The game was ugly to watch and they nearly blew it but North Melbourne achieved what they desperately needed - an AFL win.

The Kangaroos held off Essendon's last-term comeback and recovered from Daniel Pratt's rushed behind blunder to beat the Bombers by 12 points at Etihad Stadium - 10.9 (69) to 7.15 (57).

Coach Dean Laidley looked dog-tired post-match and he admitted the stresses of the last fortnight had impacted on him.

North continue to reel from the bizarre video scandal - featuring a condom-clad rubber rooster and a frozen chicken - that resulted in Pratt and Adam Simpson receiving $5000 fines earlier this month and the club making a public apology.

"A win doesn't wallpaper over the cracks, but winning certainly helps," Laidley said.

"I was probably banged over the head a little bit for what I said in the media on Thursday (about the ongoing effects of the controversy), but I didn't think it was reported very well at all.

"It was a tough week, particularly early, we did a lot of things different - we went to lunch together, went to the movies.

"We went about it a little bit differently before the game, we showed the boys a video, so we really mixed it up."

The video shown pre-match on Sunday featured acts of courage by North personnel, past and present.

While the standard of play was woeful, the Kangaroos were certainly courageous as they built a lead of 22 points late in the third quarter.

Then the Bombers made their last-term charge and had reduced the gap to 13 points at seven minutes into the final term when Pratt went to kick out after a behind.

He hesitated, was put under pressure and fumbled the ball across the line for the rushed behind.

That is exactly the sort of incident covered under the league's new rushed behind rule and Pratt had the dubious distinction of being the first player penalised during the regular season.

He conceded a free to Essendon captain Matthew Lloyd, who kicked his third goal of the match and 899th of his career to narrow the gap to seven points.

But Lloyd missed a sitter a few minutes later and Hamish McIntosh goalled at 23 minutes to seal the win.

Essendon had made their own disastrous mistake in the third term, when Lloyd was having a set shot at goal.

At the same time, the Bombers tried to interchange four players.

Adam McPhee went on before Brent Stanton came off and Essendon lost the ball, costing them a near-certain goal.

"I was really disappointed, because shots on goal weren't easy to come by," said Essendon coach Matthew Knights.

"Any shots on goal inside 50 were like gold and to give one away when we did have momentum was pretty costly."

Kangaroos captain Brent Harvey was outstanding, picking up 33 possessions and kicking three goals, while David Hale hurt Essendon with his four goals.

While Stanton spent some of the game on Harvey, he had 26 touches and was Essendon's best, along with Lloyd.

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