North Melbourne staged an outstanding second-half fightback to beat Collingwood by 18 points in their crucial AFL match at Telstra Dome.

Drew Petrie was best afield, either in the ruck or around the ground, as the Kangaroos won 17.12 (114) to 14.12 (96).

North jumped from ninth to sixth with the win, half a game ahead of Adelaide, Brisbane and St Kilda.

Collingwood had kicked two goals to draw within 12 points late in the final term when a free was paid against the Magpies in the midfield.

A 50m penalty was paid against Shane O'Bree for abuse and Brent Harvey kicked a goal to seal the win.

The Kangaroos outscored the Magpies 12 goals to seven in the second half to secure one of their best wins this season.

North were in massive trouble at half-time, trailing by 13 points and struggling in attack and at the clearances.

But they kicked the first four goals of the third term to suddenly lead by two goals and wrench the initiative from the Magpies.

Collingwood responded with three goals to lead by seven points, but the Kangaroos kept coming and put through the last three goals of the term for a 10-point lead at the last change.

Players such as midfielder Daniel Harris, who only had three touches in the first half, lifted noticeably for the Kangaroos as they fought their way back into the game.

Daniel Wells and Campbell were also pivotal in North's comeback.

By contrast, Collingwood lost some of the "grunt" and hard work they had shown when they seemed on the verge of breaking the game open.

Magpies key forward Travis Cloke, who had appeared the key to this game, spent much of the third quarter on the bench.

Team-mate Paul Medhurst had kicked 5.5 last week, but he also had little impact for most of the match.

North defenders such as Michael Firrito and Josh Gibson were solid all night.

The Kangaroos had dropped key forward Nathan Thompson after his below-par form over the last few weeks and they struggled for scoring options early in the match.

But Petrie's everywhere contribution and their great workrate at the stoppages put the Magpies on the defensive by three-quarter time.

Coming into the game, Collingwood were half a game outside the top four and North were half a game from the top eight.

Collingwood utility Leon Davis was a late withdrawal from the side and Sharrod Wellingham took his place.

North coach Dean Laidley felt his side was always in with a strong chance and praised his players for their relentless pressure.

"It was a terrific performance, I was really pleased for the boys - they were pretty hard at it all night and the pressure was enormous from everyone.

"Their attack on the footy was second to none.

"From basically half time, we went for it, we thought 'right, let's go for it here' - to their credit, that's what they did.

"We were able to put some scoreboard pressure on - and quickly - which perhaps we weren't able to do ... in the first half."

He was also rapt with Petrie's performance, which featured 11 marks, 26 hitouts and two goals.

"It was super, he's pushed himself to another level - one of the true leaders of our footy club now and he's just willed his influence on the game," Laidley said.

"He's pretty-much done that all year, he's been super."

By contrast, Collingwood coach Mick Malthouse was savage on his team's performance, but also gave Petrie credit for his performance.

"We had two ruckmen, rucking against a centre half-forward, and the centre half-forward has probably been best on the ground, second-best on the ground and third-best on the ground, I reckon," he said.

"The game was always going to be tight unless we played the way we needed to play - we didn't at any stage.

"We fought back pretty well in the first half to get ourselves in front ... three goals (the final margin) is a cushion compared to what it could have been."

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