The fortunes of North Melbourne and West Coast have flipped since the bye. While North have been stringing together a number of impressive performances, the Eagles haven’t been able to hit top form.

Going down to Sydney by 92 points last weekend, West Coast will be expecting to bounce back. However, a reinvigorated North side stands in its way heading into Round 17.

“We’ll be expecting them (the Kangaroos) at their best which we’ll have to be on our toes for. They’ve been great,” McGovern said.

“The last four weeks they’ve been extremely competitive, so we’ll have our hands full for sure.

“We’ve looked at them a fair bit this week. Their last four weeks have been right up there and [they’ve] challenged some good sides.”

The potency of North’s forward line has lifted in recent weeks, with the likes of Cam Zurhaar and Nick Larkey able to get amongst the goals.

“Every forward line is a challenge for us each week,” McGovern said.

They’ve got a bit of a different dynamic but we’ll make do with that and we’ll do what we can.”