North Melbourne skipper Brent Harvey has given a resounding thumbs-up to caretaker coach Darren Crocker's style of football, which nearly produced a stunning AFL victory on debut.

The Kangaroos pushed the third-placed Western Bulldogs all the way before succumbing to a 22-point defeat on Sunday, playing exciting attack-minded football under Dean Laidley's replacement.

Crocker also made his leadership a two-way street - seeking on-field talks with his senior players during each break.

Harvey said Crocker's fresh approach and the way the players responded were positive signs for the future.

"He's got a few new ideas, the leaders went to him at each break to give him their input and I thought that was a real positive," Harvey said.

"That was just Crock's initiative. We're on the field and he's not, so he just wanted to get our thoughts and I thought our input was pretty good.

"After the game he was upbeat and backed our boys.

"The Bulldogs are third on the ladder and are meant to be a challenger for the top two, so I was pretty impressed with what I saw yesterday as well."

Harvey made an impressive return from more than two months out with an elbow injury - and gave his arm a clean bill of health at a recovery session on Monday at St Kilda beach.

"Absolutely no dramas (with the elbow), but the rest of the body's a bit sore - I've still got a bit more work to do," the star forward admitted.

"I got a couple of little hits on it and it was really good.

"I thought we played well, the game plan looked pretty good at times, and if we can build on what we did yesterday, it's going to be pretty exciting."

North play the Swans in Sydney this weekend, but Harvey admitted making the finals from the Roos' current 4-9 win-loss plight would be difficult.

"It's going to be tough for us to make the finals. (Crocker's) vision is not based on the finals. It's about improving this group and I think we've taken a big step forward.

"Having said we go into every game thinking we can win.

"If we can get seven or eight wins out of nine, or even four or five, as long as the group improves I think Crock will be very happy."

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