North Melbourne hope to take their clamps to Optus Stadium when they make their AFL debut at Perth's new venue against Fremantle.
Brad Scott's team close out round 10 against the Dockers on Sunday and will aim to be at their miserly best, locking down resurgent Brownlow medallist Nat Fyfe and man mountain Aaron Sandilands.
Class act: Nat Fyfe shrugs off a Richmond tackle.
Photo: AAP
Key to the Kangaroos' strong early-season form has been their defence.
They average a league-best 71 points against this season, putting them well ahead of premiers Richmond (76 points) and this weekend's opponents Fremantle (86 points).
Scott said their defensive effort had been "an evolution rather than a revolution".
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"We haven't thrown everything out and started again," he said.
"Getting personnel back and having good continuity helps. The addition of Majak Daw in defence has really helped.
"The addition of Ben McKay and Sam Durdin, who are playing great footy at VFL level as key defenders, means we've been able to train it really strongly on the track."
North's defensive pressure begins at the centre stoppage, where fit-again tagger Ben Jacobs is taking names.
Hawthorn juggernaut Tom Mitchell was shut down by Jacobs in the Kangaroos' upset round-five win, while Robbie Gray, Luke Parker and Dustin Martin have been subdued by the 26-year-old.
It seems a no-brainer that he'll go to Fyfe on Sunday, though Scott said tackling Fyfe came with "great difficulty".
"He's back to his best footy," he said.
"He's a super player and I suspect it's going to take a midfield effort to combat him.
"Jacobs' great strength this year is he's been able to switch to whoever we need him to switch to in game."
Todd Goldstein will play game 200 against another long-serving ruckman, Aaron Sandilands.
No current player has more hitouts than the pair, and Scott said nullifying the 35-year-old was still a major part of stopping Fremantle.
"If you look at the (Fremantle versus) Richmond game, Sandi was unbelievable in that game and Fyfe was unbelievable," he said.
"But Richmond's midfield was able to limit the damage from stoppages and were able to score the other way.
"There are so many elements to the game and you win everything. We've just got to look at the game on balance and make sure we can defend what will potentially be hit out dominance."
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