North Melbourne bounced back from its heavy defeat to Fremantle with a one-point win over West Coast, climbing to its highest win tally since 2019 in the process.

This week, the Roos return to the MCG on Sunday afternoon, where they'll take on Richmond for the second time in 2026.

Round 15, Richmond v North Melbourne
When: Sunday, June 21 at 1.10pm AEST
Where: Melbourne Cricket Ground, VIC
How to watch: Foxtel, Kayo Sports

The opposition

The 2-11 Tigers showed plenty of promise coming out of their Round 13 bye, challenging reigning premiers Brisbane for large parts of their bout in Hobart.

They were ultimately outclassed though, going down by 35 points despite strong shifts from young forward Jasper Alger (four goals) and midfielder Tim Taranto (29 disposals, two goals) who polled six coaches votes.

Promisingly for Richmond, it should regain ruckman Toby Nankervis, while Rhyan Mansell and Kane McAuliffe are also in the frame to return as the club looks to pinch its second win in a four-week stretch.

Running hot

Playing against the club he made a name for himself at, Jack Darling wound back the clock against the Eagles.

The veteran forward was ultra reliable at Optus Stadium in Round 14, clunking three contested marks and booting four first-half goals to make sure the Roos remained in the contest.

He’s now kicked 19 majors from 12 appearances this season and will look to add more on Sunday afternoon.

What the coach has said

North Melbourne senior coach Alastair Clarkson post-match v West Coast: "We know we’ve got work to do but our season’s still alive, we’re 6-7. We know that there’s a lot of hard work ahead of us, our last six weeks have been a really tough six weeks, and we’ll cop the criticism and fairly so our performance against Fremantle.

“I don’t think anyone in the competition had us winning too many of those six games when they saw the draw at the start of the year - Geelong at Geelong, Adelaide in Adelaide, GWS in Canberra, Fremantle at Bunbury and West Coast (at Optus Stadium). That’s a tough period."

Last time we met

The Roos were on another level when these clubs last met back in Round 6 of this season, leading for all but a handful of minutes at the start of the game before putting their foot down in the second half to coast to the 20.9 (130) to 7.13 (55) victory.

Harry Sheezel (39 disposals) and Colby McKercher (26 disposals) were simply superb across the ground, both chipping in with a goal each as well.

Paul Curtis had his kicking boots on, finishing with a career-high bag of six majors, while Cooper Trembath snagged three of his own.

The AFL world also got its first taste of what Cam Zurhaar can do in a half-back role as the No.44 notched 23 touches and 658 metres gained at Marvel Stadium.