Patersons Stadium
Sunday September 9, 1.15pm WST/3.15pm EST
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NORTH Melbourne coach Brad Scott admits he and his players got ahead of themselves in the past fortnight but is confident the Roos can rediscover their best form against West Coast in their elimination final at Patersons Stadium on Sunday.
From rounds 12-21, North played some exhilarating football to secure its first finals spot since 2008, their scalps including top-four teams Adelaide and Collingwood.
But over the past two weeks the young North playing group has looked flat in a 53-point loss to fellow finalist Fremantle and a sluggish 28-point win against wooden-spooner Greater Western Sydney.
On Monday Scott dismissed suggestions the procession of crunch games North had played in the second half of the season to make the finals had flattened it ahead of its cut-throat clash against the Eagles.
"The performances [over the past two rounds] haven't been as good, Scott said at Fox Sports' Melbourne studios.
"There's no doubt about that. But I think if you take a form line over the last three months, we're looking pretty good.
"I think the reality is once we confirmed our spot in the finals even my thinking started planning for this moment and this week.
"But there will be no problems mentally getting up for this week and physically I think we're in terrific shape."
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Sitting alongside Scott, North skipper Andrew Swallow was also adamant the Roos would enter the finals in good shape.
Asked if eighth-placed North would be merely making up the numbers, Swallow replied with a hint of defiance: "We're here, so we get to play. That's what we're worried about."
He later added: "The boys are really excited and really confident that if we can produce our best football we can really match it with the Eagles."
Scott was confident North would be bolstered by the return of midfielder Daniel Wells (calf) and key defender Nathan Grima (hamstring) this Sunday after both had spent the past three rounds on the sidelines.
"We expect [Wells] back," Scott said. "We think that he's done a fair bit of training to this point and we haven't risked him up until this game.
"But it's a knockout series, so [with] Grima and Wells we'll certainly be looking to get them back into our side provided they pass the tests at training."
Key forward Lachie Hansen is another Roo who will have to prove his fitness ahead of the Eagles clash after being subbed out last round with blurred vision following a head knock.
Scott said Hansen's availability would be determined solely by North's medical staff later this week.
Swallow looked sore against GWS on Saturday night, but he declared himself a certain starter against the Eagles.
"I just copped a couple of corkies but I'll be fine," Swallow said.
North has lost its past three matches against the Eagles, but two of those were by less than a kick, the last in round 15 this year when North led by 35 points late in the second quarter but were overrun by a Dean Cox-inspired Eagles.
Less encouragingly, the Roos have won just two of their past 11 games at Patersons Stadium.
But Scott is confident the Eagles' home ground will suit his team's running game and "pretty flexible" forward line.
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Nick Bowen covers North Melbourne news for AFL.com.au. Follow him on Twitter: @AFL_Nick
