Nick Dal Santo says North’s winning start to the season has made the players even more focused on continued improvement.

The Kangaroos sit atop the AFL ladder and are the only undefeated team in 2016, but according to Dal Santo, the Roos still have plenty to work on.

“It’s a nice position to be in, but I still don’t think we’ve played great footy consistently, even within a whole game of football, I don’t think we’ve played four really good quarters yet,” Dal Santo told 9 News.

“I actually think the more you win, the more critical you become of each other and the more you don’t want to give anything away.

“Even though things are going pretty well winning-wise, we’re still very meticulous the way we go about it.”

The number 15 echoed coach Brad Scott’s sentiments that Saturday’s 14-point win over Essendon was a “wakeup call”, but said the Bombers should be credited for their turnaround in the second half.

“It’s not solely on us, it would be disrespectful if anyone would say it was all about our performance. I thought Essendon really brought it up to us in the second half.”

With Carlton the Roos’ next opponents, Dal Santo said he and his teammates were expecting another tough battle.

“They have played some really good football over the past four weeks,” he added.

“No games are easy, every team is a challenge, we don’t take any team lightly. We expect the best from every opposition that we play, and we’ll expect that from Carlton on Saturday night.”

North will be looking to make it nine wins from the first nine rounds for the first time in the club’s history on Saturday, a fast start which may help to set a platform for further success this season.

North were out of the top eight with four wins and four losses at the same time last year and despite this year’s perfect start Dal Santo said the Roos weren’t taking anything for granted.

“The last couple of years we put ourselves in a position where we had to work really hard in the second half of the year, but by saying that it doesn’t mean that this year is going to be any easier because we’ve had a good start.

“We’re better equipped that we’re not chasing our tail, that’s for sure.”