“A bit of a brutal day from that point of view, but the fact that we stuck at it, a lot of people weren’t having their best day but they kept fighting on so I think that’s a positive for you,” Starcevich said. “But we’ve now got the best part of two months to rectify things and work on things and get better, so that’s what we’ll have to do.”

The win notched up a sixth in a row in season 2025 for the Roos and made it 17 wins on the trot, and 19 matches unbeaten, continually besting their own record with each victory that passes. However North Melbourne coach Darren Crocker said he was ensuring complacency would not not creep into the group, and that the Roos “absolutely value that win” against the Lions.

“The thing about Brisbane is you know what you’re always going to be up against them and we spoke about them before the game, that they bring great effort and great energy and if we weren’t up for that, they can get you on the hop a little bit,” Crocker said.

“The pleasing thing was at quarter time we came in and we thought yeah absolutely we are able to match them in that area, and eventually we were able to get through and hit the scoreboard. “Probably the difference was we were a bit more efficient when we were able to get the ball in our hands.”

Given the hype leading into the game, Crocker was asked post-match whether there was an emphasis on the grand final rematch to “send a message” to the rest of the competition by gapping the second best side from last year.

“We really don’t talk about sending a message,” Crocker said. “We talk probably more within our four walls about what type of team we want to be, what our best football looks like, and how individuals can contribute in the best way they can. “So a lot of it’s about players always looking to get better and the better they get individually and understand our system and the way we want to play, the better we’re going to play as a team and play to what our brand and our identity looks like.”

A first-against-third clash awaits in Round 6 with North Melbourne playing host to the Blues who have actually won three games on the trot, and four of five in 2025 to sit third. Despite that, the Roos are heavy favourites for the contest. The ninth placed Lions will also start favourites when they head to Whitten Oval for Round 6 to take on the 15th ranked Western Bulldogs.