North Melbourne coach Dean Laidley says he will continue to shuffle new faces through the midfield after a strong performance by Leigh Harding helped deliver a 15.11 (101) to 10.7 (67) over Melbourne at the MCG.

The Kangaroos shrugged off last year's wooden spooners with a 4.3 to 1.1 final term, which turned a 14-point lead at the last change into a 34-point win.

Harding, who started his career as a forward before playing a running role out of defence last year, excelled as part of a new-look midfield.

He contested well at ground level and in the air, ran hard and used the ball well, picking up 28 disposals, 12 marks and seven tackles.

But his most important touch was a terrific smother late in the third quarter, after the Demons had closed a 20-point margin to seven points, with Colin Garland about to send them into attack again.

Harding smothered Garland's kick, gathered the ball and sent it forward, where Adam Simpson kicked a long goal to give the 'Roos some breathing space in the game's most pivotal passage.

Former fullback Michael Firrito also played in the midfield and Laidley said it was a sign of things to come.

"We'll change it up, we've tried numerous players there through the pre-season," he said "(Gavin) Urquhart up on the wing I thought was pretty good at stages, Lindsay (Thomas) up on the wing was good at stages, we'll continue to throw it around and see what comes of it."

The viability of playing Harding and Firrito up the ground depended on youngsters Lachie Hansen and Scott Thompson holding firm in defence and Laidley said they both played their best games for the club.

"We're going to play them down there ... because we want those seasoned men in the midfield," he said.

"I can assure you we're not going to die wondering through that area any more."

Ruckman Hamish McIntosh, publicly floated by Laidley as a trade option last year, capped a dominant game with three goals.

The coach indicated his public suggestion that McIntosh was tradeable might have been connected to his return to top form after an injury-interrupted 2008.

"Not a bad ace to pull, huh?" Laidley said.

It was not all gloom for the Demons, who fielded four first-gamers, with Kyle Cheney, impressing in defence with his attack on the ball, picking up 22 touches.

The other three - teenage ruckman Jake Spencer and speedy half-forwards Jamie Bennell and Neville Jetta - also showed promising glimpses.

Midfielders Nathan Jones and Brent Moloney put in solid, hard-working games, while half-forward Ricky Petterd contributed nine marks and two goals.

Coach Dean Bailey said it was also a "big step" for defender Jared Rivers just to make it through the game, after an injury-plagued past two years.

But Bailey was left ruing many disposal errors which cost his side scoring chances or delivered them to the Kangaroos.

"Turnovers just killed us at the end of the day," he said.

"You look at what they did better than us, as soon as we turned it over they counterattacked and scored too many simple goals."

He also conceded they were hurt by a lack of marking power in attack.

Key forward Brad Miller was quiet, taking just four marks and scoring 0.2, including a costly miss late in the third quarter.

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