NORTH Melbourne is still yet to be beaten in the 2024 AFL Women’s season, after defeating the Western Bulldogs by 55 points, keeping the Bulldogs goalless.

Speaking post-match, Roos’ coach Darren Crocker said that he was feeling “pretty good” after that performance from his side.

“Early doors we thought the first quarter was a little bit up and back, very transitional game and we just made a couple of adjustments at quarter time,” Crocker said.

“But I thought to the Bulldogs credit, their pressure was really good around the footy. In the second quarter, they actually held territory really well on us. But then, we just needed to keep grinding out. Just keep trying to play our way and getting the game looking the way we want it. Especially once the rain came.”

The conditions were far from easy yesterday afternoon, but North Melbourne is getting quite used to playing in those kind of conditions.

“We hardly had one in the wet last season, and it seems to be following us at the moment,” Crocker said.

“But at least the girls know now we had a good lesson here against Geelong where we didn’t adapt very well, but I think since then we’ve been able to adapt to what the conditions have thrown up.”

Yesterday’s match was also the first for North for at least five or six weeks without skipper Emma Kearney, who is currently out injured.

“It was obviously disappointing losing Kearns for the next five or six weeks. But it does give us a bit of a look at what it looks like without Kearns back there, without her leadership, without her direction and her ability to set us up really well,” Crocker noted.

“I thought we were a little bit disorganized in the first half around that, but in the second half it looked a lot better. We looked very solid behind the ball and I thought all the backs did really well.”

Kearney is not totally lost to the team while out injured, with the star defender now playing a coaching role until she can get back out on the field.

“Look, why wouldn’t you use someone of ‘Kearns’ football knowledge?” Crocker asked.

“We got to put a submission into the AFL. She will be out for long enough to be able to have a role with us on match day in the coaches box. She worked in closely with our backline coach Nick Devereux around our backs and our set up and our movement, and yeah, it was good to have her up there and it helps grow her coaching resume.”