North Melbourne are winning, but home hasn't been that sweet an AFL venue for the Kangaroos.

North host their third game in four weeks against opposition from outside Victoria, but another low attendance on Saturday against the Brisbane Lions will likely hurt the club in the hip pocket, after previous six-figure losses from hosting games at Etihad Stadium.

While the Roos' wins over Port Adelaide in round seven and Fremantle in round nine kept their finals hopes alive, poor turn-outs of 14,342 and 15,436 respectively left the club's bean-counters with a headache.

The Kangaroos expect a bigger crowd to attend in round 10 given the Lions boast a bigger fan base in Melbourne than most non-Victorian sides, but North coach Dean Laidley said his club's 30,000-strong membership had to show its support with its feet.

"We had 15,000 there last week and I don't know how many Fremantle supporters would have been there, so that's half our membership base coming to the football," he said.

"Our members are turning up, we just need more of them to, that's the key."

Laidley said North's low attendances had got to the point where players made sarcastic remarks about what it is was like playing in front of small crowds.

But he said playing before bays of vacant seats in Melbourne beat the alternative of North selling home games interstate, like the Kangaroos used to do in Canberra and on the Gold Coast.

"It's a lot easier playing Fremantle at Etihad Stadium rather than at Subiaco or perhaps even on the Gold Coast," he said.

"What we do need is for our supporters to come along this weekend and really get behind the guys and see these guys play and develop.

"To me it's quite exciting. Win, lose or draw, I think they've (the players) really come on 100 miles an hour."

North will hope their young defence continue its improvement given the presence of Lions forwards Jonathan Brown and Daniel Bradshaw, who kicked a combined 22 goals in the two games against the Kangaroos last year.

"Brown and Bradshaw have caused us all sorts of grief over the journey, but we've still managed to win games of football against them," Laidley said.

"We know and understand they're going to kick goals, we've just got to kick more."

The Lions' injuries to their first-choice ruckmen and key defenders also gives North the chance to capitalise on their advantage in height, just as St Kilda did against Brisbane in round nine.

"Our two ruckmen are going to be important for us," Laidley said.

"St Kilda last week won the stoppages and got some good scores from clearances, so we'll be no doubt trying to make that a real advantage for us, absolutely."

North quartet Matt Campbell, Lachie Hansen, Daniel Pratt and Liam Anthony will resume in the VFL this weekend in a welcome sign the Kangaroos are starting to reduce their list of injured players.

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